Jing Jin - Partition and quantity : numerical classifiers, measurement, and partitive constructions in Mandarin Chinese

Partition and Quantity

Partition and Quantity: Numeral Classifiers, Measurement, and Partitive Constructions in Mandarin Chinese presents an in-depth investigation into the semantic and syntactic properties of Chinese classifiers, and conducts a comprehensive examination on the use of different quantity constructions in Chinese.

This book echoes a rapid development in the past decades in Chinese linguistics research within the generative framework on Chinese classifier phrases, an area that has emerged as one of the most cutting-edge themes in the field of Chinese linguistics.

The book on the one hand offers a closer scrutiny on empirical data and revisits some long-lasting research problems, such as the semantic factor bearing on the formation of Chinese numeral classifier constructions, the (non-)licensing of the linker de () in between the numeral classifier and the noun, and the conditions regulating the use of pre-classifier adjectives. On the other hand, particular attention is paid to the issues that have been less studied or gone unnoticed in previous studies, including a (more) fine-grained subcategorization of Chinese measurement constructions, the multiple grammatical roles played by the marker de () in different numeral classifier constructions, the formation and derivation of Chinese partitive constructions, etc.

Jing Jin is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese Language Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong. Her research interests lie in syntax, syntax-semantics interface, and Chinese linguistics.

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Partition and Quantity

Numeral Classifiers, Measurement, and Partitive Constructions in Mandarin Chinese

Jing Jin

First published 2019

by Routledge

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2019 Jing Jin

The right of Jing Jin to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jin, Jing, 1986- author.

Title: Partition and quantity: numerical classifiers, measurement, and partitive constructions in Mandarin Chinese / Jing Jin.

Description: London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge studies in Chinese linguistics

Identifiers: LCCN 2018004079| ISBN 9781138182523 (hardback: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315646428 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Chinese languageSyntax. | Chinese languageClassifiers. | Classifiers (Linguistics)

Classification: LCC PL1241 .J55 2018 | DDC 495.15dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018004079

ISBN: 978-1-138-18252-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64642-8 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Sunrise Setting Ltd., Brixham, UK

To my parents

Contents

* Ungrammatical expression

# Grammatical but pragmatically unacceptable expression

? Grammatical and pragmatically marginally acceptable expression

This book is partially funded by the Department of Chinese Language Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong.

Classifiers have long been the subject of immense interest in linguistic investigations into Mandarin Chinese. Since the 1980s, this area has particularly attracted continuing scholarly attention, with various endeavors being made to provide a formal account of numeral classifier constructions in Chinese (Huang, 1982; Tang, 1990; Cheng and Sybesma, 1998, 1999, 2005; Y.-H. Li, 1998, 1999). In recent years, numeral classifier constructions have emerged as one of the most cutting-edge themes in the field of Chinese linguistics, triggering growing concerns and heated debates concerning topics ranging across the syntax/semantics of different types of classifiers, the underlying structure of classifier phrases, the referential properties of numeral classifier constructions, and so on (Pan and Hu, 2000; Tang, 2005; Hsieh, 2008; Wu and Bodomo, 2009; Zhang, 2009, 2013; Her and Hsieh, 2010; X.-P. Li, 2011, 2013; Pan and An, 2012).

This book aims to expand existing scholarly discussions about Chinese classifier expressions via a more in-depth investigation into the semantic and syntactic behaviors of Chinese numeral classifiers, and a more comprehensive examination of the use of different quantity constructions in Chinese. The following three main themes will be covered: