Classifier Phrases Research Articles

Suppletion of numerals ‘one’ and ‘two’ in Mandarin Chinese

In many languages numerals may appear in different forms depending on the context, which Greenberg (1978) called the contextual and absolute forms respectively. Greenberg made the universal generalization that if a numeral has two forms, then all the lower numerals also do. He then mentioned Mandarin Chinese as an exception because while its numeral ‘2’ has two forms, he thinks that the lower numeral ‘1’ doesn’t. This paper argues for a different view about Mandarin ‘1’–that is, ‘1’ actually has two forms just like ‘2’, despite their segmental identity. Then I argue that the two forms of ‘1’ and ‘2’ are not distinguished by use as Greenberg claimed for ‘2’, but rather by the morphophonological context: the contextual form appears when followed by overt material at the point of vocabulary insertion of the numeral, otherwise the absolute form appears. This generalization, together with the key assumption that vocabulary insertion proceeds bottom-up, leads to a particular structure for enumerating numerals like liǎng gè nv̌hái ‘two girls’, where the Cardinal head liǎng ‘two’ takes the Classifier Phrase gè nv̌hái as its complement. This paper also provides novel evidence suggesting that in Mandarin a complex enumerating numeral like ‘125 pears’ merges the complex cardinal phrase ‘125’ with the Classifier Phrase, supporting He (2015) and challenging Ionin & Matushansky (2016, 2018).

Sortal classifiers and noun categorization in Zauzou

Abstract This paper investigates the sortal classifier system in Zauzou, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Southwest China. Three etymological subclasses – repeater, non-repeater, and quasi-repeaters – are identified in two morphosyntactic contexts: the bare classifier phrase [n+clf] and the full noun phrase [n+mod+clf], serving as an “individualizer” that transforms unindividualized nominal concepts into referential individuals. The three types of classifiers classify nouns on the basis of different semantic parameters that differ in terms of semantic contrastiveness. Animacy, shape, size, rigidity and quanta are non-contrastive semantic parameters commonly found among non-repeaters. Repeaters and quasi-repeaters categorize nouns primarily on the basis of semantically contrastive taxonomy, meronomy, or arrangement. With respect to the function of quantification, repeaters, quasi-repeaters, and non-repeaters are identical in [n+mod+clf] but diverge in [n+clf]. They do not uniformly render the singular interpretation with all kinds of referents in [n+clf]. Non-repeaters are more grammaticalized classifiers than (quasi-)repeaters. The Zauzou data provide evidence for the development from repeaters to non-repeaters, on a par with the commonly recognized grammaticalization path from nouns to classifiers, which is conditioned by two types of “parameter shift”. This study offers a descriptive model that effectively captures the relationship between semantic-functional properties of sortal classifiers and their historical development in “repeater” languages.

L1 Transfer in the Acquisition of Word Order in the Adjective-Added Korean Classifier Phrases by L1-Chinese and L1-Russian Children

This study explored first language (L1) transfer in child second language (L2) acquisition, testing whether L1-Chinese children learning L2 Korean show an advantage over L1-Russian children in the acquisition of adjective-added Korean classifier phrases. Chinese, like Korean, has classifier phrases with similar word orders, while Russian does not. L1-Chinese (n = 18) and L1-Russian (n = 27) children (age = 11-12 years) with L2 Korean completed an acceptability judgment task (AJT) designed to explore grammaticality in the orderings of Korean classifier phrases. The L1-Chinese children also completed a Chinese-version AJT, a translation equivalent to the Korean AJT. The study resulted in two main findings. First, in the Korean AJT, the L1-Chinese children showed more target-like performance than proficiency-matching L1-Russian children. Second, the L1-Chinese children showed comparable ratings between the Korean AJT and the Chinese AJT. The results suggest that L1 transfer takes place during child L2 acquisition, countering claims of a limited role of L1 transfer in child L2 acquisition.

Referentiality and thematic importance: The discourse functions of Zauzou classifiers

Marking referentiality is one of the major discourse functions of numeral classifiers in Mainland Southeast Asian languages. However, the reference types of classified and unclassified noun phrases exhibit some extent of fluidity. This paper presents the discourse functions of classified and unclassified noun phrases in Zauzou, a less-studied Tibeto-Burman language in China. Zauzou noun phrases in spontaneous speech indicate no simple correspondence between the presence/absence of a classifier and any fixed referential values (i.e., (in)definiteness and specificity). Findings of both qualitative and quantitative studies only point to a tendency of using classifier phrases to express individualized references and bare nouns for unindividualized references. The fluidity in the reference type of classified and unclassified noun phrases can be largely explained by the split in definiteness and thematic importance of a referent in discourse. Notably, thematic importance plays a secondary role in determining the form of a noun phrase in addition to referentiality. Thematically unimportant individualized referents have a higher chance to be expressed by a bare noun. This study provides a new piece of empirical evidence for the patterns of semantic-pragmatic interaction in manipulating the use of numeral classifiers as well as the typology of definiteness marking.

Acquisition of Chinese Verb Separation by Adult L2 Learners

Chinese verb separation is a grammatical construction in which a bimorphemic verb compound separates and expands into a verb phrase. For example, to say “sang one song”, one must insert the aspect marker le and classifier phrase yī shǒu between the verb chàng gē ‘sing-song’ as in chàng le yī shǒu gē (sing-LE-one-classifier-song). Adult second language (L2) learners face at least three problems related to acquiring verb separation: separation patterns are complex and numerous, classroom oral input is limited, and L1 transfer often fails. To better understand L2 learners’ acquisition of verb separation, this study tested 28 adult L2-Chinese classroom learners. Three tasks were administered online: verb decomposition, grammaticality judgment, and oral translation. On average, only 37% of verbs were accurately decomposed, 63% of verbs were accurately judged to be grammatical, and 19% of verbs were orally produced with the correct separation pattern. Chinese verb separation, particularly decomposition and oral production, is thus extremely challenging for L2 learners to acquire—even for advanced learners with a relatively large vocabulary size. The results are discussed in terms of the Unified Competition Model and L2 Chinese pedagogy.

Factors affecting English-speaking learners’ acquisition of Chinese relative clauses with demonstrative classifier phrases

Abstract The current empirical research aimed to investigate native English-speaking learners’ acquisition of Chinese relative clauses (RCs) by conducting two studies. Study I explored the participants’ performance on gapped and gapless relative clauses (RCs) and their interpretation of demonstrative classifier (DCL)-relative clauses. Study II further investigated the participants’ interpretation of DCL-first and DCL-second RCs and discussed contextual effect. Different tasks were designed in the two studies: a sentence-unscrambling (SU) task and an acceptability judgement (AJ) task in Study I; and an interpretation (IT) task in Study II. A total of 20 L2 learners and 20 native speakers of Mandarin participated in our research. The overall results obtained from Study I revealed that gapped RCs were easier to produce and accept than gapless RCs, and learner performance was influenced by DCL position. Moreover, the L2 learners’ L1 knowledge was found to affect their production, but the task effect was not significant. In Study II, DCL-first RCs were found to be as difficult as DCL-second RCs for the L2 learners to interpret. The non-restrictive and restrictive interpretations of DCL-first RCs were found to be much more comprehensible. Finally, the L2 learners’ interpretation of RCs having DCL phrases in different positions showed a tendency of a contextual effect.

UNIFYING ELLIPSIS AND PRONOMINALIZATION IN JORDANIAN ARABIC*

AbstractIn this paper, I discuss ellipsis inside Jordanian Arabic (JA) DPs. I show that both Nominal Ellipsis (NE) and pronominalization are attested in JA. I argue following Saab & Lipták (2016) that ellipsis takes place at different heights in the extended nominal projection via the presence of an [E]llipsis feature (Merchant 2001, 2005). In particular, I argue that there are two types of ellipsis in the DP: Noun Phrase Ellipsis (NPE), which targets the noun alone; and (ii) Classifier Phrase Ellipsis (ClPE), which targets a bigger structure than the noun. I show that the application of NPE gives rise to a stranded affix scenario, and as such, an anaphoric element is inserted as a last resort strategy, yielding pronominalization. By contrast, no such stranding takes place with ClPE since the head which contains the stranded affix is contained in the ellipsis site. In support of this view, I analyze ellipsis inside simple DPs and DPs containing numerals, showing that ellipsis could be NPE or ClPE.

Bare classifier phrases in Thai and other mainland Asian languages: implications for classifier theory and typology

AbstractThis article provides a comprehensive analysis of the little-known “bare classifier phrase” construction in Modern Standard Thai. It describes the syntax, semantics and discourse functions of Thai bare classifier phrases, and further proposes a diachronic account of their origin in reduction of post-posed numeral ‘one’. Following this synchronic and diachronic description, this article attempts to locate Thai within a working typology of bare classifier constructions in mainland Asian languages, and further argues for the importance of bare classifier constructions to the theory of classifiers more generally. Following Bisang (1999) and others, it argues that bare classifier constructions reveal the core function of classifiers in Asian languages to beindividuation– a referential function. It therefore cautions against some recent proposals to merge classifiers and gender markers within a single categorical space defined on the semantic basis of nominal classification, and in favour of continuing to treat classifiers as a discrete linguistic category – in mainland Asian languages, at least.

