The Syntax of Event‐Internal and Event‐External Verbal Classifiers

Abstract

AbstractWhen a classifier occurs with a numeral and an event‐denoting expression, it is used as a unit to count events. The classifier is called a verbal classifier if the event‐denoting expression is verbal, although the classifier itself is not verbal. This paper argues that a numeral and a verbal classifier have a spec‐head relation, and the verbal expression is the complement. The proposal explains a number of syntactic generalizations of verbal classifiers in Mandarin Chinese. Like a frequentative adverb such as twice, a verbal classifier expression is either event‐internal or event‐external. The two types of classifiers have different possible positions in the language. The position contrasts are explained by different heights of the projection headed by a classifier. Theoretically, on the one hand, this research unifies the syntax of nominal and verbal numeral classifiers; and on the other hand, it explores the syntactic distinctions between event‐internal and event‐external verbal classifiers.