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simplified
traditional
called count-classifier and mass-classifier, since the first type can only
meaningfully be used with count nouns, while the second is used
particularly with mass nouns. However, the grammatical behavior of words
of the two types is largely identical.
Most nouns have one or more particular classifiers associated with them,
often depending on the nature of the things they denote. For example, many
nouns denoting flat objects such as tables, papers, beds, and benches use
the classifier () zhng, whereas many long and thin objects
use () tio. The total number of classifiers in Chinese may be put at
anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred, depending on how they are
counted. The classifier (), pronounced g or ge in Mandarin, apart from
being the standard classifier for many nouns, also serves as a general
classifier, which may often (but not always) be used in place of other
classifiers; in informal and spoken language, native speakers tend to use
this classifier far more than any other, even though they know which
classifier is "correct" when asked. Mass-classifiers might be used with all
sorts of nouns with which they make sense: for example, h ("box") may
be used to denote boxes of objects, such as lightbulbs or books, even
though those nouns would be used with their own appropriate countclassifiers if being counted as individual objects. Researchers have differing
views as to how classifiernoun pairings arise: some regard them as being
based on innate semantic features of the noun (for example, all nouns
denoting "long" objects take a certain classifier because of their inherent
longness), while others see them as motivated more by analogy
to prototypical pairings (for example, "dictionary" comes to take the same
classifier as the more common word "book"). There is some variation in the
pairings used, with speakers of different dialects often using different
classifiers for the same item. Some linguists have proposed that the use of
classifier phrases may be guided less by grammar and more by stylistic
or pragmatic concerns on the part of a speaker who may be trying
to foreground new or important information.
Many other languages of the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area exhibit
similar classifier systems, leading to speculation about the origins of the
Chinese system. Ancient classifier-like constructions, which used a repeated
noun rather than a special classifier, are attested in Old Chinese as early as
1400 BCE, but true classifiers did not appear in these phrases until much
later. Originally, classifiers and numbers came after the noun rather than
before, and probably moved before the noun sometime after 500 BCE. The
use of classifiers did not become a mandatory part of Chinese [which?] grammar
until around 1100 CE. Some nouns became associated with specific
classifiers earlier than others, the earliest probably being nouns that
signified culturally valued items such as horses and poems. Many words that
are classifiers today started out as full nouns; in some cases their meanings
have been gradually bleached away so that they are now used only as
classifiers.
Usage[edit]
In Chinese, a numeral cannot usually quantify a noun by itself; instead, the
language relies on classifiers, commonly also referred to as measure words.
[note 2]
When a noun is preceded by a number, a demonstrativesuch
as this or that, or certain quantifiers such as every, a classifier must
normally be inserted before the noun.[1] Thus, while English speakers say
"one person" or "this person", Mandarin Chinese speakers say
(y ge rn, one-CL person) or (zh ge rn, this-CL person),
respectively . If a noun is preceded by both a demonstrative and a number,
the demonstrative comes first.[2] (This is just as in English, e.g. "these three
cats".) If an adjective modifies the noun, it typically comes after the
classifier and before the noun. The general structure of a classifier phrase is
demonstrative number classifier adjective noun
The tables below give examples of common types of classifier phrases.
[3]
While most English nouns do not require classifiers or measure words
(except in rare cases like "five head of cattle"), nearly all Chinese nouns do;
thus, in the first table, phrases that have no classifier in English have one in
Chinese.
demonstra numb classi adject nou
tive
er
fier
ive
n
NUM
-CLN
DEM
-CLthis
N
NUM
-CL
NUM
-CLADJN
DEM
NUM
-CL- this
ADJN
three CL
CL
cat
"three
cats"
cat
"this
cat"
"three
(of
them)"*
three CL
three CL
three CL
English
equival
ent
black
black
cat
cat
"three
black
cats"
"these
three
black
cats"
NUM
-CLADJ
"three
black
ones"*
**
black
three CL
* When "cats" is already evident from the context, as in "How many cats do
you have?" "I have three."/"Three."
** When an adjective in Chinese appears by itself, with no noun after it, is
added to identify it as an adjective because many nouns can be used as
verbs, adjectives and/or adverbs (e.g. "unite" can be used as verb,
adjective and adverb; "black" can be used as noun (as the color), verb
(transferred meanings, "defame" and "hack into"; but cannot be used as "to
make something black"), adjective and adverb). The use of in this
example is not related to the presence of classifiers.
demonstra numb classifi adjecti nou
tive
er
er
ve
n
NUMCL-N
DEMCL-N
five
this
NUMCL
NUMCL-ADJN
DEMNUMCL-ADJ- this
N
NUMCL-ADJ
five
five
five
five
CL
cattl
e
CL
cattl
e
"five head of
cattle"
"this head of
cattle"
"five head"*
CL
big
cattl
e
CL
big
cattl
e
CL
**
big
CL
English
equivalent
"five head of
big cattle"
"these five
head of big
cattle"
"five head of
big ones"*
* When "cattle" is already evident from the context, as in "How many cattle
do you have?" "I have five head."
** When an adjective in Chinese appears by itself, with no noun after it, is
added. The use of in this example is not related to the presence of
classifiers.