Investigating the Branching of Chinese Classifier Phrases: Evidence from Speech Perception and Production

Investigating the Branching of Chinese Classifier Phrases: Evidence from Speech Perception and Production

Information Structure and Word Order Preference in Child and Adult Speech of Mandarin Chinese

The acquisition of appropriate linguistic markers of information structure (IS), e.g., word order and specific lexical and syntactic constructions, is a rather late development. This study revisits the debate on language-general preferred word order in IS and examines the use of language-specific means to encode IS in Mandarin Chinese. An elicited production study of conjunct noun phrases (NPs) of new and old referents was conducted with native Mandarin-speaking children (N = 24, mean age 4;6) and adults (N = 25, mean age 26). (The age of children is conventionally notated as years;months). The result shows that adults differ significantly from children in preferring the “old-before-new” word order. This corroborates prior findings in other languages (e.g., German, English, Arabic) that adults prefer a language-general “old-before-new” IS, whereas children disprefer or show no preference for that order. Despite different word order preferences, Mandarin-speaking children and adults resemble each other in the lexical and syntactic forms to encode old and new referents: bare NPs dominate the conjunct NPs, and indefinite classifier NPs are used for both the old and the new referents, but when only one classifier phrase is produced, it is predominantly used to refer to the new referents, which suggests children’s early sensitivity to language-specific syntactic devices to mark IS.

Investigating the Branching of Chinese Classifier Phrases: Evidence from Speech Perception and Production / 汉语量词词组的分支：语言产生和语言感知的证据

The formal structure of the construction formed by a numeral (Num), a sortal classifier (C) or mensural classifier (M), and a noun (N), is controversial, as both left-branching [[Num C/M] N] and right-branching [Num [C/M N]] structures have been argued for in the literature. In this paper we report two psycholinguistic experiments on speech production and perception in Mandarin to investigate this branching issue. First, we applied the syntax-phonology interface of tone 3 (T3) sandhi and performed a phonological analysis of native speakers’ tone sandhi patterns of [Num C/M N] phrases composed of T3 monosyllabic words. Second, we conducted a click-detection experiment to see how native speakers would perceive a click inserted in a C/M phrase composed of monosyllabic words, as compared to when it is inserted in other syntactic structures with attested left or right-branching. Results from both experiments supported the leftbranching structure of classifier phrases.

Investigating the Branching of Chinese Classifier Phrases: Evidence from Speech Perception and Production

Investigating the Branching of Chinese Classifier Phrases: Evidence from Speech Perception and Production

Investigating the Branching of Chinese Classifier Phrases: Evidence From Speech Perception and Production

Investigating the Branching of Chinese Classifier Phrases: Evidence From Speech Perception and Production

Left is right, right is not

Abstract This paper argues for the left-branching constituency of the Chinese classifier phrase and demonstrates that the right-branching approach assumed by the majority of current syntactic works is not viable. The rejection of the right-branching approach entails the rejection of the “split” approach, where both left- and right-branching structures are required. In this debate, we offer a vital fresh perspective from the syntax and mathematics of complex numerals. We examine the right-branching argumentation in A. Li (2014), which, crucially, extends Ionin & Matushansky’s (2006) non-constituent account of complex numerals, e.g. two hundred, in non-classifier languages like English to Chinese and must rely on ellipsis and a silent element YIDIAR ‘a bit’. Yet, complex numerals in Chinese, e.g. liang bai ‘200’, are in fact constituents (He 2015), and the alleged YIDIAR ‘a bit’ does affect the semantics of the noun phrase and is thus by definition illicit (Her & Tsai 2014; 2015). Other evidence comes from Chinese synchronic and diachronic syntax as well as the typology of classifier word orders. While the overall argumentation centers on Chinese, it has significant cross-linguistic implications.

