This study revisits the linguistic properties of preverbal zai in Mandarin Chinese. Specifically, it examines the syntax of a prepositional phrase headed by zai functioning as an adjunct, as the main predicate of a sentence with a continuous reading, as well as a sentence containing zai with a progressive reading. It is argued that there is only one zai and that it always functions as a preposition selecting either a Locative Phrase (LP) or a Zeit Phrase (ZP) as its complement. The study also claims that the different aspectual readings of sentences containing zai are a result of the different types of complements zai selects. It is argued that a sentence has a continuous reading when zai selects an LP and a progressive one when it selects a ZP as its complement. The proposed analyses not only provide a unified account of the linguistic functions of zai but also give a syntactic account of the close relation between the imperfective aspect (in particular, the progressive aspect) and locative elements that has been observed by many previous studies.

中文翻译：

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普通话谚语的先行和介词功能

这项研究重新审视了汉语中谚语“ zai”的语言特性。具体来说，它检查以zai为首的介词短语的语法，该z充当辅助语，作为具有连续阅读的句子的主要谓词，以及包含zai的句子具有渐进式阅读。有人认为只有一个zai，并且它总是充当介词，选择位置短语（LP）或Zeit短语（ZP）作为其补充语。该研究还声称，包含zai的句子的不同方面的阅读是zai选择的补语类型不同的结果。有人认为，当Zai选择LP时，句子具有连续读数，当它选择ZP作为其补充时。