On the other hand, when a noun is not counted or introduced with a
demonstrative, a classifier is not necessary: for example, there is a classifier
in (sn ling ch, three-CL car, "three cars") but not in (w-de
ch, me-possessive car, "my car").[4] Furthermore, numbers and
regular dictionaries include 120 to 150 classifiers; [16] the 8822-word Syllabus
of Graded Words and Characters for Chinese Proficiency [note 5] (Chinese:
; pinyin: Hny Shupng Chu y Hnzi Dngj
Dgng) lists 81;[17] and a 2009 list compiled by Gao Ming and Barbara Malt
includes 126.[18] The number of classifiers that are in everyday, informal use,
however, may be lower: linguist Mary Erbaugh has claimed that about two
dozen "core classifiers" account for most classifier use. [19] As a whole,
though, the classifier system is so complex that specialized classifier
dictionaries have been published.[18][note 6]
Count-classifiers and mass-classifiers[edit]
A classifier categorizes a class of nouns by picking out
somesalient perceptual properties...which are permanently associated with
entities named by the class of nouns; ameasure word does not categorize
but denotes the quantity of the entity named by a noun.
Tai (1994, p. 2), emphasis added
Within the set of nominal classifiers, linguists generally draw a distinction
between "count-classifiers" and "mass-classifiers". True count-classifiers[note
7]
are used for naming or counting a single count noun,[15] and have no direct
translation in English; for example, (y bn sh, one-CL book) can only
be translated in English as "one book" or "a book". [20] Furthermore, countclassifiers cannot be used with mass nouns: just as an English speaker
cannot ordinarily say *"five muds", a Chinese speaker cannot say *
(w ge n, five-CL mud). For such mass nouns, one must use massclassifiers.[15][note 8]
Mass-classifiers (true measure words) do not pick out inherent properties of
an individual noun like count-classifiers do; rather, they lump nouns into
countable units. Thus, mass-classifiers can generally be used with multiple
types of nouns; for example, while the mass-classifier (h, box) can be
used to count boxes of lightbulbs ( y h dngpo, "one box of
lightbulbs") or of books ( y h jioci, "one box of textbooks"), each
of these nouns must use a different count-classifier when being counted by
itself ( y zhn dngpo "one lightbulb"; vs.
y bn jioci "one textbook"). While count-classifiers have no direct
English translation, mass-classifiers often do: phrases with count-classifiers
such as (y ge rn, one-CL person) can only be translated as "one
person" or "a person", whereas those with mass-classifiers such as
(y qn rn, one-crowd-person) can be translated as "a crowd of people".
All languages, including English, have mass-classifiers, but count-classifiers
are unique to certain "classifier languages", and are not a part of English
grammar apart from a few exceptional cases such as head of livestock. [21]
Within the range of mass-classifiers, authors have proposed subdivisions
based on the manner in which a mass-classifier organizes the noun into
to "times".[33] For example, (w q-guo sn c Bijng, I goPAST three-CL Beijing, "I have been to Beijing three times").[34] These words
can also form compound classifiers with certain nouns, as in rn
c "person-time", which can be used to count (for example) visitors to a
museum in a year (where visits by the same person on different occasions
are counted separately).
Another type of verbal classifier indicates the tool or implement used to
perform the action. An example is found in the sentence t t le
w y jio "he kicked me", or more literally "he kicked me one foot". The
word jio, which usually serves as a simple noun meaning "foot", here
functions as a verbal classifier reflecting the tool (namely the foot) used to
perform the kicking action.
Relation to nouns[edit]
y
"fish"
kzi
"(pair of) pants"
h
"river"
dngzi
"long bench"
The above nouns denoting long or flexible objects may all appear with the
classifier () tio in certain dialects such as Mandarin.[35] In Mandarin,
means "a CL bench", and if people want to say "a chair", / or /
is used because is only used for referring to relatively long things. In other
dialects such as Cantonese, cannot be used to refer to . Instead, is
used.
Different classifiers often correspond to different particular nouns. For
example, books generally take the classifier bn, flat objects take
() zhng, animals take () zh, machines take ti, large buildings
and mountains take zu, etc. Within these categories are further
subdivisionswhile most animals take () zh, domestic animals
take () tu, long and flexible animals take () tio, and horses take
p. Likewise, while long things that are flexible (such as ropes) often
take () tio, long things that are rigid (such as sticks) take gn, unless
they are also round (like pens or cigarettes), in which case in some dialects
they take zh.[36] Classifiers also vary in how specific they are; some (such
as du for flowers) are generally only used with one item, whereas others
(such as () tio for long and flexible things, one-dimensional things, or
abstract items like news reports)[note 11] are much less restricted.
[37]
Furthermore, there is not a one-to-one relationship between nouns and
classifiers: the same noun may be paired with different classifiers in
different situations.[38] The specific factors that govern which classifiers are
paired with which nouns have been a subject of debate among linguists.
Categories and prototypes[edit]
While mass-classifiers do not necessarily bear any semantic relationship to
the noun with which they are used (e.g. box and book are not related in
meaning, but one can still say "a box of books"), count-classifiers do. [31] The
precise nature of that relationship, however, is not certain, since there is so
much variability in how objects may be organized and categorized by
classifiers. Accounts of the semantic relationship may be grouped loosely
into categorical theories, which propose that count-classifiers are matched
to objects solely on the basis of inherent features of those objects (such as
length or size), and prototypical theories, which propose that people learn to
match a count-classifier to a specific prototypical object and to other objects
that are like that prototype.[39]
The categorical, "classical"[40] view of classifiers was that each classifier
represents a category with a set of conditions; for example, the
classifier () tio would represent a category defined as all objects that
meet the conditions of being long, thin, and one-dimensionaland nouns
using that classifier must fit all the conditions with which the category is
associated. Some common semantic categories into which count-classifiers
have been claimed to organize nouns include the categories of shape (long,
flat, or round), size (large or small), consistency (soft or
A mule
, luzi
A donkey
, lzi
James Tai and Wang Lianqing found that the horse classifier p is
sometimes used for mules andcamels, but rarely for the less "horselike" donkeys, suggesting that the choice of classifiers is influenced by
prototypal closeness.[43]
On the other hand, proponents of prototype theory propose that countclassifiers may not have innate definitions, but are associated with a noun
that is prototypical of that category, and nouns that have a "family
resemblance" with the prototype noun will want to use the same classifier.