The acceptability judgment of Chinese pseudo-modifiers with and without a sentential context

This paper investigates a particular type of non-canonical construction in Mandarin Chinese displaying an apparent semantics-syntax mismatch. We conducted an acceptability judgment experiment on native Mandarin speakers to evaluate whether such sequences could stand out of context as acceptable fragments. Analyses on experimental results revealed that: both semantic and syntactic acceptability of these sequences were significantly lower than those of canonical nominal classifier phrases; whereas if contextualized, the syntactic acceptability of those sequences became similar to that of canonical nominal phrases. This suggests that the non-canonical sequences are grammatically not on the same footing as canonical expressions; and it is the sentential context that makes these sequences appear structurally well-formed. These findings contribute to general discussions on relationship between constituency and grammaticality by demonstrating the gradient nature of grammaticality, and advocate a dynamic perspective in linguistic analysis that looks at a sequence of words in interaction with other elements in a sentence.

Complex indefinites and the projection of DP in Mandarin Chinese

This paper argues for the projection of DP for indefinites initiated with yi ‘one’ and indefinites initiated with a classifier in Mandarin Chinese. First, a null numeral for ‘one’ is identified. Second, in yi-initial nominals, an indefinite article is also identified. Third, for classifier-initial indefinites, which have no overt numeral, a head movement of a classifier to D is argued for. Therefore, the head of DP in the language can be realized by either an indefinite article or a raised classifier. No argument is in the structure of a bare Classifier Phrase in the language. The paper supports the idea that numeralless classifier nominals exist because of the availability of null numerals. It also proposes a semantic LF reanalysis approach to the dependency of a classifier-initial nominal on a higher head element in the language.

The Synthetic Performances of Teochew

Abstract Huang (2015) characterizes “Modern Chinese as a language of high analyticity at multiple levels” and demonstrates “a ranking of relative analyticity among the three dialects: Cantonese > Mandarin > TSM”. This paper argues that Teochew (cháoshànhuà, 潮汕話), another variety of Min, different from TSM, shows more synthetic performances than Mandarin. Chomsky’s “productivity” criterion (1970) helps distinguish lexical operations from syntactic ones. In this spirit, this paper will illustrate its arguments from two perspectives -- lexical and syntactic operations. When it comes to lexical operations, analyses on both the semantic changes within the same categories and the categorial shifts will be made. Besides, syntactic discussions on emphatic inflection, bare classifier phrases, verb-object order and other variants of V-movements in Teochew will also be demonstrated. All analyses will be put under the theoretical framework of generative grammar with the help of a cartography approach. For analyses at the lexical layer, this paper adopts Si’s 司富珍 (2012, 2017a, 2017b, 2018) XW structure, trying to capture the synthesis performances of the Teochew lexicon. As for syntactic operations, the split-CP hypothesis of Rizzi (1997, 2001, 2004) and Rizzi and Bocci (2015), the CL-to-D hypothesis of Simpson (2005), the light verb approach of Chomsky (1995) and the split-light verb hypothesis of Si 司富珍 (2018) will be used as references. Through comparative studies with Mandarin, Cantonese and other languages like English, this paper will conclude that Teochew is a dialect with higher synthesis compared with Mandarin.

《齐民要术》“遍”参与的组合在三个平面上的语法特征

Whenever the “Bian” in Qi Min Yao Shu should attach to a action verb. When “Bian” is an adjective, it can be used as an adverbial conjunction to modify a verb, or it can be used as a complement to supplement the result of a verb. Syntactically, the “Bian” places before or after the structure center. When “Bian” is a measure word for the frequency of an action, it should be combined with a numerical word, and the numerical classifier phrase can freely get into the Serial Verb Construction and the Adverbial Centred Structure，and this phrase can place before or after the structure center to supplement the result. The fact that “Bian” can express the same meaning in the different syntactic positions indicates the syntactic forms are imperfect. Semantically, no matter which kind of “Bian” enter a structure, its semantic orientations are all the verbs which “Bian” is attaching to. However, the semantic structure of the syntactic structures which “Bian” gets into is not strict. Therefore the “action-result”, “result-action” and “manner-action” semantic structure might be formed between the adjective “Bian” and the structure center, the “action-result” and “result-action” semantic structure might be formed between the numerical classifier phrase and the structure center. These kinds of semantic structures interrelate with each other, and present different development potential under the influence of the Principle of Chinese Time Sequence. Pragmatics, the unstable semantic structures can only express imperfect pragmatic structures through the imperfect syntactic forms.

