Classifier (linguistics)
A classifier is a word or affix that accompanies nouns and can be considered to "classify" a noun depending on the type of its referent. It is also sometimes called a measure word or counter word. Classifiers play an important role in certain languages, especially East Asian languages, including Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese. Classifiers are absent or marginal in European languages. An example of a possible classifier in English is piece in phrases like "three pieces of candy".
In languages that have classifiers, they are often used when the noun is being counted, that is, when it appears with a numeral. In such languages, a phrase such as "three people" is often required to be expressed as "three X people", where X is a classifier appropriate to the noun for "people". Classifiers sometimes have other functions too; in Chinese, they are commonly used when a noun is preceded by a demonstrative. Chinese classifiers are also commonly called measure words, although some writers make a distinction between the two terms. In American Sign Language, particular classifier handshapes represent a noun's orientation in space.
There are similarities between classifier systems and noun classes, although there are [|significant differences]. Languages with classifiers may have up to several hundred different classifiers. Languages with noun classes tend to have a smaller number of classes. Noun classes are not always dependent on the nouns' meaning but they have a variety of grammatical consequences.
[|Overview]
A classifier is a word which accompanies a noun in certain grammatical contexts, and generally reflects some kind of conceptual classification of nouns, based principally on features of their referents. Thus a language might have one classifier for nouns representing persons, another for nouns representing flat objects, another for nouns denoting periods of time, and so on. The assignment of classifier to noun may also be to some degree unpredictable, with certain nouns taking certain classifiers by historically established convention.The situations in which classifiers may or must appear depend on the grammar of the language in question, but they are frequently required when a noun is accompanied by a numeral. They are therefore sometimes known as counter words. They may also be used when a noun is accompanied by a demonstrative.
The following examples, from Standard Mandarin Chinese, illustrate the use of classifiers with a numeral. The classifiers used here are 个, used with nouns for humans; 棵 kē, used with nouns for trees; 只 zhī, used with nouns for certain animals, including birds; and 条 tiáo, used with nouns for certain long flexible objects.
- "three students": 三个学生 sān gè xuéshēng, literally "three student"
- "three trees": 三棵树 sān kē shù, literally "three tree"
- "three birds": 三只鸟 sān zhī niǎo, literally "three bird"
- "three rivers": 三条河 sān tiáo hé, literally "three river"
The noun in such phrases may be omitted, if the classifier alone is sufficient to indicate what noun is intended. For example, in answering a question:
Languages which make systematic use of classifiers include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian languages, Bengali, Assamese, Persian, Austronesian languages, Mayan languages and others. A less typical example of classifiers is found in Southern Athabaskan.
Classifier handshapes are found in sign languages, although these have a somewhat different grammatical function.
Classifiers are often derived from nouns, which have become specialized as classifiers, or may retain other uses besides their use as classifiers. Classifiers, like other words, are sometimes borrowed from other languages. A language may be said to have dozens or even hundreds of different classifiers. However, such enumerations often also include measure words.
Classifiers versus measure words
play a similar role to classifiers, except that they denote a particular quantity of something, rather than the inherent countable units associated with a count noun. Classifiers are used with count nouns; measure words can be used with mass nouns, and can also be used when a count noun's quantity is not described in terms of its inherent countable units.However, the terminological distinction between classifiers and measure words is often blurred – classifiers are commonly referred to as measure words in some contexts, such as Chinese language teaching, and measure words are sometimes called mass-classifiers or similar.
Examples by language
European languages
Classifiers are not generally a feature of English or other European languages, although classifier-like constructions are found with certain nouns. A commonly cited English example is the word head in phrases such as "five head of cattle": the word cattle is an uncountable noun, and requires the word head to enable its units to be counted. The parallel construction exists in French: une tête de bétail and in Spanish: una cabeza de ganado. Note the difference between "five head of cattle", and "five heads of cattle". A similar phrase used by florists is "ten stem of roses".European languages naturally use measure words. These are required for counting in the case of mass nouns, and some can also be used with count nouns. For example, one can have a glass of beer, and a handful of coins. The English construction with of is paralleled in many languages, although in German the two words are simply juxtaposed, e.g. one says ein Glas Bier. Slavic languages put the second noun in the genitive case, but Bulgarian, having lost the Slavic case system, uses expressions identical to German.
Certain nouns are associated with particular measure words or other classifier-like words that enable them to be counted. For example, paper is often counted in sheets as in "five sheets of paper". Usage or non-usage of measure words may yield different meanings, e.g. five papers is grammatically equally correct but refers to newspapers or academic papers. Some inherently plural nouns require the word pair to enable reference to a single object or specified number of objects, as in "a pair of scissors", "three pairs of pants", or the French une paire de lunettes.