[note 12]
For example, horse in Chinese uses the classifier p, as in
(sn p m, "three horses")in modern Chinese the word has no
meaning. Nevertheless, nouns denoting animals that look like horses will
often also use this same classifier, and native speakers have been found to
be more likely to use the classifier the closer an animal looks to a horse.
[43]
Furthermore, words that do not meet the "criteria" of a semantic
category may still use that category because of their association with a
prototype. For example, the classifier () k is used for small round
items, as in (y k zdn, "one bullet"); when words like
(yunzdn, "atomic bomb") were later introduced into the language they
also used this classifier, even though they are not small and round
therefore, their classifier must have been assigned because of the words'
association with the word for bullet, which acted as a "prototype". [44] This is
an example of "generalization" from prototypes: Erbaugh has proposed that
when children learn count-classifiers, they go through stages, first learning a
classifier-noun pair only (such as tio y,CL-fish), then using that
classifier with multiple nouns that are similar to the prototype (such as other
types of fish), then finally using that set of nouns to generalize a semantic
feature associated with the classifier (such as length and flexibility) so that
the classifier can then be used with new words that the person encounters.
[45]
Neutralization[edit]
In addition to the numerous "specific" count-classifiers described above, [note
14]
Chinese has a "general" classifier (), pronounced g in Mandarin.[note
15]
This classifier is used for people, some abstract concepts, and other
words that do not have special classifiers (such as
hnbobo "hamburger"),[54] and may also be used as a replacement for a
specific classifier such as () zhng or () tio, especially in informal
speech. In Mandarin Chinese, it has been noted as early as the 1940s that
the use of is increasing and that there is a general tendency towards
replacing specific classifiers with it.[55] Numerous studies have reported that
both adults and children tend to use when they do not know the
appropriate count-classifier, and even when they do but are speaking
quickly or informally.[56] The replacement of a specific classifier with the
general is known as classifier neutralization[57] ("" in Chinese,
literally "classifier -ization"[58]). This occurs especially often among
children[59] and aphasics (individuals with damage to language-relevant
areas of the brain),[60][61] although normal speakers also neutralize frequently.
It has been reported that most speakers know the appropriate classifiers for
the words they are using and believe, when asked, that those classifiers are
obligatory, but nevertheless use without even realizing it in actual
use ti, and still others use () ling; Cantonese uses gaa3. Even
within a single dialect or a single speaker, the same noun may take different
measure words depending on the style in which the person is speaking, or
on different nuances the person wants to convey (for instance, measure
words can reflect the speaker's judgment of or opinion about the object [68]).
An example of this is the word for person, rn, which uses the measure
word () g normally, but uses the measure kuwhen counting number
of people in a household, and wi when being particularly polite or
honorific, and mng in formal, written contexts;[69] likewise, a group of
people may be referred to by massifiers as (y qn rn, "a group of
people") or (y bng rn, "a gang/crowd of people"): the first is
neutral, whereas the second implies that the people are unruly or otherwise
being judged poorly.[70]
Some count-classifiers may also be used with nouns that they are not
normally related to, for metaphorical effect, as in (y du fnno,
"a pile of worries/troubles").[71] Finally, a single word may have multiple
count-classifiers that convey different meanings altogetherin fact, the
choice of a classifier can even influence the meaning of a noun. By way of
illustration, sn ji k means "three class periods" (as in "I have three
classes today"), whereas sn mn k means "three courses" (as in "I
signed up for three courses this semester"), even though the noun in each
sentence is the same.[65]
Purpose[edit]
In research on classifier systems, and Chinese classifiers in particular, it has
been asked why count-classifiers (as opposed to mass-classifiers) exist at
all. Mass-classifiers are present in all languages since they are the only way
to "count" mass nouns that are not naturally divided into units (as, for
example, "threesplotches of mud" in English; *"three muds" is
ungrammatical). On the other hand, count-classifiers are not inherently
mandatory, and are absent from most languages. [21][note 16] Furthermore,
count-classifiers are used with an "unexpectedly low frequency"; [72] in many
settings, speakers avoid specific classifiers by just using a bare noun
(without a number or demonstrative) or using the general classifier g.
[73]
Linguists and typologists such as Joseph Greenberg have suggested that
specific count-classifiers are semantically "redundant", repeating
information present within the noun.[74] Count-classifiers can be used
stylistically, though,[69] and can also be used to clarify or limit a speaker's
intended meaning when using a vague or ambiguous noun; for example, the
noun k "class" can refer to courses in a semester or specific class
periods during a day, depending on whether the
classifier () mn or () ji is used.[75]
One proposed explanation for the existence of count-classifiers is that they
serve more of a cognitive purpose than a practical one: in other words, they
(N1 Number N1, as in "horses five horses") and other times the second
noun was different, but semantically related (N1 Number N2). According
to some historical linguists, the N2 in these constructions can be considered
an early form of count-classifier and has even been called an "echo
classifier"; this speculation is not universally agreed on, though. [80] Although
true count-classifiers had not appeared yet, mass-classifiers were common
in this time, with constructions such as "wine six yu" (the
word yu represented a wine container) meaning "six yu of wine".
