关键词: 空间参照系; 拓扑表达; “有/是”字句; “在”字句; “参照物先于目标物”原则

Abstract: With the theories of spatial language by some Western scholars，this study explores how Chinese describes the location and orientation of a static entity in space by way of reference frames and topological relations. In light of the data drawn from natural discourses， the article has analyzed in detail the uses of spatial frames of reference and topological descriptions in Chinese. The findings show that：firstly, spatial frames of reference and topological relations are the basic ways of describing the locations or places of objects，and comparatively topological descriptions are more commonly used，probably due to the fact that in context it is easier to know where a Figure is when a nonprojective topological description is used. Secondly，it is often the case that ‘object-centered reference’ is a most frequent frame of reference and that ‘relations of contact，proximity，and inclusion’ are the more commonly coded topological relations. Thirdly，there are two general patterns in Chinese for describing the location and orientation of an entity in space：（1）Ground-Figure sequence，namely You/Shi-sentence pattern ‘prepositional Zai + Ground + Locative + You/Shi + Figure’ ；（2）Figure-Ground sequence，namely Zai-sentence pattern ‘Figure + Zai + prepositional Zai + Ground + Locative’ ．Finally，the You/Shi-sentence patterns are by far the more prevailing in discourse，which results from the ‘Ground preceding Figure’ principle at work. This study has important implications for language acquisition and language teaching.

Keywords: spatial frame of reference; topological description; You/Shi-sentence; Zai-sentence; ‘Ground preceding Figure’ principle