Australian Aboriginal Languages
are known for often having extensive Noun class systems based on semantic criteria. In many cases, a given noun can be identified as a member of a given class via an adjacent classifier, which can either form a hyponym construction with a specific noun, or act as a generic noun on its own.Kuuk Thaayorre
In the following example from Kuuk Thaayorre, the specific borrowed noun tin.meat 'tinned meat' is preceded by its generic classifier minh 'meat.'Whereas in this example, the same classifier minh stands in on its own for a generic crocodile, another member of the minh class:
Classifiers and specific nouns in Kuuk Thaayorre can also co-occupy the head of a noun phrase to form something like a compound or complex noun as in ngat minh.patp 'CL hawk' which is the complex noun meaning 'stingray'.
| Classifier | Noun Class |
| minh | edible land animals: meat, land animals that one eats, all birds, inedible aquatic animals. |
| ngat | edible aquatic animals |
| may | edible plants: non-meat food, a meal, honey, honey bees |
| ngok | liquids |
| kuuk | structured utterances: speech, languages, birdsong |
| warrath | grasses |
| yuk1 | trees: tree species and tree parts |
| yuk2 | elongated objects: cigarettes, aeroplanes, cyclones, microphones |
| raak1 | locations: place names, geographical areas, ground, the earth, soil. |
| raak2 | times: diurnal phases, seasons, etc. |
| raak3 | items of material culture: money |
| pam1 | people: humans generically |
| pam2 | men: adult male humans |
| paanth | women: adult female humans |
| parr_r | youth: immature humans and other species |
| kuta | social animals: cats, dingoes |
| ngan | relatives |
| ruurr | insects |
Diyari
Another example of this kind of hyponym construction can be seen in Diyari:See the nine Diyari classifiers below
| Classifier | Noun Class |
| karna | human beings, excluding non-Aboriginal people |
| paya | birds which fly |
| thutyu | reptiles and insects |
| nganthi | other edible animates |
| puka | edible vegetable food |
| pirta | trees and wood |
| marda | stone and minerals |
| thurru | fire |
| ngapa | water |
Ngalakgan
Contrast the above with Ngalakgan in which classifiers are prefixes on the various phrasal heads of the entire noun phrase :Ngalakgan has fewer noun classes than many Australian Languages, the complete set of its class prefixes are below:
| CL Prefix | Noun Class |
| rnu- | male humans and higher animals; most other animals; etc. |
| dju- | female humans and higher animals |
| mu- | most edible plants; some implements; seasons; etc. |
| gu- | most body parts; most implements; many plants, topographical terms; etc. |
Bengali, Assamese, Maithili and Nepali
Atypically for an Indo-European language, Bengali makes use of classifiers. Every noun in this language must have its corresponding classifier when used with a numeral or other quantifier. Most nouns take the generic classifier ṭa, although there are many more specific measure words, such as jon, which is only used to count humans. Still, there are many fewer measure words in Bengali than in Chinese or Japanese. As in Chinese, Bengali nouns are not inflected for number.| Bengali | English gloss | English translation |
| Nôe-ṭa ghoṛi | Nine-CL clock | Nine clocks |
| Kôe-ṭa balish | How.many-CL pillow | How many pillows |
| Ônek-jon lok | Many-CL person | Many people |
| Char-pañch-jon shikkhôk | Four-five-CL teacher | Four or five teachers |
Similar to the situation in Chinese, measuring nouns in Bengali without their corresponding measure words would typically be considered ungrammatical. However, it is common to omit the classifier when it counts a noun that is not in the nominative case, or panc bhUte khelo ) or when the number is very large. Classifiers may also be dropped when the focus of the sentence is not on the actual counting but on a statement of fact. The -ṭa suffix comes from /goṭa/ 'piece', and is also used as a definite article.
Omitting the noun and preserving the classifier is grammatical and common. For example, Shudhu êk-jon thakbe. would be understood to mean "Only one person will remain.", since jon can only be used to count humans. The word lok "person" is implied.
Maithili, Nepali and Assamese have systems very similar to Bengali's. Maithili uses -ta for objects and -goatey for humans; similarly, Nepali has -waṭā for objects and "-janā" for humans.
