Quantification and qualification:Two competing functions of numeral classifiers in the light of the radical system of the Chinese script
从汉语的部首看汉语量词标量和分类两种功能的并存关系
Thekla Wiebusch 魏婷兰
Abstract 摘要
Quantification and classification/qualification each have been called the main function of numeral classifiers in different scientific approaches. This study introduces new evidence for this debate by comparing the Chinese numeral classifiers with the radicals of the Chinese script showing that the quantifying function clearly determines the qualifying categories of the numeral classifiers. The two systems are both examples of prototypical classification developed in the course of Chinese history. Some of the differences found can be accounted for by different times of origin and the fact that radicals belong to the script while classifiers belong to the spoken language. But only the lack of a quantifying function in the radical system can explain, why some important categories of the classifier system such as “shape” and “part of object” are not employed in the radical system, while the criterion of “material” –not useful for individualization–is used in the radical system, but not in the classifier system.
Journal of Chinese Linguistics volume 23 (ISSN 0091-3723)
Copyright © 1995 Journal of Chinese Linguistices. All rights reserved.