Numeral Classifier Systems: The Case of Japanese: 4 (Studies in Discourse and Grammar) - Hardcover

Downing, Pamela A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9027226148 ISBN 13: 9789027226143

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co, 1996

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review

Pamela Downing's book should be of great interest to all linguists working on classifiers. -- Christopher I. Beckwith, Indiana University

Synopsis

This text 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. 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 rumoured to be impending) would have substantial implications for the structure of the language as a whole.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9027226148
• ISBN 13: 9789027226143
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 356