Copyright©2017 P-ISSN: 1978-8118 E-ISSN: 2460-710X 59 Lingua Cultura, 11(1), May 2017, 59-65 DOI: 10.21512/lc.v11i1.1543 THE USE OF LOCATIVE NOUNS LI, SHANG, AND ZHONG AS MANDARIN LANGUAGE ADPOSITION Ayu Trihardini Mandarin Language Department Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Jakarta Jln. Rawamangun Muka, Rawamangun, Jakarta 13220, Indonesia ayu.trihardini@gmail.com Received: 18th November 2016/ Revised: 19th December 2016/ Accepted: 18th March 2017 How to Cite: Trihardini, A. (2017). The Use of Locative Nouns Li, Shang, and Zhong as Mandarin Language Adposition. Lingua Cultura, 11(1). 59-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.21512/lc.v11i1.1543 ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to analyze locative nouns (li, shang, and zhong) that may function as postpositions and therefore Mandarin language considered to have circumposition. The collected data were sentences taken from Chinese short stories by Lu Xun and the articles in the tabloid. Because the object of this study consisted of language in texts, hence observation and documentation method were needed. The analysis of data used distribution method with dissipative technic, substitution technic, and insert technic. Through dissipative and insert technic, the distribution of the adpositional phrase could be known. Through substitution technic, the distribution of the adpositional phrase and the use of preposition related to semantic was conducted. The study shows, in some context of adpositional phrase, locative nouns li, shang, and zhong may function as postpositions, while the use of preposition zai, is optional, and the options provide the same meaning. Based on this result, Mandarin locative nouns should be considered as postpositions. Keywords: locative nouns, adposition, Mandarin postposition INTRODUCTION Adposition as a particle, which describes the predicative relation, is a common category in word classification of many languages. The term of adposition has often replaced with preposition, postposition, or circumposition. It depends on the type of adposition a language has. In crosslinguistics context, Verhaar (2008) has concluded that languages with consistently verb-object structure will mostly have the only preposition as the type of adposition, and languages with object-verb structure will mostly have the only postposition. Meanwhile, languages with inconsistent structure will have both preposition and postposition. A language with Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) and Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) structure generally has the characteristic that can be seen in Table 1. The Mandarin language has inconsistent structure. It sometimes is considered having verb-object or object-verb structure. Greenberg has stated Li, Charles N and Thompson (2005), although the Mandarin language has more of verb- object structure, it has the characteristic of language with object-verb structure. From Table 1, the characteristic referred and relevant to this study is the Mandarin language has postposition with noun-postposition structure. In the Mandarin language, the locative noun can be placed after a noun. What Greenberg has suggested earlier indicates that locative noun can be considered as the postposition. Verhaar (2008) has found that the structure of Mandarin language reflects the probability of having both preposition and postposition. The purpose of this study is to analyze the probability of using other adposition in the Mandarin language, which is postposition. Table 1 The Characteristic of Language with SVO and SOV Structure Language With SVO Structure Language With SOV Structure Center-Adverb Verb-Adverb Adverb-Verb Noun-Adjective Adjective-Noun Noun-Conjunctions Conjunctions-Noun Noun-Possessive pronoun Possessive pronoun- Noun Other Relevant Structures Auxiliary verb-verb Verb-auxiliary verb Preposition-Noun Noun-Postposition (source: Li & Thompson, 2005) 60 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol.11 No.1, May 2017, 59-65 The postposition refers to the object of the preposition or the term locative noun (LN) in the Mandarin grammar studies. This study mainly discusses locative nouns li (inside), shang (above), and zhong (in the middle). Mushangwe (2014) has said that the prepositions show the relationship between one thing and another, link words such as nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in a given phrase. A preposition is the only adposition known in