Which language has the fewest prepositions?

Question

I have found ones with just 2, but i am looking for >2 and hopefully <15.

I mean adpositions (Thanks taivo for fixing that one for me, I knew it but didn't think). I need to know which would be the most important besides just location (at/on) and motion towards (to/onto)

Answer 1

The first correction is that you must use the term "adpositions". Prepositions only occur in front of the noun they modify. Postpositions only occur after the noun they modify. Adpositions are interesting creatures. They are a fixed class in every language (you can't add new ones). In some languages, they are "verby" so that they can do a few "verb-like" things. But, unlike nouns and verbs, their functions can be done with different kinds of structures. The Caddoan languages (such as Wichita and Pawnee on the North American Plains) have no adpositions and their functional space is taken by a set of nominal or verbal suffixes that work to place the location or direction of movement and stasis.

EDIT: Those things in Turkish (and Hungarian and Finnish as well) are NOT case markers. They are affixed postpositions. There is a major difference between case markers and affixed postpositions, but non-linguists often don't know the difference and call them cases. Turkish has postpositions. These things in Pawnee and the Caddoan languages are NOT affixed postpositions, nor are they cases, they are something entirely different.

EDIT: There are three main types of locational adpositions: position, motion toward, and motion away. In Hungarian, these come in triplets: kutyában (in the dog), kutyából (out of the dog), kutyába (into the dog); kutyán (on the dog), kutyáról (off of the dog), kutyára (onto the dog); etc. The affixed postpositions in Shoshoni work much the same way although native speakers don't write them as affixes, but as separate postpositions. The prepositions of Greek also function in triplets like this: en (in), eis (into), ex (out of); etc.

There are also adpositions that deal with time "until 2 o'clock" "kettôig"; instrument "with the gun" "puskával"; accompaniment "with my wife" "nôvel"; end "on behalf of my wife" "nôért"; etc. But these are not as common as the adpositions of location and motion.

Answer 2

Not all languages have prepositions. Some languages have case markers. Turkish for example doesn't have prepositions but case markers. That means we add inflectional suffixes to the end of the words.

An example for you;

In English you say; at the table
In Turkish we say; masada ("masa" means the table and "-da" means "at" here)