Classifiers and Generic Reference:Conversion of Opposing Categories
The prominent use of classifiers in Chinese is individualization,contrasting with generic reference which implies a process of deindividualization.However,some Chinese dialects,characterized by robust classifier systems,have developed categorical classifiers and even prospective generic articles from typical classifiers.The emergence of inventory-internal generic reference and generic-mighty types,rarely attested in human languages,facilitates the conversion of the classifier and generic reference,which are generally regarded as converse domains.The present research focuses on the process and mechanism of inventory-internal and mighty generic reference,based on case studies of dialects with classifiers,such as Mandarin,Cantonese and Wu dialects.The factors facilitating the conversion of the two categories were primarily investigated,including but not limited to the mutual metonymy of individuality and generic reference,the reanalysis from sub-categorical generic reference to generic reference,and the syntactical function of classifiers.