the Mandarin language. Locative noun li, shang, and zhong are often used along with preposition zai in an adpositional phrase. Most of the Mandarin language preposition derived from the verb. Therefore, preposition zai has a similar form and phonetic sound with verb zai that has a meaning of ‘exist’. There are the characteristics of Mandarin language preposition; (1) it manages to form a prepositional phrase when used with another full word. Generally, the preposition or the object of preposition will be followed by the noun. (2) It cannot be reduplicated, nor followed by auxiliary words such as zhe, le, and guo. (3) Generally, it is a single form that cannot be considered as a sentence, nor being a subject, predicate, or other functions of syntax. (4) It declares time, place, way, excuses, following an act or condition, exception, and passive condition. Except for preposition zai, locative noun shang and zhong also can be used as a verb. There are some characteristics that may be overlooked in order to see the interconnectedness and similarities between the languages in the world. Like other languages, Mandarin also has word that considered as two different word classes. Yin Guoguang in Yin (2007) has stated, there are at least two elements to be considered in order to classify Mandarin words; they are the grammatical function and the meaning. Based on these two elements, the use of shang as a verb is shang che (riding car), shang louti (climbing up the stairs). The use of zhong as a verb is zhongdu (being poisoned), dazhong (hit the target). The above statement about word classification of zai, shang, and zhong describes that in this study, word classification problem is an important thing to be solved. If this problem cannot be solved, it will affect the whole process of data validation. Word can be divided into two main groups; they are the full word and empty word/particle. The particle is a limited word that cannot be the input of any morphology process, have grammatical meaning, and can be mastered with memorizing. Xing (2010) has said that there are 11 word classes in the Mandarin Language. Followings are related to our focus of study from what Xing have stated (1) Li, shang and zhong belong to the noun. Locative noun is a subcategory of the noun. (2) In the Mandarin language, particle consists of the preposition, adverb, conjunction, auxiliary, and others. (3) Adposition that known in The Mandarin language is the preposition. Xing (2010) has found that locative noun is a limited and specific type of noun. The term locative noun is a noun that describes the location, direction, and relation between location-direction. Based on the structure, locative noun is divided into simple locative noun and complex locative noun. Simple locative noun consists of one syllable or monosyllable, for example, li (inside), shang (above), zhong (in the middle). Other examples are xia (under), qian (in front), hou (behind), dong (east), xi (west), nan (south), bei (north), wai (outside), nei (inside). The locative noun is used with another word that placed after the word to form a phrase, for example of locative noun hou (behind) in wuzi hou (room-behind) has meaning ‘behind the room’ (Xing, 2010). The phrase with N+LN construction is known as the locative phrase. Locative noun or fangweici is subcategory of noun that describes direction and location. As above stated, locative noun is used with other word to form N + LN phrase. Besides, the use of locative noun has Prep+N+LN structure, as Lv Shuxiang has suggested in Xiandai Hanyu Babaici. 方位词常常跟‘在、从、到’等介词配合起来 用。别的语言里的‘介＋名’短语，汉语里有 时候必得用‘介＋名＋方’来说，例如英语的 ‘in the room’ 说法是 ‘在屋子里’。(Lv, 2009:14) (The locative noun is often used with preposition zai, cong, dao and other preposition. The phrase with Prep+N structure in other languages will different with the Mandarin language. In Mandarin will have to use Prep. + N + LN structure, for example, the English phrase ‘inside the room’ will have to be translated into zai wuzi li). The above English adpositional phrase can be describe as follows: In the room 在屋子里 Zai wuzi li at-room-inside ‘Inside the room’ ‘In the room’ consists of the Prep+N structure. In the Mandarin translation zai wuzi li will have Prep+N+LN structure. Lv (2009) has found that the use of preposition zai is optional, therefore the phrase can be translated into zai wuzi li (at-room-inside) or wuzi li (room-inside) without changing its meaning. Although Lv not explicitly stated, the scholars treat