Running head: VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
Vietnamese and English Classifiers
A contrastive analysis
Le Nguyen Nhu Anh
Department of English
Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy
Instructor: PhD. Nguyen Ngoc Vu
Ho Chi Minh City, December 24th 2010
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VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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Abstract
When studying English, people often focus on grammar, vocabulary or skills like
reading, listening, writing and speaking. However, there is another important element
that is often forgotten, the classifiers. Classifiers are words used to categorize word
classes based on an attribute such as shape, function, or animacy. Classifiers occur in
almost every context of English use and play a significant role in quite a number of
ways. Their functions vary from counting individual entities to measuring time. Grasping
this language category is of high importance in the language acquisition process.
However, their status is still a debatable issue, which causes much confusion for
English learners and researchers. This paper aims to provide an overview of English
and Vietnamese classifiers, by contrasting their similarities and differences, thus
facilitates learners in their language acquisition activities. The paper may also serve as
an argument for the status of classifiers in language system.
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 2
Typical quantifying formation in both languages ............................................................... 4
Vietnamese classifiers....................................................................................................... 4
Vietnamese classifiers – a debate ................................................................................. 4
Common types of Vietnamese classifiers ...................................................................... 4
English classifiers .............................................................................................................. 5
English classifiers – a debate ......................................................................................... 5
Categories of classifiers in English................................................................................. 5
Contrastive analysis .......................................................................................................... 6
Results and discussion ...................................................................................................... 6
Similarities ...................................................................................................................... 6
Differences ..................................................................................................................... 7
Different scopes of use. .............................................................................................. 7
Different frequencies of use ........................................................................................ 7
Syntactic differences ................................................................................................... 7
Implications to teaching and research ............................................................................... 8
References ...................................................................................................................... 10
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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Typical quantifying formation in both languages
In Vietnamese, the classifier often lies between the numeral and the noun. For
example: ba (three) + con (classifier) + thuyền (boats). In English, however, due to the
division between countable nouns and non-countable nouns, there are two ways of
forming quantity:
For countable nouns, the numeral is followed straightly by the noun, without
the presence of any classifier. For example: three boats
For non-countable nouns, a word that denotes a part of a whole called
‘partitive’ is used after the numeral and is followed orderly by ‘of’ and the
noun. For example: Two slices of meat.
Vietnamese classifiers
Vietnamese classifiers – a debate
Different researchers from different schools of thoughts have been arguing about
the issue whether classifiers should be considered distinct from from nouns or not.
Emeneau (1951) views this group of words a separate word class representing the
sense of ‘one unit quantity’. Supporting the idea, Thompson (1965) provides an
argument that classifiers are distinct from nouns since they do not occur in signle word
descriptive complements. In addition, Luu (2000) argues that the functions of indicating
kind and quantity distinguish classifiers from nouns. However, Cao (1988; 1998; 2000)
argues that ‘classifiers’ should only be seen as a subset of count nouns that have an
additional semantic function of classification rather than a separate word class from
nouns.
Common types of Vietnamese classifiers
The exact number and word list of classifiers in Vietnamese is still an issue that
attracts much debate from linguistics. Nguyen (1957) estimates that there are about 200
classifiers in Vietnamese, considering all words that occur in the slot adjacent to the
number in a noun phrase as classifiers. Cao (1998), on the other hand, argues that
Vietnamese only have as few as three classifiers. Cao (2000) suggests that if the
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VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
function of ‘classifiers’ is to categorize or classify words (in most cases, nouns) its
function must be to classify nouns into smaller subclasses that indicate different kinds of
objects. Based on this definition, Cao (1998; 2000) admits to only three Vietnamese
count nouns that may have this function of indicating kind: cái (inanimate), con
(animate), and người (human).
English classifiers
English classifiers – a debate
Whether English have classifiers or not is still a debatable issue. Many linguists
still consider classifiers as a subclass of nouns in current English grammar. Quirk et al
(1985) provides a term for this subclass, ‘partitive nouns’, a word or phrase that shows a
part or quantity of something. Biber et al (1999) supply with a more specific
classification, dividing classifiers into collective nouns, unit nouns, quantifying nouns,
and species nouns etc. On the whole, while the quantifying function of such nouns has
been recognized, their status has rarely been systematically questioned (Brems, 2003).
