Numeral Classifiers and Classifier Languages: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean

by Chungmin Lee (Editor), Young-Wha Kim (Editor), Byeong-Uk Yi (Editor)

Overview

Focusing mainly on classifiers, Numeral Classifiers and Classifier Languages offers a deep investigation of three major classifier languages: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. This book provides detailed discussions well supported by empirical evidence and corpus analyses. Theoretical hypotheses regarding differences and commonalities between numeral classifier languages and other mainly article languages are tested to seek universals or typological characteristics. The essays collected here from leading scholars in different fields promise to be greatly significant in the field of linguistics for several reasons. First, it targets three representative classifier languages in Asia. It also provides critical clues and suggests solutions to syntactic, semantic, psychological, and philosophical issues about classifier constructions. Finally, it addresses ensuing debates that may arise in the field of linguistics in general and neighboring inter-disciplinary areas. This book should be of great interest to advanced students and scholars of East Asian languages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367635282
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/29/2022
Series:	Routledge Studies in East Asian Linguistics
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Chungmin Lee is Professor Emeritus it the Department of Linguistics at Seoul National University and a member of National Academy of Sciences, the Republic of Korea.

Young-Wha Kim is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English Language & Literature at Hallym University in the Republic of Korea.

Byeong-uk Yi is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto in Canada.

Table of Contents

List of figures ix

List of tables x

List of contributors xi

Preface xiv

Introduction 1

1 Numeral classifiers and diversity of classifier systems Byeong-Uk Yi 6

1 Introduction 6

2 Classifiers and numeratives 8

3 Classifier languages 13

4 Classifiers and plural marking 26

Acknowledgments 29

Notes 29

References 35

2 Taxonomy of numeral classifiers: a formal semantic proposal Jiun-Shiung Wu One-Soon Her 40

1 Introduction 40

2 A confused state of affairs 42

3 A math-based taxonomy of C/M 47

4 A formal semantic account 50

5 Implications of the mass/count distinction 61

6 Conclusion 65

Acknowledgments 66

Notes 66

References 67

3 Japanese semantics and the mass/count distinction Takashi Iida 72

1 Introduction 72

2 Three kinds of numeral suffixes 74

3 Numeral phrase modifier bun 76

4 Individuated and non-individuated reference of noun occurrences 78

5 A simple test for identifying different kinds of numeral suffixes 80

6 Chopsticks, shoes, and twins 86

7 What does a sortal suffix contribute to the meaning of a sentence? 89

8 Conclusion 93

Notes 95

References 96

4 A continuum-based approach to the count-mass distinction in Korean Kwang-Sup Kim 98

1 Introduction 98

2 Syntactic differences between count and mass nouns 100

3 A continuum-based approach to Korean nouns 105

4 The so-called plural marker -tul as a distributivity marker 109

5 Conclusion 115

Notes 116

References 119

5 Definiteness, specificity, and genericity in numeral classifier languages Chungmin Lee 121

1 Introduction 121

2 Demonstrative anaphoric definite in discourse 121

3 Bare common N definites in non-subject position in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese 123

4 Demonstratives or second person pronouns in slur words 129

5 Specific indefinites 130

6 Dynamic genericity 130

7 Quantization, distributivity, and plurality in CL languages 132

8 Concluding remarks 133

Notes 134

References 134

6 Classifiers, articles, and bare nominals Byeong-Uk Yi 137

1 Introduction; The DP hypothesis and bare nominals 137

2 Longobardi's account of bare nominals 140

3 Chierchia's typology: mass nouns and kind-reference 146

4 Numeral classifiers and quasi-determiners 151

5 The subject constraint on Chinese nominals 155

6 Concluding remarks 159

Appendix 161

Acknowledgments 163

Notes 164

References 169

7 Japanese numeral quantifiers that count events Mana Kobuchi-Philip 172

1 Introduction 172

2 Previous studies 174

3 Japanese verbal event classifiers: survey 178

4 The NO_v+suru construction 184

5 Concluding remarks 191

Notes 193

References 195

8 How classifiers affect the mental representation of entities Mutsumi Imai Junko Kanero 197

1 Introduction 197

2 Part I: influence of language on the ontological distinction and construal of physical entities 200

3 Part II: do classifier languages grammatically distinguish count nouns and mass nouns? 214

4 Conclusions and future research 225

Acknowledgments 227

Note 227

References 227

9 Descriptive function of numeral classifiers: a corpus-based analysis of numeral classifiers in Korean Young-Wha Kim 231

1 Introduction 231

2 Classifier vs. non-classifier languages 231

3 Numeral classifiers in Korean 232

4 Descriptive function of numeral classifiers 237

5 Head nouns and their numeral classifiers 242

6 Semantic taxonomy of numeral classifiers 245

7 Numeral classifiers frequently in use in Korean 249

8 Conclusion 253

Acknowledgments 254

Notes 254

References 256

Author index 258

Language index 260

Subject index 262

Editorial Reviews

'This is the first volume, published for an international audience, that draws together a group of leading researchers in numeral classifiers in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The articles included in the volume provide not only fresh data on numeral classifiers but also innovative approaches to the topic. The volume will serve as a useful resource for advanced postgraduate students and all scholars who work on the topic.' — Jaejung Song, Professor, Department of English and Linguistics, University of Otago, New Zealand

From the Publisher