the locative noun as a postposition. From the statement, the use of locative noun li, shang, and zhong in a phrase will have N+ LN structure or Prep+N+LN structure. Lv (2009) studies are based on phrase structures with the locative noun as noun subcategory. According to this point of view, the phrase with Prep+ N structure can be considered as the prepositional phrase. On the other hand, the phrase with N+LN structure is considered as the locative phrase. The use of preposition zai (at) along with locative noun indicates there are times when locative noun li, shang, and zhong appear without the presence of preposition zai but manage to have the same meaning. As the basic consideration in Indonesian language, Kridalaksana (1994) has found there is the Prep+LN structure in Indonesian language preposition phrase. Kridalaksana has stated that the word class of dalam (in/ inside) can be understood as; (1) Ia tinggal di dalam/ He lives inside (dalam is a noun), (2) Ia tinggal di dalam rumah/He lives inside the house (dalam is a noun of dalam rumah phrase), (3) Ia tinggal dalam rumah/He lives in the house (dalam is a preposition). The use of preposition di (at), di dalam (inside), and di atas (above) are affected by semantic features that contained in the center noun or object of the preposition (Alwi, 2003). The flattened two-dimensional object such as “a table” can use preposition di atas meja (above the table) or di meja (at the table). A spatial three-dimensional object such as “a drawer” can use preposition di dalam laci 61The Use of Locative Nouns Li, Shang, and Zhong .... (Ayu Trihardini) (inside the drawer) or di laci (in the drawer). Either “di meja” or “di laci” will not change their meaning. Therefore, Alwi has concluded that Indonesian language prepositional phrase has a typical pattern of the Prep+LN+N/object of the preposition. Kridalaksana (1994) has found that Indonesian phrase di dalam (inside), di atas (above) and di tengah (at the middle) are called mix preposition. Based on the description of Mandarin and Indonesian language, it is necessary to analyze the use of LN as Mandarin language postposition. Liu Daqing in Xu (2008) has stated that in Mandarin language spatial meaning is described through the use of preposition or postposition or the circumposition, the combination between them. The Mandarin language is a language with spatial circumposition, which in a phrase there is a preposition that describes spatial relation such as zai (at), wang (to), cong (from) and so on, also a locative noun that describes spatial location such as li (inside), shang (above), and zhong (in the middle). Other studies about Mandarin language postposition are brought by Sun and Chappelin in Xu (2008). Sun called postposition with the term locatives, meanwhile, Chappel called it localizers. Either the term locatives or localizers, all refer to locative noun. The study which supports the hypotheses about Mandarin language circumposition is Cui Xiliang’s article in Hanyu Xuexi journal (Cui, 2002) that discuss language classification from the way languages express the spatial relation in sentences. In many languages, the spatial position is expressed in various ways. English uses the preposition, Mandarin uses preposition added the locative noun, while Russian uses auxiliary and so on. Moreover, the elements that are used to express this spatial relation also have the different location. 空间的表达有三种位置类型。(1) 前置型：表 达空间关系的语言成分位于谓语动词之前。例 如日语。(2) 后置型：表达空间关系的语言成 分位于谓语动词之后。以俄语为例。(3) 前后并 存型：标引空间方位关系的成分即可以出现在 谓词性成分之前，又可以出现在谓词性成分之 后。例如现代英语和现代汉语。(Cui, 2002) (The marker element of spatial relation have three types of location; (1) Located in the front; language which it element of spatial relation located in front of verb/main predicate, for example, Japanese. (2) Located in the back; language which it element of spatial relation located behind of verb/main predicate, for example, Russian. (3) Located in the front and the back; the element of spatial relation other than located in front of the predicate, also located behind of predicate, for example, modern English and modern Mandarin language). According to Cui Xiliang, from the diachronic point of view, Mandarin’s structure changed in the element of spatial relation. Classic Mandarin language is classified as the group of language type 2, namely the language with the element of spatial relation located behind of verb/main predicate. Whereas modern Mandarin language is classified as the group of language type 3. Thus