Assamese, Chittagonian, Sylheti and other Bengali-Assamese languages have more classifiers than Bengali.
| Assamese | English gloss | English translation |
| আমটো Am-tú | Mango-' | The mango |
| দুটা শব্দ Du-ta xobdo | Two-' word | Two words |
| কেইটা বালিছ Kei-ta balis | How.many-CL pillow | How many pillows |
| বালিছকেইটা Balis-kei-ta | Pillow-many-CL | The pillows |
| চাৰি-পাঁচজন মানুহ Sari-pas-zon manuh | Four-five-' human | Four or five men |
| মেকুৰীজনী Mekuri-zoni | Cat-' | The female cat |
| এখন ঘৰ E-khon ghor | One-' house | A house |
| কিতাপকেইখন Kitap-kei-khon | Book-many-CL | The books |
| পানীখিনি Pani-khini | Water-' | The water |
| সাপডাল Xap-dal | Snake- | The snake |
Persian has a scheme very similar to the Indo-Aryan languages Bengali, Assamese, Maithili and Nepali.
Burmese
In Burmese, classifiers, in the form of particles, are used when counting or measuring nouns. They immediately follow the numerical quantification. Nouns to which classifiers refer can be omitted if the context allows, because many classifiers have implicit meanings.| Burmese | English gloss | English translation |
| သူတူနှစ်ချောင်းရှိတယ် Thu tu hna chaung shi de | He-chopstick-two-'-have-. | He has two chopsticks. |
| စားပွဲ ခုနစ်လုံးရှိလာ Zabwe khun-hna lon shi la | Table-seven-'-have- | Do you have seven tables? |
| လူတဦး lu ta u | one--person | one person or a person |
Chinese
Although classifiers were not often used in Classical Chinese, in all modern Chinese varieties, such as Mandarin, nouns are normally required to be accompanied by a classifier or measure word when they are qualified by a numeral or by a demonstrative. Examples with numerals have been given above in the Overview section. An example with a demonstrative is 这个人 zhè ge rén, meaning "this person", literally "this person".The noun in a classifier phrase may be omitted, if the context and choice of classifier make the intended noun obvious. An example of this again appears in the Overview section above.
The choice of a classifier for each noun is somewhat arbitrary and must be memorized by learners of Chinese, but often relates to the object's physical characteristics. For example, 張/张 zhāng, one of whose meanings is table, is used with many nouns denoting flat objects. Not all classifiers derive from nouns; for example, the word bǎ can also be a verb meaning to grab, and is the classifier for objects that have handles.
Technically a distinction is made between classifiers, which are used only with count nouns and do not generally carry any meaning of their own, and measure words, which can be used also with mass nouns and specify a particular quantity. Less formally, however, the term "measure word" is used interchangeably with "classifier".
Japanese
In Japanese grammar, classifiers must be used with a number when counting nouns. The appropriate classifier is chosen based on the kind and shape of the noun, and combines with the numeral, sometimes adopting several different forms.| Japanese | English gloss | English translation |
| 鉛筆五本 go-hon | pencil five-' | five pencils |
| 犬三匹 inu san-biki | dog three-' | three dogs |
| 子供四人 kodomo yo-nin | child four-' | four children |
| 鶏三羽 niwatori san-ba | chicken three-' | three chickens |
| ヨット三艘 yotto san-sō | yacht three-' | three yachts |
| 車一台 kuruma ichi-dai | car one-' | one car |
| トランプ二枚 toranpu ni-mai | playing.card two- | two cards |
Korean
The Korean language has classifiers in the form of suffixes which attach to numerals. For example, jang is used to count sheets of paper, blankets, leaves, and other similar objects: "ten bus tickets" could be translated beoseu pyo yeol-jang, literally "bus ticket ten-".| Korean | English gloss | English translation |
| 종이 세 장 jong'i se jang | paper three-' | three sheets of paper |
| 자전거 다섯 대 jajeongeo daseot dae | bicycle five-' | five bicycles |
| 어른 네 명 eoreun ne myeong | adult four-' | four adults |
| 물건 여섯 개 mulgeon yeoseot gae | thing six-' | six things |
| 토끼 한 마리 tokki han mari | rabbit one-' | one rabbit |
| 책 두 권 chaek du gwon | book two-' | two books |
| 고기 일곱 점 gogi ilgop jeom | meat seven-' | seven pieces of meat |
| 옷 여덟 벌 ot yeodeol beol | cloth eight-' | eight clothes |
Malay/Indonesian
In Malay grammar, classifiers are used to count all nouns, including concrete nouns, abstract nouns and phrasal nouns. Nouns are not reduplicated for plural form when used with classifiers, definite or indefinite, although Mary Dalrymple and Suriel Mofu give counterexamples where reduplication and classifiers co-occur. In informal language, classifiers can be used with numbers alone without the nouns if the context is well known.The Malay term for classifiers is penjodoh bilangan, while the term in Indonesian is kata penggolong.
