Numeral Classifiers and Individuatedness
of Nouns in Mandarin Chinese
Xiaozhao Huang
University of North Dakota
In the light of the distinction between the concepts of count and mass or
between singular and plural (see Mufwene 1984), Chinese is generally held as a
numeral classifier language in which concrete nouns are expected to combine with a
numeral classifier before being numerically quantified. Such view, however, not only
oversimplifies the complexity of the use of numeral classifiers to nouns in Chinese,
but also leaves a simplistic impression that Chinese nouns are either countable or
uncountable, categorizing a binary distinction that can be subsequently and easily
determined by the modifying numerals and numeral classifiers preceded Chinese
nouns.
In the examination of the data of numeral classifiers and nouns from
Mandarin Chinese, this study has identified six categories of Chinese numeral
classifiers which can be used to nouns of five different types, in addition to several
overlapping areas. The analysis of these different categories of numeral classifiers
and different types of Chinese nouns has demonstrated that the system of numeral
classifiers in Chinese remains appreciatively complex; thus more exhaustive studies
in this area are needed. Meanwhile, any attempt to simplify the complexity of
Chinese nouns into a binary system of countable and uncountable according to their
preceding numeral classifiers seems to be misleading or naive at its best.
References
Chao, Yuanren. 1968. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press.
Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson. 1981. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional
Reference Grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 1984. “The Count-Mass Distinction and the English Lexicon.”
Papers from the Parasession on Lexical Semantics. Ed. David Testen, Veena
Mishra, and Joseph Drogo. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society, 200-221.