actually, the Mandarin language is formerly knowing and using the marker element of spatial relation behind the predicative element. Cui Xiliang compares it as the following example: (1) 入于幽谷 Ru yu you gu (classic Mandarin language) Enter at deep valley Enter into the deep valley (2) 进入到深谷里 Jinru dao shen gu li (modern Mandarin language) Enter to deep valley inside ‘Enter into the deep valley’ Upon two examples above, the classic Mandarin language only needs preposition yu (at). While modern Mandarin language needs preposition dao (to), and locative noun li (inside) to be a grammatically accepted utterance. Nevertheless, Cui Xiliang uses the term locative noun to refer the element behind noun ‘valley’. So is Chappel in Xu, (2008); Li, Charles N, and Thompson (2005); Ernst, (1988), although it does not mention explicitly, these experts treat the locative noun as a marker element of spatial relation that put after a noun or postposition. METHODS Analysis concerning the locative noun li, shang, and zhong as Mandarin language adposition is aimed to prove the earlier hypothesis that the Mandarin language have adposition other than the preposition, and it is classified as the language with circumposition. The data in this study are sentences using preposition zai and locative noun li, shang, zhong. The data sources are (1) Short stories in Xiaoshuo Quanpian by Lu Xun,consists of 狂人日记 Kuangren Riji, 药 Yao, 明天 Mingtian, 自序 Zixu, 孔乙己 Kong Yiji (Lu, 1997); and (2) Articles in Mandarin tabloid Hi-Young Mandarin consists of迎接新春Yingjie Xinchun, 新年倒数 一周 Xinnian Daoshu Yi Zhou, 2010年庚寅年十二生肖运 程 2010 Nian Qing Huangnian Shi’Er Shengxiao Yuncheng, 樂樂漢語 Lele Hanyu, Fun Hi！雅台 Yatai,节日我知Jieri Wo Zhi (Hi Young Mandarin, 2010). These simply because the data needed are founded most in the novel, short stories, or articles in the variety of language. Lu Xun’s short stories represent how the locative noun is being used in China on the early 1900s, which is the beginning of baihua or the modern non-classic Chinese language. Meanwhile, Hi- Young’s articles represent how the locative noun is being used recently on 2000s era. Both are written in a semiformal way that gives us many varieties of the use of the locative noun in a phrase construction. As Wang & Xu (2013) have stated on the average of every 100 words of 2000 people’s daily corpus, there are 15,1 prepositional phrases appeared. In other words, by statistic, the use of prepositional phrases is significant. Therefore, there are many data provided for this study. This study involves UNJ Mandarin Language Education Program students and UNJ BIPA student from China. The students’ main task is to provide and classify data. The BIPA student’s task is to examine the conclusions. A native speaker is needed to be involved because it is difficult for non-native to use adposition which does not have clear lexical meaning with an important role in the sentence (Wulandari, 2010). The object of this study consists of language in texts, hence observation, and documentation method that are needed. After carefully observe objects of study, the collected data are documented in the data card. The analysis 62 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol.11 No.1, May 2017, 59-65 of data uses distribution method with dissipative technique, substitution technique, and insert technique. The distribution method is a method that commonly used in language research. This study uses distribution method because of the need of an instrument of Mandarin language syntax structure. In data analysis, distribution method uses determiner instrument as part of the target language, namely words, syntax functions, clause, syllable, pitches, and so on (Sudaryanto, 1993). Through dissipative and insert technique, the distribution of the adpositional phrase, which contains li, shang, and zhong on syntax structure could be known. The elements that are being dissipated and inserted alternately are preposition zai and locative noun li, shang, zhong. Through substitution technique, the testing toward the conclusion of adpositional phrase distribution and the use of preposition zai, also li, shang, zhong that related to semantic is conducted. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Locative noun (LN) or fangweici, is a subcategory of the noun which illustrates direction and location (Xing, 2010). Locative noun often forms phrase construction with N+LN structure. Lv (2009) has said that locative noun is often used along with preposition zai (at) in forming prepositional phrase construction with Prep+ N+ LN structure. Based on the collected and analysed data, locative noun li (inside), shang (above), and zhong (in the middle), the results are; (1) it can be considered as postposition, (2) it cannot be considered as postposition, and (3) it can be considered as circumposition. First, the use of locative noun after noun is a must, in a specific, noun that requires to demonstrate the location of an object. Second, in adpositional phrase with zai+N+LN structure which is an adverb of sentence, the use of preposition zai become optional. For example: a. 在我们店里 (Zai women dian li) At-our-shop-inside Inside our shop b. 我们店里 (Women dian li) Our-shop-inside Inside our shop When preposition zai is not used, the meaning of the phrase women dian li remain does not change. For example: a. 在现在的世界上 (Zai xianzai de shijie shang) At-nowadays-de/PART-world-above Above the world nowadays b. 现在的世界上 (Xianzai de shijie shang) Nowadays-de/PART-world-above Above the world nowadays When preposition zai is not used, the meaning of the phrase xianzai de shijie shang remain does not change. For example: a. 在这土路中 (Zai zhe tulu zhong) At-this-journey-middle In this journey b. 这土路中 (Zhe tulu zhong) This-journey-middle In this journey When preposition zai is not used, the meaning of the phrase zhe tulu zhong remain does not change. Third, in N+LN shang structure, which locative noun shang contains the meaning of preposition ‘at’. Fourth, in Verb+N+LN li structure as predicate, which N is three dimensional non-abstract objects. For example: a. 住家里 (Zhu jia li) Live-house-in Live inside the house b. 装衣袋里 (Zhuang yidai li) Put-pocket-inside Put inside the pocket’ N ‘house’ and N ‘pocket’ are three dimensional non-abstract object, thus locative noun li can be directly used without preposition zai. Locative noun li in above construction can be considered as postposition. Fifth, in N+LN li structure, which LN li is used to indicate the place of birth, events, and particular settled place. For example: a. S会管里有三件事。 S huiguan li you san jian shi. S-meeting hall-inside-there-three-space-room Inside S meeting hall there are three rooms.’ b. 姐姐命里缺什么？ Jiejie ming li que shenme? Sister-life-inside-lack-what What is lacking in sister life? c. 今年田里收成好。 Jinnian tian li shoucheng hao This year-field-inside-harvest-good This year’s harvest is good’ LN li is used to indicate the place of birth, events, settled place as in the noun of ‘hall’, ‘life’, ‘field.’ Sixth, in N+LN zhong structure, which LN zhong is used to indicate area, demonstrate a situation or atmosphere. For example: a. 他话中全毒 Ta hua zhong quan du His-words-middle-all-poison His words are full of poison In Verb+Prep zai+N+LN structure which possessed the functions of predicate, the using of preposition zai is a must. Verbs such as lie (in parallel), luo (fall), sai (insert), duo (hide), fang (put), shui (sleep), zuo (sit), li (stand), need the presence of preposition zai. Only few verbs that can be used together with LN, such as zhuang (put) and zhu (live), without preposition zai. For example: a. 还在这里 Hai zai zhe li Still-exist-this-inside Still inside here b. 现在只在一个包上。 Xianzai zhi zai yi ge baoshang Now-only-there-one-item-bag-above Now there is only one item above the bag The form without preposition zai such as hai zhe li and xianzai zhi yi ge baoshang are considered as 63The Use of Locative Nouns Li, Shang, and Zhong .... (Ayu Trihardini) ungrammatical form. In proposition zai+N+LN+Verb structure as a predicate, the using of preposition zai is a must. Without preposition zai, the meaning of the form will be unclear and considered as ungrammatical. For example: a. 在床上躺着 Zai chuangshang tangzhe At-bed-above-lay down-zhe/PART Laying down on the bed b. 床上躺着 Chuangshang tangzhe Bed-above-lay down-zhe/PART (ungrammatical) c. 在每岁里接了钱 Zai mei sui li jiele qian At-every-age-inside-receive-already-money In every year already receiving money d. 每岁里接了钱 Mei sui li jiele qian E v e r y - a g e - i n s i d e - r e c e i v e - a l r e a d y - m o n e y (ungrammatical) In Verb+N+LN li structure which possessed the functions of predicate, N is an abstract object. For example: a. 落在寂静里 Luo zai jijing li Fall-at-silence-inside Fall into silence b. 落寂静里 Luo jijing li (ungrammatical) In Verb+preposition zai+N+LN shang structure which possessed the functions of predicate. The using of preposition zai is a must. For example: a. 活在世上 Huo zai shi shang Live-at-world-above Living in the world b. 