ch 4 Classifiers Measure Words Iwen Su Unless

ch 4. Classifiers & Measure Words 授課老師：蘇以文 I-wen Su Unless noted, the course materials are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non. Commercial-Share. Alike 3. 0 Taiwan (CC BY-NC-SA 3. 0)

What is a classifier? A word or morpheme to classify the referent of a countable noun according to its meaning. n often used when the noun is being counted or specified n

Not every language has classifiers n Classifiers are not used in English

Languages with noun classifiers Chinese n Persian n Japanese n Korean n Southeast Asian languages n Austronesian languages n Mayan languages n

Classifiers in Chinese “A measure is a bound morpheme which forms a D-M compound with one of the determinatives” (Y. R. Chao) n Used along with numbers to define the quantity of a given object n Always used in conjunction with a noun or another content words n

件 一___衣服 yi jian ___ yi fu Wiki Incal

隻 一___貓 yi ___ zhi mao Wiki user Prskavka

Predictable? 具 電話 yi ____ ju dian hua 一 ____ Wiki user Shizhao

台 一 ____ 電話 yi ____ tai dian hua Wiki Wilfredo R. Rodriguez H.

支 一 ____ 電話 yi ____ zhi dian hua Wiki user Ikescs

Rules to follow? n Different classifiers for different nouns ¨ 一張枱 (yi zhang yi) ¨ 一枝筆 (yi zhi bi)　 ¨ 一塊麵包 (yi kuai mian bao) n no general rules to follow ¨ 一年 (yi nian) ¨ 一個月 (yi ge yue) ¨ 一(個)星期 (yi (ge) xing qi)

Difficult for non-native speakers n 一個人, 說(一)句話 (yi ge ren, shuo (yi) ju hua)　 n *一人, *說一話 (*yi ren, *shuo yi hua) ¨ Each noun has its own specific classifier ¨ Indicating shape, kind, or other properties

One for All? Extensive use of GE (個) n Applicable to most individual nouns n ¨ 一個人(yi ge ren), 一個雞蛋 (yi ge jidan) ¨ ? ? 那個手袋(na ge shoudai), 這個書 (zhe ge shu), 一個鞋 (yi ge xie)　 Easy to use n Risk of over-generalization n

一頭牛 vs. 一條牛 yi tou niu vs. yi tiao niu Flickr Meneer Zjeroen Flickr Jelle. S

一台/架鋼琴 yi tai/jia gang qin　 Flickr t. spang

一間/座房子 yi jian/zuo fang zi　 Flickr james. thompson Flickr To. Sh. U

一把 yi ba Flickr pellaea Flickr ep. Sos. de Flickr Bohman Flickr David Davies

一張 yi zhang Wiki user Charlie. Huang Wiki user Ellywa Flickr osde 8 info Flickr ep. Sos. de

Classifiers are meaningful 一道門 (yi dao men)　 a doorway n 一扇門 (yi shan men) a doorway, a door n Flickr David Paul Ohmer (physical object) n A classifier categorizes a class of nouns by picking out some salient perceptual properties, either physically or functionally based

Categories of Classification Cross-linguistically (Allan 1977) 1. Material 2. Shape 3. Consistency 4. Size n Location measure words Arrangement n quanta n

Chinese classifier systems n Material ¨ (in)Animacy; abstract; verbal nouns n Shape ¨ long; flat; round or ¨ One-dimensional; two-dimensional; three-dimentional n Consistency ¨ flexible; hard/rigid; non-discrete n Size ¨ Big and small

Arbitrary classifier-noun pairings Pi 匹 n Team of 2 horses n A pair of horse skeletons n The pairing between man and horse n “fossilization” n

Variation in use n Metaphorical effect (yi xian xi wang) ¨ 一臉無奈 (yi lian wu nai) ¨ 一線希望 n English A galaxy of talents ¨ An army of workmen ¨ A pile of worries/troubles ¨

朵 一___雲 yi duo ___ yun Flickr supertin

面 一___鏡子 yi mian ___ jing zi Flickr Sam Howzit

頂 一___帽子 yi ding ___ mao zi Flickr Heather

Classifiers for categorization A classifier categorizes a class of nouns by picking out some salient perceptual properties, either physically or functionally based, which are permanently associated with entities named by the class of nouns n A measure word does not categorize but denotes the quantity of the entity named by a noun n

Classifiers may affect the meaning of a noun San jie ke (三節課) n San men ke (三門課) n San zhong ke (三種課) n