| Malay | English gloss | English translation |
| Seekor kerbau | One-' water-buffalo. | A water-buffalo. |
| Dua orang pelajar itu | Two ' students that. | Those two students. |
| Berapa buah kereta yang dijual? Tiga buah. | How many ' cars sold? Three '. | How many cars are sold? Three cars. / Three of them. |
| Secawan kopi. | One-cup coffee | A cup of coffee. |
| Saya mendengar empat das tembakan pistol. | I heard four ' gunshots. | I heard four gunshots. |
| Saya minta sebatang rokok. | I would like one ' cigarette. | I would like a cigarette. |
| Tiga biji pasir. | Three sand. | Three grains of sand. |
Vietnamese
Vietnamese uses a similar set of classifiers to Chinese, Japanese and Korean.| Vietnamese | English gloss | English translation |
| ba chiếc áo dài | three upper garment+long | three áo dài |
Khmer
also uses classifiers, although they can quite frequently be omitted. Since it is a head-first language, the classifier phrase comes after the noun.American Sign Language
In American Sign Language classifier constructions are used to express position, stative description, and how objects are handled manually. The particular hand shape used to express any of these constructions is what functions as the classifier. Various hand shapes can represent whole entities; show how objects are handled or instruments are used; represent limbs; and be used to express various characteristics of entities such as dimensions, shape, texture, position, and path and manner of motion. While the label of classifiers has been accepted by many sign language linguists, some argue that these constructions do not parallel oral-language classifiers in all respects and prefer to use other terms, such as polymorphemic or polycomponential signs.Examples:
- 1 hand shape: used for individuals standing or long thin objects
- A hand shape: used for compact objects
- C hand shape: used for cylindrical objects
- 3 hand shape: used for ground vehicles
- ILY hand shape: used for aircraft
Global distribution
In contrast, classifiers are entirely absent not only from European languages, but also from many languages of northern Asia, and also from the indigenous languages of the southern parts of both North and South America. In Austronesian languages, classifiers have been acquired as a result of contact with Mon–Khmer languages but the most remote members such as Malagasy and Hawaiian have lost them.
The World Atlas of Language Structures has a showing 400 languages and including geographical discussion:
Noun classifiers versus noun classes
The concept of noun classifier is distinct from that of noun class.- Classifier systems typically involve 20 or more, or even several hundred, classifiers. Noun class systems typically comprise a closed set of two to twenty classes, into which all nouns in the language are divided.
- Not every noun need take a classifier, and many nouns can occur with different classifiers. In a language with noun classes, each noun typically belongs to one and only one class, which is usually shown by a word form or an accompanying article and functions grammatically. The same referent can be referred to by nouns with different noun classes, such as die Frau "the woman" and das Weib "the wife" in German.
- Noun classes are typically marked by inflection, i.e. through bound morphemes which cannot appear alone in a sentence. Class may be marked on the noun itself, but will also often be marked on other constituents in the noun phrase or in the sentence that show agreement with the noun. Noun classifiers are always free lexical items that occur in the same noun phrase as the noun they qualify. They never form a morphological unit with the noun, and there is never agreement marking on the verb.
- The classifier occurs in only some syntactic environments. In addition, use of the classifier may be influenced by the pragmatics of style and the choice of written or spoken mode. Often, the more formal the style, the richer the variety of classifiers used, and the higher the frequency of their use. Noun class markers are mandatory under all circumstances.
- Noun classifiers are usually derived from words used as names of concrete, discrete, moveable objects. Noun class markers are typically affixes without any literal meaning.
Conceptual similarity to determinatives (writing systems)
Ancient Egyptian scripts, Cuneiform (Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite), Luwian Hieroglyphs and Chinese
The Egyptian hieroglyphic script is formed of a repertoire of hundreds of graphemes which play different semiotic roles. Almost every word ends with an unpronounced grapheme that carries no additional phonetic value of its own. As such, this hieroglyph is a “mute” icon, which does not exist on the spoken level of language but supplies the word in question, through its iconic meaning alone, with extra semantic information.In recent years, this system of unpronounced graphemes was compared to classifiers in spoken languages. The results show that the two systems, those of unpronounced graphemic classifiers and those of pronounced classifiers in classifier languages obey similar rules of use and function. The graphemic classifiers of the hieroglyphic script presents an emic image of knowledge organization in the Ancient Egyptian mind.
Similar graphemic classifiers are known also in Hieroglyphic Luwian and in
Chinese scripts.