活世上 Huo shi shang Live-at-world (ungrammatical) c. 坐在床沿上 Zuo zai chuangyan shang Sit-at-bed-side-above Sitting on the bedside d. 坐床沿上 Zuo chuangyan shang Sit-bed-side-above (ungrammatical) In Indonesian language, ‘sitting on the bedside’ already have ‘sitting above the bed’ meaning, so generally it does not need to use LN ‘atas’ (above). Noun that describes name of location only need to use preposition zai. Inserting locative noun can cause the inserted phrase into ungrammatical form. For example: a. 我的朋友在北大里学习 Wo de pengyou zai Beida li xuexi. My-de/PART-friend-at-Beijing University-inside- study (ungrammatical) The above sentence will be considered grammatical if there is not locative noun li (inside) existed. The use of locative noun is optional, when the noun describes name of building, unit, and name of mountain, river, lake. Some nouns such as yanjiu (research), shishi (reality), sixiang (idea), koutou (oral), wenti (problem) in N+LN shang structure are often using preposition zai. According to native speaker, when the noun is not using zai, the use of locative noun shang is also optional. For example: a. (在）一个合适的位置 (Zai) yi ge heshi de weizhi (At)-one-item-suitable-de/PART-position-above At a suitable position b. 放在枕头（上）旁边 Fang zai zhentou (shang) pangbian Put-at-pillow(above)-beside Put beside the pillow In N+LN shang structure, it can be inserted with preposition zai. Causing as if there are two parts of adposition or so called circumposition. For locative noun shang that showing location of an object or defines areas/ fields, the semantic needs cannot always be fulfilled. Therefore inserting preposition zai can sometimes unacceptable. For example: a. 一路上的人 Yi lu shang de ren One-road-above-de/PART-person ‘The man on the same road’, this construction can be inserted with preposition zai into zai yi lu shang de ren. b. 山上还有云雾 Shan shang haiyou yunwu Mountain-above-still there-fog ‘There are still fogs on top of the mountain’, this construction can be inserted with preposition zai into zai shan shang haiyou yunwu. c. 书上写着这件多字 Shushang xiezhe zhe jian duo zi Book-above-write-zhe/PART-this-piece-several- letters ‘In the book written several of these letters’ cannot be inserted with preposition zai. The construction zai shushang xiezhe zhe jian duo zi is considered as ungrammatical form. d. 乳房上发了一条热 Rufang shang fa le yi tiao re Nursing room-above-flare –le/PART-one-piece-fire ‘On top of the nursing room, the fire was already flare’ cannot be inserted with preposition zai, the construction zai rufang shang fa le yi tiao re is considered as ungrammatical form. e. Showing areas or fields: 工作上充满赶紧 Gongzuo shang chongman ganjin Work-above-very-dilligent ‘In the field of occupational work, very dilligent’ cannot be inserted with preposition zai, the construction zai gongzuo shang chongman ganjin is considered as ungrammatical form. f. 涉取专业上的新知识 Shequ zhuanye shang de xin zhishi Reach-profession-above-de/PART-new-knowledge ‘To reach a new knowledge in the field of professional 64 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol.11 No.1, May 2017, 59-65 service’ cannot be inserted with preposition zai, the construction shequ zai zhuanye shang de xin zhishi is considered as ungrammatical form. In Verb+Preposition zai+N+LN li structure as a predicate, noun is a three dimensional non-abstract objects. The use of zai is optional. When zai are used, it will cause as if there are circumposition. For example: a. 落在寂静里 Luo zai jijing li Fall-at-silence-inside ‘Fall into silence’ b. 落寂静里 Luo jijing li Fall-silence-inside (ungrammatical) c. 装在衣袋里 Zhuang zai yidai li Put-at-pocket-inside ‘Put inside the pocket’ d. 装衣袋里 Zhuang yidai li Put-pocket-inside ‘Put inside the pocket’ e. 住在家里 Zhu zai jia li Live-at-house-inside ‘Live inside the house’ f. 住家里 Zhu jia li Live-house-inside ‘Live inside the house’ Silence is a non-abstract object, therefore the dissipative form is considered as ungrammatical. Pocket and house are three dimensional non-abstract objects, therefore the dissipative form is considered as grammatical. The use of locative noun zhong has limitations compared with LN li and shang. In zai+N+LN zhong structure, the dissipation of preposition zai sometimes causes the phrase ungrammatical. For example: a. 在冷淡的空气中 Zai lengdan de kongqi zhong At-cold-de/PART-weather-middle ‘In this cold weather’ b. 冷淡的空气中 Lengdan de kongqi zhong Cold-de/PART-weather-middle ‘In this cold weather’ c. 