[80]
Examples such as this suggest that mass-classifiers predate countclassifiers by several centuries, although they did not appear in the same
word order as they do today.[81]
It is from this type of structure that count-classifiers may have arisen,
originally replacing the second noun (in structures where there was a noun
rather than a mass-classifier) to yield Noun Number Classifier. That is to
say, constructions like "horses five horses" may have been replaced by ones
like "horses five CL", possibly for stylistic reasons such as avoiding
repetition.[82] Another reason for the appearance of count-classifiers may
have been to avoid confusion or ambiguity that could have arisen from
counting items using only mass-classifiersi.e. to clarify when one is
referring to a single item and when one is referring to a measure of items. [83]
Historians agree that at some point in history the order of words in this
construction shifted, putting the noun at the end rather than beginning, like
in the present-day construction Number Classifier Noun.[84] According to
historical linguist Alain Peyraube, the earliest occurrences of this
construction (albeit with mass-classifiers, rather than count-classifiers)
appear in the late portion of Old Chinese (500 BCE to 200 BCE). At this time,
the Number Mass-classifier portion of the Noun Number Massclassifierconstruction was sometimes shifted in front of the noun. Peyraube
speculates that this may have occurred because it was gradually reanalyzed
as a modifier (like an adjective) for the head noun, as opposed to a simple
repetition as it originally was. Since Chinese generally places modifiers
before modified, as does English, the shift may have been prompted by this
reanalysis. By the early part of the Common Era, the nouns appearing in
"classifier position" were beginning to lose their meaning and become true
classifiers. Estimates of when classifiers underwent the most development
vary: Wang Li claims their period of major development was during the Han
Dynasty (206 BCE 220 CE),[85] whereas Liu Shiru estimates that it was
the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420 589 CE),[86] and Peyraube
chooses the Tang Dynasty (618 907 CE).[87]Regardless of when they
developed, Wang Lianqing claims that they did not become grammatically
mandatory until sometime around the 11th century. [88]
Classifier systems in many nearby languages and language groups (such
as Vietnamese and the Tai languages) are very similar to the Chinese
classifier system in both grammatical structure and the parameters along
which some objects are grouped together. Thus, there has been some
debate over which language family first developed classifiers and which
ones then borrowed themor whether classifier systems were native to all
these languages and developed more through repeated language
contact throughout history.[89]
Classifier words[edit]
Most modern count-classifiers are derived from words that originally were
free-standing nouns in older varieties of Chinese, and have since
been grammaticalized to become bound morphemes.[90] In other words,
count-classifiers tend to come from words that once had specific meaning
but lost it (a process known as semantic bleaching).[91] Many, however, still
have related forms that work as nouns all by themselves, such as the
classifier () di for long, ribbon-like objects: the modern word
dizi means "ribbon".[71] In fact, the majority of classifiers can also be
used as other parts of speech, such as nouns. [92] Mass-classifiers, on the
other hand, are more transparent in meaning than count-classifiers; while
the latter have some historical meaning, the former are still full-fledged
nouns. For example, (bi, cup), is both a classifier as in (y bi ch,
"a cup of tea") and the word for a cup as in (jibi, "wine glass").[93]
Where do these classifiers come from? Each classifier has its own history.
Peyraube (1991, p. 116)
It was not always the case that every noun required a count-classifier. In
many historical varieties of Chinese, use of classifiers was not mandatory,
and classifiers are rare in writings that have survived. [94] Some nouns
acquired classifiers earlier than others; some of the first documented uses of
classifiers were for inventorying items, both in mercantile business and in
storytelling.[95] Thus, the first nouns to have count-classifiers paired with
them may have been nouns that represent "culturally valued" items such as
horses, scrolls, and intellectuals. [96] The special status of such items is still
apparent today: many of the classifiers that can only be paired with one or
two nouns, such as p for horses[note 17] and shu for songs or poems, are
the classifiers for these same "valued" items. Such classifiers make up as
much as one-third of the commonly used classifiers today. [19]
Classifiers did not gain official recognition as a lexical category (part of
speech) until the 20th century. The earliest modern text to discuss classifiers
and their use was Ma Jianzhong's 1898 Ma's Basic Principles for Writing
Clearly ().[97] From then until the 1940s, linguists such as Ma, Wang
Li, and Li Jinxi treated classifiers as just a type of noun that "expresses a
quantity".[85] L Shuxiang was the first to treat them as a separate category,
calling them "unit words" ( dnwic) in his 1940s Outline of Chinese
Grammar () and finally "measure words" ( lingc)
in Grammar Studies (). He made this separation based on the fact
that classifiers were semantically bleached, and that they can be used
directly with a number, whereas true nouns need to have a measure word
added before they can be used with a number. [98] After this time, other
names were also proposed for classifiers: Gao Mingkai called them "noun
helper words" ( zhmngc), Lu Wangdao "counting markers" (
jbio), and Japanese linguist Miyawaki Kennosuke called them
"accompanying words" ( pibnc).[99] In the Draft Plan for a System of
Teaching Chinese Grammar () adopted by the People's
Republic of China in 1954, L's "measure words" ( lingc) was adopted
as the official name for classifiers in China. [100] This remains the most
common term in use today.[12]
General classifiers[edit]
Historically, g was not always the general classifier. Some believe it was
originally a noun referring to bamboo stalks, and gradually expanded in use
to become a classifier for many things with "vertical, individual, [or] upright
qualit[ies]",[101] eventually becoming a general classifier because it was used
so frequently with common nouns.[102] The classifier g is actually associated
with three different homophonous characters:, (used today as
the traditional-character equivalent of ), and . Historical linguist Lianqing
Wang has argued that these characters actually originated from different
words, and that only had the original meaning of "bamboo stalk".[103] ,
she claims, was used as a general classifier early on, and may have been
derived from the orthographically similar ji, one of the earliest general
classifiers.[104] later merged with because they were similar in
pronunciation and meaning (both used as general classifiers). [103] Likewise,
she claims that was also a separate word (with a meaning having to do
with "partiality" or "being a single part"), and merged with for the same
reasons as did; she also argues that was "created", as early as the Han
Dynasty, to supersede .[105]
Nor was the only general classifier in the history of Chinese. The
aforementioned ji was being used as a general classifier before the Qin
Dynasty (221 BCE); it was originally a noun referring to individual items out
of a string of connected shells or clothes, and eventually came to be used as
a classifier for "individual" objects (as opposed to pairs or groups of objects)
before becoming a general classifier. [106] Another general classifier
was mi, which originally referred to small twigs. Since twigs were used
for counting items, became a counter word: any items, including people,
could be counted as "one , two ", etc. was the most common classifier
in use during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420589 CE),
[107]
but today is no longer a general classifier, and is only used rarely, as a
specialized classifier for items such as pins and badges. [108] Kathleen Ahrens
has claimed that (zh in Mandarin and jia in Taiwanese), the classifier for
animals in Mandarin, is another general classifier in Taiwanese and may be
becoming one in the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan. [109]
Variety[edit]
Northern dialects tend to have fewer classifiers than southern ones. (ge)
is the only classifier found in the Dungan language. All nouns could have
just one classifier in some dialects, such as Shanghainese, Standard
Mandarin Shanxi dialect, Shandong dialects. Some dialects such as Northern
Min, certain Xiang dialects, Hakka Chinese, and some Yue Chinese use for
the noun referring to people, rather than (ge).[110]
See also[edit]
Chinese grammar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article concerns Standard Chinese. For the grammars of other forms of
Chinese, see their respective articles via links on Chinese
language and varieties of Chinese.
