Contrastive study of English and Chinese Measure words

1
Contrastive study of English and Chinese Measure
words

• Chiu Man Hin
• Kwan Yin Lai, Sherleen
• Leung Chau Pui, Allison

2
What is measure words?

• A measure is a bound morpheme which forms a D-M
  compound with one of the determinatives (Y.R.
  Chao).
• There is no such part of speech as measure
  words in English.
• Similar to quantifying / measuring nouns

3
Interview with Mr. J. Guest

• His observations on measure words
• Easiest
• Extensive use of ? (ge)
• Measures involving containers or standard
  measurement
• Peculiar ? (zhi)
• Usually for animals, but ???, ???

4
The interview (contd)
nominalization
and doubling

• Confusing
• ?????
• ????????
• Hardest
• Measures associated with different individual
  nounse.g. ???, ???, ????, ????
• There are no general rules to followe.g. ??,
  ???, ?(?)??

5
Our aim

• To justify the difficulties of rendering the
  measure words by appreciating the major
  differences and some similarities of such in
  both language systems

6
Our focus

• 5 most common groups
• Classifiers and classifiers associated with V-O
• Group measures and partitive measures
• Standard measures

7
The classification

• Y. R. Chaos classification
• 9 groups

(1) Classifiers
(2) Classifiers (V-O)
(3) Group measures
(4) Partitive measures
(5) Container measures
(6) Temporary measures
(8) Quasi-measures
(7) Standard measures
(9) Measures for verbs
8
Classifiers

• 2 groups
• Classifiers or individual measures (Mc)
• Classifiers associated with V-O (Mc)
• Chinese
• e.g. ???, ?(?)?? but not ??, ??? (Chao)
• Each noun has its own specific classifier
• Indicating shape, kind, or other properties
• (Verb) Determiner Mc Noun

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Classifiers

• English
• e.g. a man, speak a word, but not an
  individual of a man, speak a sentence of
  words(some exception, e.g. a head of cow)
• Normally Determiner Noun
• No classifiers!
• Poses difficulties for English learners of Chinese

10
More about Chinese classifiers

• Some nouns have 2 or more specific classifiers
  according to different meanings
• e.g. ???, ???e.g. a doorway, a door (physical
  object)
• Nominalization
• e.g. ?????, ?????, ?????e.g. This is yours,
  That is a good book
• Demonstrative Mc
• Doubling
• e.g. ????, ?????

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General classifier ? (ge) (Chao)

• Applicable to most individual nouns
• e.g. ???, ????, ????, ????, ????
• Ease foreign learners difficulties
• Risk over-extensive usage

12
Group Measures
?????
?????
????
????
????
????
????
????
???
Chao (1968) A group measure is used for a group
or collection of individuals
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How about in English?
A group of students
????
????
Two groups of students
Biber (1999) quantifying collectives select
certain collocates which
are just confined to a range of entities
making up the group.
14
????
A group of students
????
Two groups of students
Structure
Group Measure in Chinese (Chao, 1968) Det
Mg N where Mg denotes Group measure words
Group Measure phrase in English (Wang, 2001)
a / number n1 of n2where n1 has to be
countable andn2 can either be countable or
uncountable
15
????
?
A group of students
group
????
Two groups of students
?
groups
group
?
Always in one-to-one relationship??
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N O!

• Significant differences between the two systems
  (Wang, 2001)
• 1. English group measure words are
• more specific
• exclusive and selective for particular nouns in
  a certain domain (????)

For example
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How to express these in English?
An army of workmen A flock of birds A galaxy of
talents A school of fish A swarm of bees A
troop of welcomers
?? ?? ?? ? ?? ???
??
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army flock galaxy school swarm troop
? can be applied to all animals in Chinesebut
expressed in numerous ways for English!!
??
19

• Significant differences between the two systems
  (Wang, 2001)
• 2. English group measure words
• possess visualization effect
• are represented with cultural imagination

For example
20
How to express these in English?
An army of workmen A flock of birds A school
of fish A swarm of bees A galaxy of talents
?? ?? ? ?? ???
A galaxy of talents
??
??
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A galaxy of talents

