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OverviewThis 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. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Pamela A. Downing (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co Imprint: John Benjamins Publishing Co Volume: 4 Weight: 0.775kg ISBN: 9789027226143ISBN 10: 9027226148 Pages: 336 Publication Date: 20 September 1996 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsPamela Downing’s book should be of great interest to all linguists working on classifiers. -- Christopher I. Beckwith, Indiana University Pamela Downing's book should be of great interest to all linguists working on classifiers. -- Christopher I. Beckwith, Indiana University Author InformationTab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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