Classifiers Are for Numerals, Not for Nouns: Consequences for the Mass-count Distinction*
نویسندگان
چکیده
In classifier languages, nouns must appear with one of a series of classifiers in order to be modified by a numeral. This squib presents new data from Mi’gmaq (Algonquian) and Chol (Mayan), arguing that classifiers are required due to the syntactic and semantic properties of the numeral (as in Krifka 1995), rather than the noun (as in Chierchia 1998). The results are shown to have important consequences for the mass-count distinction. Mandarin Chinese is a frequently cited example of a language with obligatory classifiers. As shown in (1), classifiers cannot be dropped in the presence of numerals.
منابع مشابه
The Count-Mass Distinction of Abstract Nouns in Mandarin Chinese
The issue of whether nouns in Mandarin Chinese can be distinguished into count and mass nouns has been debated in recent literature. Unlike English, Mandarin Chinese is a language where nouns are not obviously count nouns or mass nouns. In fact, syntactically nouns in Mandarin are similar to mass nouns in English, as they cannot combine directly with numerals, but must combine with classifiers;...
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