by any grammatical means, although there are several particles that serve
to express verbal aspect, and to some extent mood.
The basic word order is subjectverbobject (SVO). Otherwise, Chinese is
chiefly a head-last language, meaning that modifiers precede the words
they modify in a noun phrase, for example, the head noun comes last, and
all modifiers, including relative clauses, come in front of it. (This
phenomenon is more typically found in SOV languages like Turkish and
Japanese.)
Chinese frequently uses serial verb constructions, which involve two or more
verbs or verb phrases in sequence. Chinese prepositions behave similarly to
serialized verbs in some respects (several of the common prepositions can
also be used as full verbs), and they are often referred to as coverbs. There
are also location markers, placed after a noun, and hence often
called postpositions; these are often used in combination with a
coverb. Predicate adjectives are normally used without a copular verb ("to
be"), and can thus be regarded as a type of verb.
As in many east Asian languages, classifiers or measure words are required
when using numerals (and sometimes other words such as demonstratives)
with nouns. There are many different classifiers in the language, and each
countable noun generally has a particular classifier associated with it.
Informally, however, it is often acceptable to use the general classifier
[] ge in place of other specific classifiers.
Examples given in this article use simplified Chinese characters (with
the traditional characters following in brackets if they differ) and
standard pinyin Romanization.
Contents
[hide]
1Word formation
o
1.1Reduplication
2Sentence structure
o
2.1Objects
3Plurals
4Noun phrases
4.1Relative clauses
4.2Classifiers
5Numerals
6Pronouns
7Adjectives
8.1Locative phrases
10Copula
11Aspects
12Passive
13Negation
14Questions
15Imperatives
16.1Auxiliaries
16.2Verbal complements
16.2.1Complement of result
16.2.2Complement of direction
16.3Coverbs
16.4Other cases
17Particles
18Cleft sentences
19Conjunctions
20See also
21Notes
22References
23Further reading
24External links
Word formation[edit]
In Chinese, the concept of words and the boundaries between them is not
always transparent,[1] and the Chinese script does not use spaces between
words. Grammatically, some strings of characters behave as single words in
some contexts, but are separable in others. Many English intransitive
verbs are translated by verb+noun compounds, such as tiow ("to
dance", literally "to jump a dance"); such items may be regarded as single
lexical words, although the two parts can become separated by (for
example) aspect markers, and in fact they generally behave grammatically
as a verb plus an object. Sometimes the behavior of such compounds is
anomalous, however; for instance [] gunxn ("to be concerned
about") behaves as an inseparable word when the perfective particle le is
attached, although it is separable in the phrase [] gun
shnme xn ("to be concerned about what").[2]
Chinese morphemes (minimum units of meaning) are mostly monosyllabic.
Syllables (and thus morphemes in most cases) are represented as a rule by
single characters. Some words consist of single syllables, but many words
are formed by compounding two (or sometimes more) monosyllabic
morphemes (which may be either free or bound that is, they may or may
not also be able to stand independently). Most two-syllable
compound nouns have the head on the right, while in compound verbs the
head is usually on the left.[3] There are also some words (including many
phonetic loans from other languages) that cannot be broken down into
separate morphemes, although they are generally written with characters
that otherwise represent particular morphemes (homophonic with the
respective syllables of the word in question).
Many monosyllabic words have alternative disyllabic forms with virtually the
same meaning, such as dsun ("garlic", literally "big garlic") for
sun ("garlic"). Many disyllabic nouns are produced by adding the suffix
zi (original meaning: "child") to a monosyllabic word or morpheme. There
is a strong tendency for monosyllables to be avoided in certain positions (for
example, a disyllabic verb will not normally be followed by a monosyllabic
object) this may be connected with the preferred metrical structure of the
language.
Reduplication[edit]
A common feature in Chinese is reduplication, where a syllable or word is
repeated to produce a modified meaning. This can happen with:
Sentence structure[edit]
Chinese (like English) is classified as an SVO (subjectverbobject) language,
because transitive verbs precede their objects in typical simple clauses,
while the subject precedes the verb. For example:[4]
[()]
Courtyard-in park one [CLASSIFIER] vehicle. (In the courtyard is
parked a vehicle.)