Root and Phrasal Diminutive Markers in Gan Chinese

AbstractPrevious analyses of diminutives made a dichotomy between derivational and inflectional diminutives, and we found that such a distinction does not cover all the possibilities that diminutives may be in world languages. This article presents a case study of two diminutive markers, namely, ‐li and ‐tsiʔ, in Yichun Gan, a Sinitic language. The diminutive marker ‐tsiʔ is typologically significant in being cross‐categorial at the phrasal level. It can be attached to different types of phrases, ranging from noun phrases, classifier phrases, adjective phrases and verb phrases. These two diminutive markers are characterized with distinct distributions and semantic interpretations, based on which, we propose that the diminutive ‐li works at the root level and functions as a root nominalizer, and ‐tsiʔ operates at the phrasal level and is a phrasal diminutive modifier.

Diversity in Sinitic Languages ed. by Hilary M. Chappell

Reviewed by: Diversity in Sinitic Languages ed. by Hilary M. Chappell Bit-Chee KwokiD, corresponding author and Yik-Po LaiiD Diversity in Sinitic Languages. Edited by Hilary M. Chappell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. xvii, 315. ISBN 9780198723790 1. OVERVIEW OF DIVERSITY OF SINITIC LANGUAGES The difference in grammar, or morphosyntax, among Chinese dialects was once thought to be insignificant, as reflected in Chao's (1968:13) famous claim that "[i]t is in matters of grammar that the greatest degree of uniformity is found among all the dialects of the Chinese language." This idea, however, has been critically challenged since the 1980s when more dialectal data come into light.1 Diversity in Sinitic Languages is the latest milestone in the exploration of the grammatical diversity across Chinese dialects. As the book title suggests, the editor views traditional Chinese dialect groups as related but different languages. The term 'Sinitic languages' will be used throughout this review. The book under review comprises three parts, bringing together ten chapters by eight authors. All the chapters, except Chapter 3 by Peyraube, are products of the project entitled 'The hybrid syntactic typology of Sinitic [End Page 432] languages (SINOTYPE)' funded by the European Research Council from 2009 to 2013. The final product of the project, following this book, will be a series of typological descriptive grammars of lesser-known Sinitic languages such as the Waxiang language spoken in Hunan, Hui'an Southern Min spoken in Fujian, and Nanning Southern Pinghua spoken in Guangxi.2 In Part I of the book, two chapters, following the introduction, are devoted to approaches to the grammatical diversity of Sinitic languages. To highlight the nature and extent of the diversity across the languages, Chappell's chapter applies the notion of linguistic area, which typically describes languages belonging to different families, to analyzing Sinitic languages. She identifies five linguistic areas based on an examination of disposal, passive and comparative constructions. Peyraube's chapter demonstrates with specific examples how typological research on Sinitic languages may benefit from studies of diachronic grammar. In contrast, in the West the influence of typology upon diachronic studies is more significant than that of diachronic studies upon typology. In Part II, extensive data were presented in three typological studies to illustrate important aspects of the grammatical diversity across Sinitic languages. Yujie Chen's study investigates demonstrative systems with a sample of 303 Sinitic languages. Chen shows that on top of the two-term systems, which are the most prevalent type in Sinitic languages as well as in world languages, there also exist one-term, three-term, four-term, and even five-term systems in the Sinitic family. Some languages with a one-term system are found to employ another type of system as well. In systems with three terms or above, a demonstrative member may be derived from another member through various devices, such as syllable lengthening, stressing, reduplication and tone sandhi. While different systems in the languages are mainly based on the distance scale, a small number of them are reported to be also sensitive to visibility. Wang revisits bare classifier phrases ([CL-N]; noun phrases made up of a classifier + noun without a numeral or demonstrative) with a sample of 120 Sinitic languages. Taking [End Page 433] into account the syntactic distribution (the possibility of preverbal use and postverbal use) and the semantic interpretation (the possibility of definite reading and indefinite reading) of the bare classifier phrases, Wang identifies a range of seven behavioral types from the 16 logical types produced by the four variables. Eventually he comes up with three implicational universals: (a) preverbal [CL-N] phrases ⊃ postverbal [CL-N] phrases; (b) preverbal indefinite [CL-N] phrases ⊃ preverbal definite [CL-N] phrases; and (c) postverbal definite [CL-N] phrases ⊃ postverbal indefinite [CL-N] phrases. Chappell and Peyraube co-author the last chapter of Part II, presenting a study of comparative constructions in Sinitic languages. The study focuses on the two main types of comparatives in the languages, the compare type with the marker-standard-predicate configuration and the surpass type with the predicate-marker-standard form. More specifically, the authors disagree with the common belief that the surpass type is...