In a different perspective, Lyons (1977, p.462) argues that these so-called ‘nouns’
“serve exactly the same function – that of individualizing and enumeration – as do the
classifiers in Tzeltal, Chinese and Burmese”. Allan (1977), Lyons (1977), and Lehrer
(1986) provide a common formation of noun phrase in English, providing the position for
classifiers in the phrase.
numeral
classifier
of
noun
Categories of classifiers in English
Multitude attempts have been made in the field, trying to provide a
comprehensive classification of English classifiers. The most significant contributions
belong to Allan (1977) and Lehrer’s (1986, p.111), in which seven categories of
classifiers have been presented:
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Unit classifiers: unit counters (e.g. a piece of cake)
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Collective classifiers (e.g. a herd of animals)
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Varietal classifiers (Species classifiers) (e.g. all kinds of flowers)
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Arrangement classifiers (e.g. 3 stacks of books)
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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Measure classifiers. In this category, there is a further division into 2 sub-categories:
+ Standardised measure classifiers: Exact measures (e.g. two pounds of
potatoes)
+ Container classifiers: Inexact measures (e.g. a bucket of water)
The two last categories are still debatable since they can be replaced by equivalent
numerals.
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Fractional classifiers (three quarters of the cake vs. half of the cake)
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Number set classifiers (many hundreds of them vs. three hundred of them)
Contrastive analysis
In terms of tokens, unit classifiers is the most common type of classifiers in
Vietnamese while container and collective classifiers are predominant in English.
(English corpus Freiburg-LOB (FLOB) and The Copora of Vietnamese Texts)
In terms of types, Vietnamese has a greater number of unit classifiers,
standardised measure classifiers, arrangement classifiers and verbal classifiers
whereas English uses more collective classifiers and container classifiers . (English
corpus Freiburg-LOB (FLOB) and The Copora of Vietnamese Texts)
Results and discussion
Similarities
Other types of classifiers are more similar than different in quality in the two
languages. These classifiers are lexically meaningful and it is possible to find their
equivalences in other languages despite various terms used for them.
There are few (sometimes considered almost no) differences in measure
classifiers and species classifiers between English and Vietnamese although there may
be some variations in their frequencies of use in the two languages.
A common feature shared by both arrangement classifiers and unit classifiers in
Vietnamese and English is that they are significantly affected by the basic
understanding of shape. For example:
unit classifiers: điều, chương and khối in Vietnamese
arrangement classifiers: bunch, pile and row in English
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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Some classifiers in English and Chinese are also pragmatically influenced. For
example, some English collective classifiers such as gang, mob and pack often refer to
a group of people the speaker have no positive feeling for or does not approve of.
These classifiers are different from other more neutral collective classifiers like crowd
and group. In Vietnamese, some collective classifiers (e.g. băng nhóm ‘crowd, gang’)
are also habitually negative in evaluation.
Differences
Different scopes of use.
The most noticeable difference occurs in the case of unit classifiers. Their
individuation is obligatory for all nouns in Vietnamese but in English, this only happens
to non-count nouns.
Different frequencies of use
As a result of a language with classifiers as a compulsory element, the use of
classifiers in Vietnamese are much broader both in scope and quantity than in English.
Classifiers are used approximately 29 times as frequent in Vietnamese as in English.
(English corpus Freiburg-LOB (FLOB) and The Copora of Vietnamese Texts)
Syntactic differences
Considered as a group of special nouns, English classifiers also have their
singular and plural forms while this does not occur to the case of Vietnamese classifiers.
It is possible to omit the numeral một (one) in quantifying constructionsin
Vietnamese if they function as objects, but quantifying determiners and numerals in
English cannot.