[]
Today climb mountain, tomorrow outdoors camp. (Today hike up
mountains, tomorrow camp outdoors.)
In the next example the subject is omitted and the object is topicalized by
being moved into subject position, to form a passive-type sentence. (For
passive sentences with a marker such as bi, see Passivebelow.)
[]
Food make complete LE. (The food has been made, i.e. the food is
ready.)
Adverbs and adverbial phrases that modify the verb typically come after the
subject but before the verb, although other positions are sometimes
possible; see Adverbs and adverbials. For constructions that involve more
than one verb or verb phrase in sequence, see Serial verb constructions. For
sentences consisting of more than one clause, see Conjunctions.
Objects[edit]
Some verbs can take both an indirect object and a direct object. Indirect
normally precedes direct, as in English:
[]
I gave her six books.
[]
I broke a plate.
[]
I BA-plate broke.
The meanings of the above two sentences are similar, but the second one
(with b) may be considered to place more emphasis on what happened to
the object; it may also indicate definiteness ("the plate" rather than "a
plate"). Certain other markers can be used in a similar way to b, such as
[] jing (in formal language) and n (colloquial).
Some verbs can apparently take two direct objects, which may be called an
"inner" and an "outer" object. [10] These cannot both follow the verb
typically the outer object will be placed at the start of the sentence
(topicalized) or introduced via the b construction. For example:
[]
I BA-tangerine peeled skin ("I peeled the tangerine.")
Here p ("skin") is the inner object, and jzi ("tangerine") is introduced via
the b construction as the outer object. [11] (A more common way to express
this, however, would be w b jzi p b le "I BA tangerine's skin peeled",
or w b le jzi p "I peeled tangerine's skin".) Another possibility is for a
passive sentence with bi (see below) to be constructed, with the outer
object becoming the subject, and the inner object remaining in place. In this
case the combination of verb and inner object need not be an idiomatic or
fixed combination:
[]
I by bandit killed father ("My father was killed by bandits.")
[]
Bandits killed my father. (The most correct order.)
Here the emphasis is on the fact of my being affected by the bandits' killing
my father.[12]
Plurals[edit]
Chinese nouns and other parts of speech are not generally marked
for number, meaning that plural forms are mostly the same as the singular.
However, there is a plural marker [] men, which has limited usage. It is
used with personal pronouns, as in [] wmen, meaning "we" or "us"
(from w, "I, me"), and can be used with nouns representing humans,
most commonly those with two syllables, like in [
] pngyoumn "friends" (from pngyou "friend"). Its use in such cases
is optional.[13] It is never used when the noun has indefinite reference, or
when it is qualified by a numeral. [14]
The demonstrative pronouns [] zh "this" and n "that" may be
optionally pluralized by the addition of xi, making [
] zhxi "these" and nxi "those".
Noun phrases[edit]
The head noun of a noun phrase comes at the end of the phrase; this means
everything that modifies the noun comes before it. This includes
attributive adjectives, determiners, quantifiers, possessives, and relative
clauses.
Chinese does not have articles as such; a noun may stand alone to
represent what in English would be expressed as "the ..." or "a(n) ...".
However the word y "one", followed by the appropriate classifier, may be
used in some cases where English would have "a(n)". It is also possible, with
many classifiers, to omit the y and leave the classifier on its own at the
start of the noun phrase.
The demonstratives are [] zh "this", and n "that". When used
before a noun, these are often followed by an appropriate classifier (for
discussion of classifiers, see Classifiers below and the article Chinese
classifiers). However this use of classifiers is optional. [15] When a noun is
preceded by a numeral (or a demonstrative followed by a numeral), the use
of a classifier or measure word is in most cases considered mandatory. (This
does not apply to nouns that function as measure words themselves; this
includes many units of measurement and currency.)
The plural marker xi ("some, several"; also used to pluralize the
demonstratives) is used without a classifier. However j "some, several,
how many" takes a classifier.[16]
For adjectives in noun phrases, see Adjectives below. For noun phrases with
pronouns rather than nouns as the head, see Pronouns below.
Possessives are formed by adding de (the same particle that is used after
relative clauses and sometimes after adjectives) after the noun, noun
phrase or pronoun that denotes the possessor.
Relative clauses[edit]
Chinese relative clauses, like other noun modifiers, precede the noun they
modify. Like possessives and some adjectives, they are marked with the final
particle de. A free relative clause is produced if the modified noun
following the de is omitted. A relative clause usually comes after any
determiner phrase (such as a numeral and classifier), although for emphasis
it may come before.[17]
There is usually no relative pronoun in the relative clause. Instead, a gap is
left in subject or object position, as appropriate. If there are two gaps (the
additional gap being created by pro-dropping), ambiguity may arise. For
example, ch de may mean "(those) who eat" or "(that) which is eaten"
(when used alone it usually means "things to eat").
If the relative item is governed by a preposition in the relative clause, then it
is denoted by a pronoun (e.g. t t "for him", to mean "for whom"), or
else the whole prepositional phrase is omitted, the preposition then being
implicitly understood.
For example sentences, see Relative clause Mandarin.
Classifiers[edit]
Main article: Chinese classifier. See also List of Chinese classifiers.
[]
"table-on" = on the table
[]
"house-in" = in the house
The most common preposition of location is zi "at, on, in". With certain
nouns that inherently denote a specific location, including nearly all place
names, a locative phrase can be formed with zi together with the noun:
[]
"in America"
[]
"in newspaper-on" = in the newspaper
The perfective le presents the viewpoint of "an event in its entirety". [28] It is
sometimes considered to be a past tense marker, although it can also be
used with future events, given appropriate context.
