Numeral classifiers in Chinese the syntax-semantics interface / by XuPing Li.

Author/creator Li, XuPing
Format Electronic
Publication InfoBerlin : De Gruyter Mouton, 2013.
Descriptionxiii, 309 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Supplemental ContentFull text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete
Subjects
Chinese language--Syntax.
Chinese language--Classifiers.
Chinese language--Semantics.
Classifiers (Linguistics)

Portion of title Syntax-semantics interface
SeriesTrends in linguistics. Studies and monographs, 1861-4302 ; 250
Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs 250. 1861-4302 ^A512512
Contents Introduction -- Issues -- Issue 1 : the debate on a count/mass distinction in Mandarin -- Issue 2 : counting and measuring functions of classifiers -- Issue 3 : definiteness in classifier languages -- Data and source -- Structure of the book -- Part I : the debate on a count/mass distinction in Chinese -- Defing classifiers -- Chinese classifiers: an illustration -- Identifying classifiers syntactically -- Chinese classifiers : a heuristic classification -- Classifiers as a closed class -- Classifiers without "descriptive content" -- Classifiers are not nominal -- Classifiers have no 'descriptive content' -- Classifiers are complement-taking -- Classifiers as stressless -- Classifiers in English : a contrastive look -- Conclusions -- The count/mass distinction in Chinese revisited -- Introduction -- Syntactic distinction between count and mass classifiers -- Introduction to count/mass classifiers -- Lexical/functional distinction of classifiers -- Two syntactic diagnostics -- Possibility of pre-classifier adjectival modification -- Adjectives before count and mass classifiers -- Two constraints on pre-classifier adjectives -- Optionality of post-classifier de -- Conclusions -- Natural atomicity -- Introduction -- Countability and individuation -- A lexical distinction between mass and count nouns -- Individual, stuff and partial-object readings -- Natural atomicity as a grammatically relevant phenomenon -- Conclusions -- Chinese bare nouns -- Introduction -- The Krifka-Chierchia hypothesis -- Bare nouns as kinds -- Strong kind-inducing contexts -- Appositives -- Scope with respect to opacity -- Scope with respect to quantifiers -- Semantics of bare nouns -- Bare predication -- Some analyses of copula clauses -- Ambiguous BEs -- Unambiguous BE -- Post-copula bare nouns as predicates of individuals -- Post-copula bare nouns as predicates of subkinds -- Post-copula bare nouns as predicates of kinds -- Definite bare nouns -- Topic-hood and definiteness -- Definite bare nouns in object positions -- Semantics of definite bare nouns -- Functions of classifiers : counting and measuring -- Counting and measure functions of classifiers -- Introduction -- Counting and measuring readings : a crosslinguistic perspective -- Introducing counting and measuring readings -- Structures for counting and measuring readings -- Ambiguity of container classifiers in Chinese -- Counting and measuring readings for Chinese container classifiers -- The syntax of counting and measuring readings -- A feature analysis of classifiers : (±Counting, ±Measuring) -- Four types of classifiers -- Type 1 : (+C, -M) classifiers -- Type 2 : [-C, +M] classifiers -- Type 3 : [+C, +M] classifiers -- Type 4 : [-C, -M] classifiers -- Concluding remarks -- Syntactic support for the counting and measuring readings -- Semantic shifting between counting and measuring readings -- Semantics of classifiers : counting and measuring -- Krifka's (1995) semantics for Chinese classifiers -- Rothstein's (2010) semantics for English classifiers -- Semantics of Chinese classifiers -- Semantics of classifiers in counting readings -- Semantics for classifiers on the measure reading -- Conclusions -- Adjectival modification in classifier phrases : pre-classifier adjectives -- Introduction -- Licensing pre-classifier adjectives -- Pre-classifier adjectives before counting classifiers -- "Concrete portion" reading (Partee and Borschev 2012) -- The modification relation of pre-classifier adjectives -- Adjectival modification in pseudo-partitives -- Pre-classifier adjectives in Mandarin -- Rejecting pre-classifier adjectives modifying mass classifiers -- Rejecting pre-classifier adjectives modifying nouns -- Pre-classifier adjectives modifying "Cl+N" -- Contexts of using pre-classifier adjectives -- Consumption contexts -- Contexts of significance -- Contrastive contexts -- Syntactic structure -- Semantics of pre-classifier adjectives -- Introduction to 'expressives' -- Pre-classifier adjectives as expressives -- Pre-classifier adjectives and plurality -- Conclusions -- Modification marker de in classifier phrases -- Introduction -- Licensing the post-classifier de -- De with mass classifiers (Cheng and Sybesma 1998) -- "Information weight" (Tang 2005) -- The 'indeterminacy' account (Hsieh 2008) -- Unsolved problems (Li and Rothstein 2012) -- Semantics of Num-measure Cl-de-N : as much as -- Measure classifiers and the particle de -- Semantics of Num-Clmeasure-cfe-N -- Num-count C1-&-N : as many as -- Counting classifiers in measure phrases -- Semantics of Num-Clcount-de-N -- Conclusions : two puzzles about (+counting) classifiers -- Part III : Definiteness in classifier languages -- Definite classifiers in southern Chinese languages -- Introduction -- "Cl+N" in three Chinese languages -- "Cl+N" in Mandarin -- "Cl+N" in Wu -- Preverbal "Cl+N" -- Postverbal Cl+N -- "Cl+N" in Cantonese -- Information structure and (in)definite "Cl+N" -- Syntax of indefinite "Cl+N" -- Indefinite "Cl+N" as a reduced form of "one+Cl+N" (Lu* 1944) -- Indefinite "Cl+N" as NumPs -- Indefinite "Cl+N" as C1P -- Syntax of definite "Cl+N" -- From "Dem+Cl+N" to definite "Cl+N" -- Definite "Cl+N" as C1P -- Definite "Cl+N" as DP -- Semantic interpretation of "Cl+N" -- Semantics of definite "Cl+N" : from counting to definitenessmarking -- A uniqueness-based approach of definiteness -- A familiarity-based approach of definiteness -- Semantics of definite "Cl+N" -- Summary -- Definite classifiers and their modifiers -- Introduction to modified "Cl+N" -- Syntax of modified "Cl+N" in Wu -- Modified "Cl+N" as a definite expression -- Modified "Cl+N" as DP -- Definite classifiers as D head -- Dems as (Spec DP) -- Adjs/RCs as (Spec DP) -- Semantics of non-bare "Cl+N" -- Definite classifiers characterized with "familiarity" -- Interpret modified "Cl-N" compositionally -- Concluding remarks -- References -- Index.
General noteOriginally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral - Ramat-Gan) under the title: On the semantics of classifiers in Chinese.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages [291]-306) and index.
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
LCCN 2013444219
ISBN9783110287639 (acid-free paper)
ISBN3110287633 (acid-free paper)

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