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Malay grammarian mainly regards the function of the preposition as an adjuncts (Nik Safiah Karim et al. 1996 and Arbak Othman 1981) or as an adverbs (Asmah Hj. Omar 1993, Liaw Yock Fang & Abdullah Hassan 1994). The function of the prepositions as an adjunts or an adverbs displays that the occurence of the prepositions in clause is not important or optional. Hence this article attempts to exhibit more functions of the preposition phrase in clauses. The functions of Malay prepositions will be divided into two types: those with non-predicative functions and those with predicative functions. Predicative prepositions act as predicates, in that they contribute substantive semantic information to the clauses in which they occur. While non-predicative prepositions do not add any substantive semantic information to the clause and do not license the argument they mark. On the contrary, the argument of the preposition is licensed by the main predicate namely core argument (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997; Van Valin 2005). Jolly (1993) also notes that predicative prepositions functionally similar to adverbial phrases, which convey circumstantial information about an action, object or process. Thus, this study suggests that the prepositions may function either predicatively or non-predicatively is determined by the types of verbs it appear with |
