Re: Chinese adpositions (was: Re: inalienable possession)

Nik Taylor wrote:

> But aren't some of those "verbs" *only* used as adpositions?  I suppose
> that at times it is rather iffy as to whether a word is adpositional or
> nominal/verbal.
To be sure. The only borderline case I can think of at the moment is
"yu2". None of the Chinese-Chinese dictionaries I have right at hand
mark parts of speech (often a wise move), but the definition of "yu" is
given as functioning like "zai", like "xiang", like "cong", like "dao",
like "dui", like "gei" -- all of which, according to my mini-rant, are
verbs...

Just ran a *very* scientific study of two native speakers who both
allow:

Wo yu Shanghai.     and   Shu yu zhuozi shang.
I'm in Shanghai.          The books are on the table.

as a complete, if slightly pedantic, sentences.

Verb? Preposition with stative verb properties? Your call.

Counterexamples welcome, and if I remember, I'll have a look at what the
Li & Thompson says about this tonight.

Kou