Viết (một) thư
‘write a letter’
Quantifying constructions with the inverted form of ‘noun + numeral + classifier’
are found in Vietnamese but not in English
Dầu ăn 20ml，trứng lột vỏ một quả
‘20 ml of olive oil, and one peeled egg’
Although classifiers do not regularly take a modifier, there are a considerably
greater variety of classifier modifiers in English than in Vietnamese. In Vietnamese , for
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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most of the cases, the modifiers are classifier intensifiers, emphasizing the large / small
quantity or amount (e.g. lớn (big, large), nhỏ (small), toàn bộ (whole)). In English, there
are two major types of classifier modifiers: classifier intensifiers, and evaluative
qualifiers which are relocated from the noun being quantified (e.g. a late-night cup of
coffee). There is no case where such relocation occurs with classifier modifiers in
Vietnamese.
Implications to teaching and research
One of the problems that confuse students is the use of classifiers in English, i.e.
they are not sure when and where the classifiers should be used. For examples, they
may not know which classifier should be used with ‘animals’, ‘cake’, ‘flowers’, ‘water’. As
discussed in the present research, classifiers in English are divided into seven
categories, which can facilitate learners in their studying process if they group words
according to these seven categories. The system of English classifiers is really complex
with one list for countable nouns, one for uncountable nouns and one for both countable
and uncountable nouns. Actually, to solve this problem is not too difficult; just let the
students get acquainted with those lists and guide them to divide the items in
categories.
As it is discovered in this study that classifiers in English and Vietnamese share
many common features despite their different scopes and frequencies of use, and some
language-specific syntactic differences, it is suggested that solutions to the problem of
Vietnamese students in dealing with English classifiers should be focused on syntactic
field.
Furthermore, the classifiers in the two languages are, mostly, quantitatively
different, i.e. much of the difference comes from their various terms in current use.
Thus, it is advisable that in undertaking contrastive research, one must not be confused
by the different terms used for the same phenomenon in the languages under
consideration.
In conclusion, the classifier is an important element in a noun phrase. This
concept in English and Vietnamese share some significant similarities. Obviously, they
still show some differences in syntax and quantity. With some implications for teaching
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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languages, the study, to a certain extent, aims to help teachers in presenting lessons as
well as to facilitate learners in their language acquisition process.
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
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References
Allan, K. (1977) Classifiers. Language, 53, 281–311.
Biber, D., Johansson S., Leech G., Conrad S. and Finegan, E. (1999). Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.
Brems, L. (2003). Measure noun constructions: An instance of semantically-driven
grammaticalization. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 8 (2), 283–312.
Cao, Hao X. 1988. The count/mass distinction in Vietnamese and the concept of
‘classifier’. Zeitschrift fur Phonetik Sprachwissenschaft un
Kommunikationsforschung, 41, 38-47.
Cao, Hao X. 1998. Tiếng Việt: Mấy Vấn đề về Ngữ Âm, Ngữ Pháp, Ngữ Nghĩa
[Vietnamese: Issues in phonetics, syntax, and semantics]. Ho Chi Minh City: Nhà
Xuất Bản Giáo Dục.
Cao, Hao X. 2000. Nghĩa của loại từ [The meaning of classifiers]. Loại Từ Trong Các
Ngôn Ngữ ở Việt Nam [Classifiers of the languages in Vietnam], pp. 32-87. Hà
Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Khoa Học Xã Hội.
Emeneau, Murray B. (1951). Studies in Vietnamese Grammar. Berkley, CA: University
of California Press.
J. Lyons (1977). Semantics. Volumes I and II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lehrer, A. (1986) English classifier constructions. Lingua, 68, 109–148.
Luu, Lang V. (2000). Một số vấn đề về loại từ trong tiếng Việt [Some issues about
Vietnamese classifiers]. Loại Từ Trong Các Ngôn Ngữ ở Việt Nam [Classifiers of
the languages in Vietnam], pp. 9-31. Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Khoa Học Xã Hội.
Nguyen, Dinh H. 1957. Vietnamese classifiers. Word 13: 124-152.
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., and Svartvik, J. (1985). A Comprehensive
Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CLASSIFIERS: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
Thompson, Lawrence. (1965). A Vietnamese Grammar. Seattle, WA: University of
Washington Press.
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