• Galaxy? luminous tract with numerous stars

Visualization effect
extended to
? An assembly of brilliant, glamorous, or
distinguished persons who are also like
blinking stars
22
Group measure for insects A hive of A cloud
of An army of
Group measure for birds A bevy of A case of An
host of
MORE...
Subject to the culturalunderstanding and
imagination associated with the group - a
matter of convention!
Group measure for wild animals A tribe of A
kennel of A collection of A herd of
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However,
glasses trousers gloves
???????? ????
A pair of
Violates the specific property of English group
measure words?
English ? more imaginative for animal groups
(group property) but not for
static object, which has to be descriptive
and logical enough. (e.g. pair
purely mathematical)
Again, cultural/language convention!
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What do these differences matter?
Chinese English-learners may find many
difficulties in rendering their group measure
words into English.
In Chinese, group measure words can only
illustrate the identity as a group in a direct
way.
Chinese speakers may not be able to understand
the cultural imagination of the group measure
words. (as in the case of idioms)
English ones too specific!
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Partitive Measures
???
????
????
???
????
????
????
????
????
Chao (1968) A partitive measure represents
portion of a thing instead
of a group of it. However, it is just a
matter of point of view since the
same group of individuals
may also be part of a larger class.
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How to express these in English?
wood music prose kindness bread advice
???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????
A piece of
27
No direct equivalent class in English! But
In English, a piece of is associated with
partitive meaning and commonly used for making
uncountable nouns countable. e.g. a
piece of bread Vs two pieces of bread
?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
A piece of
a piece of is productive in English and can be
expressed in numerous waysfor Chinese words!!
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• A significant difference between the two systems
  (Wang, 2001)
• Contrary to group measure words,
• the English so-called partitive measure words
  are
• less specific
• extensively applied to different domains

For example
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So
English Chinese-learners find many difficulties
in partitive measure.
e.g. Our interviewee - Mr John Guest Why
is a piece of bread translated to ?????
Why not ????? Why is a piece of
information translated to ????? Why not
?????
Specific property goes to partitives in Chinese
this time! (with very limited number of
collocates)
30
An interesting COMMON property to both
systems some partitive measure words in
Chinese do not admit numeral determinatives
greater than one. In English, n1 cannot be
plural.???? ? a piece of
kindness???? ? two pieces of
kindness???? ? a number of
students???? ? two numbers of
students
31
Standard measure

• Definition
• Measures proper (by Chao)
• Measure partitive nouns (by Quirk)
• Relate to precise and standard quantities

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Classification

• Chinese (English)
  
• Length ? (meter)?? (inch)
• volume ? (liter)???? (cubic meter)
• Weight ?? (kilogram)?? (tonne)
• Area ??? (square meter)?
• ?? (hectare)

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Comparisonsimilarities

• 1.Structure
• ???? a liter of water
• ??? two yards of cloth
• Chin
  Eng
• structure numMmn numMmofn
• n2 neither C nor U
  usually U
• of Nil
  obligatory

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2.Serving as different grammatical functions

• (a) ?? five miles
• (b) ??? five miles of road
• ?? ten pounds
• (b) ??? ten pounds of meat
• (a) Functioning as a noun without a classifier
• (b) Functioning as a classifier with another noun
  

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3. Modifying adjective

• ??? three-feet long
• ??? five-meter tall
• ??? six-inch wide
• ??????(adjective)
• A three-feet long cloth. (modifier)

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Differences

• 1. Different measure scales in Chinese and
  English
• Chin. Eng.
• (1) ? 1/6 acre
• (2) ? 1/3 miles
• (3) ? 10 feet

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2. Some Chinese standard measures are
transliterated from English's

• Chin. Eng.
• (1) ? tonne
• (2) ?? gallon

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3. Some Chinese standard measures not only
functioning as precise units but also functioning
as modifiers

• ? (a standard measure of rice)
• ? (a standard measure of soybeans)
• ?????????(modifier of ??)
• English
• ? (pint)?? (peck) ? standard measure

extension of noun
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4. Chinese standard measures will be varied as
othe types of measure words according to
different situations

• Mandarin
• ?? (standard measure associated with money)
• ???? (partitive measure as a numerative to modify
  a noun )
• English
• dollar (standard measure) ?
• a piece of (partitive measure)

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General observation

• The same morpheme sometimes serves as different
  kinds of measures (Chao), e.g.
• ??? (a partitive measure)
• ??? (a classifier)
• The measure word can either be classifier or
  partitive measure.

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2. Chinese and English have their own language
systems and cultural convention

• Rhetoric effect

• Chin
• ????
• (2) ????
• Eng
• A galaxy of talents
• An army of workmen

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4.Modern use Omission of measure words ? Precise

• English Omission of measure word
• (1) A can of coke ? a coke
• (2) A jar of beer ? a beer
• Container measure is omitted.
• Chinese
• ????????
• A classifier is omitted.

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We have to get a better use of measure words in
both Chinese and English
After all

• Always refer to some useful measure word tools.
• Understand the general pattern
• /rules of measure words in Chinese
• and English.
• Read more, write more, use more.

44
References

• Biber, D. 1999. Longman grammar of spoken and
  written English. Harlow, Essex Longman.
• Chao, Y. R. 1968. A grammar of spoken Chinese.
  Berkeley University of California Press.
• Li and Thompson. 1989. Mandarin Chinese A
  functional reference grammar. Berkeley
  University of California press.
• Matthews, S. 1994. Cantonese a comprehensive
  grammar. London Routledge.

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?????????????????????(?????)2001?????1?? ????2
000????????????????????? ???2001????????????????
?? ???????????????????(???????)1992??1?? ????
????????????????1997??1??

Special Acknowledgement to Mr John Guest (HKU)