Numeral classifier systems : the case of Japanese
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Numeral classifier systems : the case of Japanese
(Studies in discourse and grammar / editors, Sandra A. Thompson, Paul J. Hopper, v. 4)
John Benjamins Publishing, c1996
- : US
- : Eur
Available at 64 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. [311]-325
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Numeral Classifier Systems considers the functional significance of the Japanese numeral system, its conclusions based on a corpus of 500 uses of classifier constructions drawn from oral and written Japanese texts.
Interestingly, although the Japanese system appears to conform at least superficially to universalistic predictions about its semantic structure, this study reports that in actual usage, the semantic role of classifiers is slight - only very rarely do they carry any lexical information unavailable from the context or the noun with which the classifier occurs. It does appear, however, that the system has an important role to play in providing pronoun-like anaphoric elements and in marking pragmatic distinctions such as the individuatedness of referents and the newness of numerical information. For these reasons, the classifier system is deeply involved in a number of subsystems of Japanese grammar, and the demise of the system (sometimes rumored to be impending) would have substantial implications for the structure of the language as a whole.
Table of Contents
- 1. Preface
- 2. Transcription Conventions
- 3. Key to Charts, Figures, and Tables
- 4. 1. Introduction
- 5. 2. The Japanese System - History and Morphology
- 6. 3. Semantic Properties of System Members
- 7. 4. Structure of the lexical Field
- 8. 5. Instantiation of Universal Semantic Trends in the Japanese Numeral Classifier System
- 9. 6. The Anaphoric Use of Classifier Phrases
- 10. 7. The Use of Classifier Phrases and Plural Markers as Individuators
- 11. 8. The Syntactic Position of the Numeral-Classifier Phrase
- 12. 9. Diachronic prognosis
- 13. Notes
- 14. Appendix 1: Questionnaire Instructions
- 15. Appendix 2: Forms Listed on Questionnaire
- 16. References
- 17. Index
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