[]
I became a soldier (and I still am; note that this is subjected to the
context. One could say [] "at that time, I
became a soldier" and this sentence would not necessarily indicate
that the speaker is still a soldier now).
[]
I am becoming a soldier. (Compared to the above, this is a strong
highlight about his status. Also, the above is just describing an event.)
[]
He watched three ballgames (and he has probably watched many
during his lifetime; often used in a time-delimited context such as
"today" or "last week").
[]
He watched three ballgames. (Same as above, but the focus is on the
number of three. He may continue or he may not.)
[]
I was/used to be a soldier before (but no longer am).
[]
He has watched three ballgames (and that is the sum of all the
ballgames he has ever watched; in the context of actions like "watch"
or "take part," which can easily be repeated, this does not have the
same connotation of the first usage, but merely denotes that the
action was in the past and describes the state of affairs up to now).
There are also two imperfective aspect markers, zhngzi (or just
zi), and [] zhe, which denote ongoing actions or states. The first of
these precedes the verb, and is usually used for ongoing actions or dynamic
events it may be translated as "(be) in the process of (-ing)" or "(be) in the
middle of (-ing)". The second follows the verb, and is used mostly for static
situations.
() [()]
I'm hanging pictures up.
[]
A picture's hanging on the wall.
[]
I to park walk-walk, i.e. "I'm going for a walk in the park."
[]
We by him scolded (We were scolded by him).
[]
He by me beaten (up) (He was beaten up by me).
Negation[edit]
The most commonly used negating element is b (pronounced with
second tone when followed by a fourth tone). This can be placed before a
Verbal complements[edit]
The active verb of a sentence may be suffixed with a second verb, which
usually indicates either the result of the first action, or the direction in which
it took the subject. When such information is applicable, it is generally
considered mandatory. The phenomenon is sometimes called double verbs.
Complement of result[edit]
A complement of result, or resultative complement ( [
] jigu by) is a verbal suffix which indicates the outcome, or possible
outcome, of the action indicated by the main verb. In the following
examples, the main verb is [] tng ("to listen"), and the complement of
result is dng ("to understand", "to know").
[]
Hear-understand, i.e. to understand (something you hear)
[]
To have not understood (something you hear)
[]
To be able to understand (something you hear)
This is equivalent in meaning to [] nng tng dng, using
the auxiliary nng, equivalent to "may" or "can" (but not in the
sense of "know how to" or "have the skill to").
[]
To be unable to understand (something you hear)
[]
literal: he OBJ-plate hit-break-PF.
He hit/dropped the plate, and it broke.
(double-verb where the second verb, "break", is a suffix to the first,
and indicates what happens to the object as a result of the action.)
[]
literal: This movie I look-no-understand.
I can't understand this movie (even though I watched it.)
(double-verb as well, where the second verb, "understand", suffixes
the first and clarifies the possibility and success of the relevant
action.)
Complement of direction[edit]
A complement of direction, or directional complement ( [
] qxing by) indicates the direction of an action involving movement.
The simplest directional complements are q ("to go") and []li ("to
come"), which may be added after a verb to indicate movement away from
or towards the speaker, respectively. These may form compounds with other
verbs that further specify the direction, such as shng q ("to go up"),
[] go li ("to come over"), which may then be added to another
verb, such as zu ("to walk"), as in [] zu go q ("to walk
over"). Another example, in a whole sentence:
[]
literal: he walk-up-come-PF.
He walked up (towards me).
(directional suffixes indicating "up" and "towards".)
If the preceding verb has an object, the object may be placed either before
or after the directional complement(s), or even between two directional
complements (provided the second of these is not q).[37]
The structure with inserted de or b (described above) is not normally used
with this type of double verb, although there are exceptions, such as
[] or ("to be unable to get out of bed").
Coverbs[edit]
Serial verb constructions can also consist of two consecutive verb phrases
with parallel meaning, such as [] h kfi kn bo "drink
coffee read paper", i.e. "drink coffee and read the paper". Each verb may
independently be negated or given the le aspect marker.[39] If both verbs
would have the same object, it is omitted the second time.
Consecutive verb phrases may also be used to indicate consecutive events.
Use of the le aspect marker with the first verb may imply that this is the
main verb of the sentence, the second verb phrase merely indicating the
purpose. Use of this le with the second verb changes this emphasis, and
may require a sentence-final le particle in addition. (On the other hand, the
progressive aspect marker zi may be applied to the first verb, but not
normally the second alone.) The word q or [] li (verbs normally
meaning "go" and "come") may be inserted between the two verb phrases,
meaning "in order to".
For constructions with consecutive verb phrases containing the same verb,
see under Adverbs. For immediate repetition of a verb,
see Reduplication and Aspects.
Another case is the causative or pivotal construction. [40] Here the object of
one verb also serves as the subject of the following verb. The first verb may
be something like gi "allow" (meaning "give" in other contexts),
[] rng "let", jio or sh "make, compel" (jio also means "call"),
[] qng "invite", or lng "command". Some of these (lng, rng, sh)
cannot take an aspect marker such as le when used in this construction.
Sentences of this type often parallel the equivalent English pattern (except
that English may insert the infinitive marker "to"). In the following example
the construction is used twice:
[]
He want me invite him drink beer, i.e. He wants me to treat him beer.
Particles[edit]
See also: Chinese particles and Chinese exclamative particles
Chinese has a number of sentence-final particles these are weak syllables,
spoken with neutral tone, and placed at the end of the sentence to which
they refer. They are often called modal particles ( [] yq
zhc), as they serve chiefly to express grammatical mood, or how the
sentence relates to reality and/or intent. They include: [41]
[]
I have no money, now. (I've gone broke.)
The two uses of le may in fact be traced back to two entirely different words.