在旁人的说笑声中 Zai pangren de shuoxiaosheng zhong At-next people-de/PART-talk-laugh-sound-middle ‘In the midst of people’s laughter’ d. 旁人的说笑声中 Pangren de shuoxiaosheng zhong Next people-de/PART-talk-laugh-sound-middle (ungrammatical) In N+LN zhong structure, which LN zhong means between or in a certain group, sometimes can be inserted with preposition zai. If there is a verb at the front of the structure, the phrase cannot be inserted with zai. For example: a. 菜中唯独鱼必能吃完 Cai zhong weidu yu bi neng chiwan Dish-middle-only-fish-cannot-eaten up ‘Among the dish, only fish that cannot be eaten up’ b. 在菜中唯独鱼必能吃完 Zai cai zhong weidu yu bu neng chiwan At-dish-middle-only-fish-cannot-eaten up ‘Among the dish, only fish that cannot be eaten up’ c. 客中少有人来 Ke zhong shao you ren lai. Guests-middle-few-there-people-come ‘Among the invited guests, only few that came by’ d. 在客中少有人来 Zai ke zhong shao you ren lai. A t - g u e s t s - m i d d l e - f e w - t h e r e - p e o p l e - c o m e (ungrammatical) The construction of Zai ke zhong shao you ren lai, according to native speaker is considered as ungrammatical but still understandable. CONCLUSIONS The data are the results of analysis along with Mandarin native speaker. In the process of this study, the native speaker shows his difficulties in classifying a structure into just two types of form: grammatical or ungrammatical. Some structure could be classified as ungrammatical form, but understandable. Therefore, according to the native speaker, structure classification is supposed to divide into three types of form: (1) grammatical, (2) ungrammatical, (3) ungrammatical but understandable. Based on dissipative technic, substitution technic and insert technic of distribution method, it can be concluded that in popular text (magazine, short stories, and novel), locative noun li, shang, and zhong are treated as postposition, are not treated as postposition, and locative noun together with preposition zai are treated as circumposition. According to the features of locative noun li, shang, and zhong, generally can be used together with preposition zai. In certain contexts, Mandarin language treats the locative noun as postposition and at the same time also using its preposition. From these circumstances, it can be concluded that Mandarin locative noun li, shang, and zhong sometimes should be considered as postpositions and Mandarin language considers to have circumposition. Abbreviations used: N : Noun LN : Locative Noun PART : Particle Prep. : Preposition SVO : Subject-Verb-Object SOV : Subject-Object-Verb REFERENCES Alwi, H. (2003). Tata bahasa baku bahasa Indonesia (5th ed.). Jakarta: Balai Pustaka. 65The Use of Locative Nouns Li, Shang, and Zhong .... (Ayu Trihardini) Cui, X. (2002). Kongjian guanxi de leixingxue yanjiu. Hanyu Xuexi, 1(1). Ernst, T. (1988). Chinese Postpositions? -Again. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 16(2), 219–245. Hi Young Mandarin. (2010, February), pp. 4–27. Jakarta. Kridalaksana, H. (1994). Kelas kata dalam bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Li, C. N., & Thompson, S. A. (2005). Hanyu yufa Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. (S. Huang, Ed.) (Translated). Taipei: The Crane Publishing. Lu, X. (1997). Xiaoshuo Quanpian. Guilin: Lijiang Chubanshe. Lv, S. (2009). Xiandai hanyu babai ci. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan. Mushangwe, H. (2014). An Analysis of Acquisition of Chinese Prepositions by Native Speakers of Shona. International Journal of Education and Research, 2(2), 1–12. Sudaryanto. (1993). Metode dan aneka teknik analisis bahasa, pengantar penelitian wahana kebudayaan secara linguistik. Yogyakarta: Duta Wacana Univeristy Press. Verhaar, J. W. (2008). Asas-asas linguistik umum. Yogyakarta: UGM Press. Wang, Y., & Xu, J. (2013). Automatic Identification of Chinese Prepositional Phrase Including Verbs. International Journal of Future Computer and Communication, 2(1), 2012–2014. doi: http://doi. org/10.7763/IJFCC.2012.V2.111 Wulandari, D. (2010). The influence of first or other languages in the use of preposition in Singapore english. Parole Journal of Linguistics and Education, 1(1), 1–8. Retrieved from http://ejournal.undip.ac.id/ index.php/parole/article/view/806/701. Xing, F. (2010). Xiandai hanyu. Beijing: Gaodeng jiaoyu chubanshe. Xu, D. (2008). Space in languages of China: Cross- linguistics, synchronic and diachronic perspective. (D. Xu, Ed.). Dordrecht: Springer. Yin, D. (2007). Hanyu dongci yanjiu zongshu. Luoyang Shifan Xuexiao Xuebao, 6, 120–122.