The Study of Grammatical Meanings and the Translation Into Thai of the Prepositional Structure “在 (zài)……上 (shàng)/下 (xià)/中 (zhōng)/里 (lǐ)

Abstract

This research has two main objectives: to analyze the grammatical meaning of the prepositional structure “在 (zài)……上 (shàng)/下 (xià)/中 (zhōng)/里 (lǐ)” and to investigate its translation into Thai. The findings indicate that this structure is not limited to conveying physical meanings related to the position or location, but also extends to five other aspects: 1) indicating perspectives or areas of expertise, 2) indicating boundaries, 3) expressing conditions and factors, 4) describing processes, and 5) denoting statuses, states, or conditions. Regarding its translation, it is observed that this Chinese prepositional structure is highly flexible and can function in multiple ways. It may appear at the beginning of a sentence or before a verb as an adverbial modifier, and it may follow a verb as a complement. Effective translation requires careful adaptation of sentence structures in the target language to align with their linguistic characteristics. For example, in Thai, commonly used equivalents include “ใน”, “บน”, and “ภายใต้”, which differ from Chinese. However, precise contextual analysis is essential to ensure that the translation fully preserves the original meaning while maintaining naturalness and communicative effectiveness in the target language.