[43][44]
The fact that they are now written the same way in Mandarin can
cause ambiguity, particularly when the verb is not followed by an object.
Consider the following sentence:
[]
[]
He has eaten. (Without the first le, the sentence could again mean
"he has eaten", or it could mean "he wants to eat now". Without the
final le the sentence would be ungrammatical unless the context
permits, as perfective le cannot appear in a semantically unbounded
sentence.)
Cleft sentences[edit]
There is a construction in Chinese known as the sh ... (de) construction,
which produces what may be called cleft sentences.[46] The copula sh is
placed before the element of the sentence which is to be emphasized, and
[]
He SHI yesterday buy food (DE), i.e. It was yesterday that he bought
food.
[...]
At I-return-home-DE time, i.e. "When I return(ed) home..."
Variants include ... [...] dng ... yqin ("before ...") and ...
[...] dng ... yhu ("after ...") (these do not use the relative
marker de). In all of these cases the initial dng may be replaced by zi,
or may be omitted. There are also similar constructions for
simplificado
tradicional
g es el clasificador ms general del mandarn
Los clasificadores chinos (chino tradicional: ; chino simplificado:
; pinyin: lingc; cantons (Yale): leung4 chi4) son aquellas palabras
o clasificadoresque se usan junto a los numerales para definir la unidad de
medida de un sustantivo, estos clasificadores dividen a los nombres en
clases semnticas. En otros idiomas tambin existen clasificadores, por
ejemplo en espaol se dice: "un vaso de agua" o "tres litros de agua" o "un
puado de dlares", en donde "vaso", "litro" y "puado" estn funcionando
como clasificadores.
En el idioma chino todos los sustantivos son incontables y los sustantivos no
cambian morfolgicamente para distinguir singular de plural, por lo que la
utilizacin del clasificador se hace obligatoria gramaticalmente, de tal
manera que el uso de este tipo de partculas est muy desarrollado y
normalmente tienen una presencia sealada en gramticas y diccionarios.
Se pueden distinguir dos tipos de clasificadores, los nominales y los
verbales. Los verbales se utilizan para cuantificar verbos y la cantidad de
tiempo que tiene prioridad.
La eleccin de uno u otro clasificador depende del sustantivo con el que va
asociado, pero tambin de las preferencias y la cultura del hablante. Por
ejemplo, para decir "tres coches", algunas personas prefieren decir
1Clasificadores nominales
o
1.1Unidades reales
2Clasificadores verbales
3Clasificadores coloquiales
4Ejemplos
5Vase tambin
Clasificadores nominales[editar]
Unidades reales[editar]
Trad.
Simp.
Pinyin
Cantons
Usos principales
mio
miu5
segundo
fn
fan1
minuto
hak1
haak1
Tiempo
traducciones)
xiosh
siu2 si4
hora
zhng
jung1
shchn
si4 san4
2 horas (arcaico)
tin
tin1
da
yat6
da
nin
nin4
ao
zi
joi2 joi3
ao
shj
sai3 gei2
siglo
ke4
hak1
haak1
gramo
jn
gan1
gngjn
gung1
gan1
kilogramo
qink
chin1
hak1/haak
1
kilogramo
dn
deun1
tonelada
Peso/masa
Longitud/distancia
gngfn
lm
lei4 mai5
cn
chyun3
pulgada china
cn
chyun3
pulgada britnica
ch
ch
chek3
pie britnico
yngch
ying1
chek3
pie britnico
gngch
gung1
chek3
metro
mai5
metro (tcnico)
lei5
le1/lei5/li1
milla britnica
yngl
ying1 lei5
milla britnica
gngl
gung1 lei5
kilmetro
tinwndn
wi
tin1 man4
"unidad astronmica"
daan1 wai2
gungnin
gwong1
nin4
ao luz
miochj
miu5 cha1
geui6
pasos
Moneda
yun
yun4
kui
faai3
jio
gok3/luk6
mo
hou4
tradicional)
fn
fan1/fan6
fn, cntimos
Pinyi
n
Usos principales
bn
bo
paquetes, fajo
bi
copa bebidas
bn
novelas, pelculas
volmenes de libros
cng
chn
g
chu
ng
di
do
din
ideas, sugerencias
dng
dng
dun
du
pareja gente
dn
gapes
du
flores, nubes
fn
porciones
fng
cartas, correo
ge
(g)
gn
hng
familias
hu
ji
ji
aviones, pianos
jin
habitaciones
jin
ji
ji
ku
kui
li
cereales
ling
li
trenes
mi
medallas
mn
min
mng
pi
pn
pin
pin
png
botella bebidas
revistas
qn
grupo, montn
shn
puertas, ventanas
shu
sh
ramos
shu
ng
su
naves
su
edificios
ti
tng
tng
to
Clasificador de preguntas
tio
tu
tun
pelota
wi
xing proyectos
yng
zh
zhn
zhn
g
zhn
zh
zh
zh
zhn
g
zu
Clasificadores verbales[editar]
Tra
d.
Sim
p.
bin
Piny Canton
Usos principales
in
s
bin3 pin3
chn
cheung4
g
chi3
dn
deun6
hu
wui4
shn seng1/si
g
ng1
tng
tong3
xi
ha5/ha6
Clasificadores coloquiales[editar]
En el habla coloquial de algunos dialectos, (li) se usa, normalmente, en
vez de (ling ge); de esta forma adquiere la identidad de un clasificador
que quiere decir "dos de (etc.)". Lo mismo pasa con (s), que quiere decir
"tres de (objeto)".
Ejemplos[editar]
Cdigo de colores
Los clasificadores aparecen en verde y los nombres en violeta.
Solo despus de que haya pasado esta lluvia escalar aquella montaa.
()
()
Una manzana.