The Strong Spatiality Trait of the Chinese Language as Seen from the Generalized Use of the Chinese Classifier Ge(个)
In Chinese,the use of the classifier ge(个)is generalized,which can co-occur with almost all the countable nouns.Existing studies mainly interpret the generalized use of ge from the perspective of the Economy Principle(Zhou 1996).They claim that the development of ge(which is semantically vacuous)is a solution to simplify the classifier system,because the large number of specialized classifiers burdened the memory of people.The present paper holds that the Economy Principle can hardly explain the extensive use of general classifiers adequately.In actuality,the co-existence of general and specialized classifiers further complicates the Chinese classifier system in that the use of Chinese classifiers,including specialized and general classifiers alike,are semantically redundant.Other studies propose there are stylistic differences between specialized vs.general classifiers,with the former being formal and the latter informal(Sun 1996).This idea seems to be widely adopted,but still needs further explanation of the cognitive mechanism underlying the division of labor in register.The present paper makes a contrastive analysis of the classifier systems in English and Chinese and probes into the differences between Chinese general and specialized classifiers.Three main findings are presented as follows.1)Even in the expression of concepts with the highest level of spatiality,i.e.,the individual nouns,Chinese classifier system shows more preferences for spatiality than their English counterparts.In essence,Chinese classifiers are semantically redundant,and their cognitive import lies in their strengthening and superimposing the spatiality on nouns,which indicates Chinese attaches much more importance to the expression of spatiality than English even at the risk of violating the Economy Principle;2)Specialized classifiers and ge have a division of labor in register because they represent different degrees of specificity in spatial representation.The specialized classifiers are more formal because they meet the psychological needs of the Chinese people to express spatiality more fully than general classifiers.3)The fact that Chinese specialized classifiers and general classifiers coexist indicates that the Chinese expression system for spatiality has developed a paradigmatic selective system with varying degrees of specificity.Ge has evolved into a schematic marker for the expression of spatiality,which not only allows for more flexible spatial expression but also facilitates the construction of non-spatial experiences based on spatiality.This suggests a preference among native Chinese speakers for a spatial way of thinking.
ge(个)Chinese classifiergeneral classifierspecialized classifiermarker of spatiality
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万方数据
