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Article published In: Degrees and Grammar: An East Asian Perspective:
Edited by Qiongpeng Luo, Zhiguo Xie and Xiao Li
[Language and Linguistics 24:1] 2023
► pp. 74–119

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Measurement and optional classifiers in Mandarin Chinese

ORCiD logo with link | National Chengchi University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 12 December 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00126.che
Abstract
This paper presents a compositional analysis of the fact that Mandarin individuating classifiers are systematically optional in various degree constructions (see also Lin, Jing & Schaeffer, Jeannette. 2018. Nouns are both mass and count: Evidence from unclassified nouns in adult and child Mandarin Chinese. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 3(1). Article no. 54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar for experimental evidence), by taking a mixed approach incorporating the insights from Chierchia (Chierchia, Gennaro. 1998. Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics 6(4). 339–405. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . 2010. Mass nouns, vagueness and semantic variation. Synthese 174(1). 99–149. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) that Mandarin nouns denote kind terms and individuating classifiers offer the level of individuation and those from . 1995. Common nouns: A contrastive analysis of English and Chinese. In Carlson, Gregory N. & Pelletier, Francis Jeffry (eds.), The generic book, 398–411. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar that (bare) numerals do not encode the cardinality function. By considering (bare) numerals as degree terms (e.g., Hackl, Martin. 2001. Comparative quantifiers. Cambridge: MIT. (Doctoral dissertation.); Nouwen, Rick. 2010. Two kinds of modified numerals. Semantics and Pragmatics 31. Article 3. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . 2014. The polysemy of measurement. Lingua 1431. 242–266. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . 2015. A “de-fregean” semantics (and neo-Gricean pragmatics) for modified and unmodified numerals. Semantics and Pragmatics 81. Article 10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, among many others), the mixed approach advocated here embraces the hypothesis that the locus of variation between English and Mandarin lies in neither the semantics of nouns nor that of numerals, but in the measure operators: these linguistic elements (including sortal/individuating classifiers) are necessary to mediate between numerals and nouns to avoid the semantic type-mismatch. The proposed analysis of individuating classifiers not only explains the role of Mandarin individuating classifiers in degree constructions (i.e., their syntactic optionality, along with a semantic variation in the dimension of comparison), but also closely connects with Bale, Alan & Barner, David. 2009. The interpretation of functional heads: using comparatives to explore the mass/count distinction. Journal of Semantics 26(3). 217–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar idea about quantity judgments that comparative constructions can be used as a reliable diagnostic of the mass-count distinction in natural languages beyond English. Specifically, the fact that Mandarin unclassified nouns allow both cardinality and non-cardinality monotonic dimensions in a variety of degree constructions based on quantity judgments indicates that they are mass-count neutral; a tentative semantics of Mandarin nouns for their mass-count neutrality is thus suggested. Some factors leading to the individuation of nouns are also discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The optionality of Mandarin classifiers in degree constructions
    • 1.2Comparatives as a diagnostic for the mass-count distinction of nouns
    • 1.3The goal of this paper
  • 2.Two views on why classifiers are required in Mandarin
  • 3.The proposal
    • 3.1Theoretical foundations
    • 3.2The case of numerals
    • 3.3The optionality of Mandarin individuating classifiers
  • 4.Implications
    • 4.1Classifiers are required for both numerals and nouns
    • 4.2Mandarin bare nouns are mass-count neutral
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (66)
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