A Research Into The Semantic Function Of "在+处所词" In Mandarin Chinese

Discussion on the semantic function of "在 + 处所词" has been going on continuously since 1980s. Though there are different viewpoints towards the semantic function of "在 + 处所词" among Scholars, they hold the same opinions that "在 + 处所词" is a syntactic form (or "marker") expressing location'. However, never has it been answered or even mentioned before that what is the exact meaning of the locative category in Mandarin Chinese, which turns out to be a vitally elementary question. Scholars take it for granted that the meaning of the locative category in Mandarin Chinese is the same as in inflectional language such as English. But, is it true that the meaning of the locative category in Mandarin Chinese is the same as in inflectional language? In order to answer this question, we set up a set of categories such as 'semantic-relation-field', combined with the research of the language facts, we found that the 'locative' meaning "在 + 处所词" expresses is not a subcategory of the verb semantic category, therefore, is not a semantic role that verb governs. The bare-form position noun and "在 + 处所词" can be used to express location,"在 + 处所词"express the location of the things acting as 'existential-agent'. The position noun acting as 'locative' and a noun phrase acting as 'existential-agent' are the two obliged semantic constituents to form an 'existential semantic relation field' in the underlying semantic structure. "在 + 处所 词", whenever being used to express location in any semantic structure, always requires a noun component to act as a 'existential-agent', with which to form an existential semantic-relation-filed. When there is a verb in the structure where "在W is used to express location, the underlying semantic structure contains at least two semantic-relation-fields. If the verb is used to express action, the underlying structure is consisted of an existential semantic-relation-field and an action semantic-relation-field, each of which assigns the same noun component to act as its semantic role, through which "^E + #h$iW has an indirect relation with the verb. There is a semantic relationship of 'cause-and-result' between the two semantic-relation-fields, which restrict each other to form the structure meaning.