Relevant cognitive categories Animacy: zhi (隻), ke (棵), gen(根) n Shape n ¨ Long: tiao (條), gen (根), zhi (枝) ¨ Flat: zhang (張) ¨ Round: li (粒) Size: li (粒), zuo (座) n Consistency: kuai (塊) vs. tuan (團) n Attributes: ba (把) vs. kou (口) n

n Imagination plays a critical role in categorization >> metaphor & metonomy

副 一___麻將 yi ___ fu ma jiang　 Wiki user Oscarcwk

Classifiers vs. Measure words Classifiers vary considerably across Chinese dialects n Measure words do not vary much from one dialect to another n

一系列新裝 系列 yi xi lie xin zhuang　 一組學生 yi zu xue sheng 一幫人 yi bang ren　 一路軍隊 yi lu jun dui　 一群雀鳥 yi qun que niao 一隊士兵 yi dui shi bing　 一套衣服 yi tao yi fu 一批成衣 yi pi cheng yi　 Chao (1968): A group measure is used for a group or collection of individuals

一組學生 yi zu xue sheng 兩組學生 liang zu xue sheng A group of students Two groups of students

一組 學生 A group of students group 兩組 學生 Two groups of students groups 組 zu group Chinese and English measure words are always one-to-one?

N O! Significant differences: contrastive English “group measure words” are more specific exclusive selective For example … …

人 gong ren 雀鳥 que niao 才子 一群 cai zi 魚 yi qun 　 yu 蜜蜂 mi fong 歡迎者 huan ying zhe 　 An army of workmen A flock of birds A galaxy of talents A school of fish A swarm of bees A troop of welcomers

army flock 一群 yi qun galaxy school swarm troop “群”can be applied to all animals in Chinese but … expressed in numerous ways for English!!

English “group measure words” • possess visualization effect • are represented with cultural imagination For example … …

人 gong ren 雀鳥 que niao 一群 才子cai zi yi qun 魚 yu 蜜蜂 mi fong 歡迎者 huan ying zhe An army of workmen A flock of birds A galaxy of talents A school of fish A swarm of bees A galaxy of talents

A galaxy of talents n Galaxy luminous tract with numerous stars extended to … io t a z i al u s i V An assembly of brilliant, glamorous, or distinguished persons who are also like blinking stars ct e f f n e

“Group measure” for insects “Group measure” for birds A hive of A bevy of A cloud of A case of An army of An host of “Group measure” for wild animals A tribe of A kennel of A collection of A herd of al r u t l u n c o i e t a th n i o t g a t m ec - i j ” b d p u n u S g a e “gro n i d an th t ! s h n r t e i o i d t w un d en e v t n a i o assoc atter of c a m

However, … glasses 一 副 眼鏡 yi fu yan jing trousers A pair of 一 條 褲子 yi tiao ku zi gloves 一 對 手套 yi duei shou tao Violates the specific property of English “group measure words”? English more imaginative for animal groups (group property) but not for static object, which has to be descriptive and logical enough. (e. g. pair – purely mathematical) Again, cultural/language convention!

一塊木頭 yi kuai mu tou 一支樂曲 yi zhi yue qu 一篇散文 yi pian san wen 一番好意 yi fan hao yi 一片麵包 yi pian mian bao 一則勸告 yi ze quan gao wood music prose A piece of kindness bread advice

Some observations: Different measure scales Chinese English (1) 　畝 mu 1/6 acre (2) 里 li 　　　　 1/3 miles (3) 丈 zhang 　　　 10 feet

Chinese measure words from English via transliteration Chinese English (1) 噸 dun　　　　 ton (2) 加侖 jia lun　　 gallon

Contextual effect of Chinese classifiers Mandarin n 三塊 (san kuai) kuai ¨ standard measure associated with money　 measure n 一塊麵包 (yi kuai mian bao)　 kuai ¨ partitive measure modifying a noun measure Chao (1968): A partitive measure represents portion of a thing instead of a group of it. However, it is just a matter of point of view!

General observation The same morpheme sometimes serves as different kinds of measures (Chao) • • 一口飯 (yi kou fan) kou a partitive measure 一口鐘 (yi kou zhong) kou a classifier

Omission of measure words or classifiers? English: (1) A can of coke → a coke (2) A jar of beer → a beer Chinese: 一個光年 (yi ge guangnian) →一光年 (yi guangnian) More Precise? ? ?

PPT adapted from Chiu Man Hin Kwan Yin Lai, Sherleen Leung Chau Pui, Allison

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Copyright Declaration Work p. 5, 35, 49, 50 p. 21 p. 39, 40, 42, 46 Licensing Author/Source Chao, Yuen Ren. 1968. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Unversity of California Press. and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by GET Allan, K. 1977. Classifiers. Language 53: 281 -311 and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by GET Chiu Man Hin. Kwan Yin Lai, Sherleen. Leung Chau Pui, Allison. 2003. Contrastive study of English and Chinese Measure words. and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by GET