{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.04328455816234775, 'fraction_numerical': 0.018760729175181887, 'mean_word_length': 4.344473569244212, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 2, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 1, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
A Semantic Study of the Classifiers 只Zhī, 个Gè and 条Tiáo in Mandarin and Three Southern Chinese Dialects

As we know, in spoken language, 个 gè is a commonly accepted general classifier 3 in Modern Chinese. However, this is not the case for other dialects. In the Southern dialects, the specific classifier 只 zhī in Mandarin is adopted (Wang, 2008 (c): 279281). Additionally, in certain Southern dialects, 条 tiáo has a wide range of uses. Thus, it can be said that all these individual classifiers share one common feature: all are often used with several kinds of common nouns, i.e. for persons, animals, body parts, objects of daily use, etc. Consequently, in this paper, I will explore the three Chinese classifiers 只 zhī, 个 gè and 条 tiáo in Mandarin, comparing them with the three other Southern dialects, namely Hakka, Chaozhou, and Cantonese, employing the prototype theory (Rosch, 1978) and interview technique, in order to reveal how 3 Classifiers (hereafter ‘CLs’) Downloaded from Brill.com03/09/2020 08:37:58AM via free access A Semantic Study of the Classifiers只 zhī, 个 gè and 条 tiáo 59 Northern and Southern people view the world through these classifiers.


Introduction
This paper will investigate three individual classifiers (只 zhī, 个 gè and 条 tiáo) in Mandarin and three Southern dialects, namely Hakka, Chaozhou and Cantonese. I focus on elaborating the cognitive perspectives underlying the use of these three CLs by explaining their application. Through the Northern and the Southern people's use of CLs, I present a picture of the differences in their cognitive worldviews. This paper supports the view that human cognition and perception play an essential role in a language system, as Tai and Wang (1990) have indicated in their studies of the Chinese classifier 4 system. Additionally, according to Wu, S (1996), although the CL system across Chinese dialects contains great differences, these differences can be analyzed by means of a cognitive approach. In addition, this study employs the prototype theory of categorization in identifying the central and extended use of these individual CLs.
I gathered data in this study from twenty Chinese speakers (five participants per dialect). 5 To ensure that the dialects they use are their mother tongues, all participants had to have been born and raised in Beijing (for Mandarin data), Meixian (for Hakka dialect data), Chaozhou (for Chaozhou dialect data), and Guangzhou (for Cantonese data). I asked each participant for personal 4 Classifier (hereafter 'CL') 5 See appendix I for background information on each participant information and let them see some pictures and say the classifiers that were used with those words 6 . For abstract words, I gave them a list of words in Mandarin or Chinese dialects. Participants supplied the most appropriate CL used with the words given. This paper consists of five sections: (1) introduction, (2) background to the study, (3) the CLs 只 zhī, 个 gè, and 条 tiáo, (4) 只 zhī, 个 gè and 条 tiáo in the three Southern dialects as compared to Mandarin, and (5) the conclusion.

Background to the Study: Related Literature
In the following section, I offer some information about the classification of Chinese dialects, and contrast the definition of CL with that of measure words. I will also discuss the prototype theory. Norman (1988) divides the Chinese dialects into the following three large groups: the Northern group coincides with the traditional Mandarin 北方 Běifāng (Mandarin) classification group; the Southern group includes the 客家 Kèjiā (Hakka), 粤 Yuè (Cantonese) and 閩 6 See appendix II for list of classifiers used by participants 7 For consistency reasons, Cantonese examples extract from other documents will use this phonetic transcription system to transcribe.

Classifiers and Measure Words 8
According to the traditional view, there is no difference between MW and CL 9 . For example, Chao (1968: 788) classifies MW into nine types. CL, or what he calls "the individual MW," is counted as the first type. However, other researchers such as Greenberg (1972), Allan (1977), Tai and Wang (1990) and Cheng and Rint (1998) attempt to differentiate between the meanings of these two terms.
Detailed studies on CLs in languages can be found in Greenberg (1972) and Allan (1977). Greenberg's study is based on data taken from a hundred CL languages; Allan's is based on data taken from fifty CL languages. Both studies shed light on the concept of the CL in general linguistics. 8 Measure word (hereafter 'MW') 9 After the Han period (汉 Hàn,(206)(207)(208)(209)(210)(211)(212)(213)(214)(215)(216)(217)(218)(219)(220), the 'number + (CL) + noun' pattern emerged, but generally 'number' can directly be used with a noun. Later in the Weijin period (魏 晋 Wèi Jìn, 220-420 A.D.) a noun cannot appear directly after a number, but a classifier is needed, forming the 'number + CL + noun' pattern (Guo, 2005: 36-38). Then, in the Tang Song dynasties (唐宋 Táng Sòng, 628-1279 A.D), the 'number + CL + noun' pattern gained more popularity (Wu,Feng and Huang,n.d.: 1), for example, the classifier 张 zhāng developed rapidly in the Weijin dynasty reflecting its frequency and its expanded scope in classifying more objects. (Meng and Li, 2010: 472). Greenberg's hypothesis (1972: 34) focuses on the semantic universals of CLs but he recognizes that CLs are sometimes semantically redundant. Although Allan's general ideas on CLs are fairly similar to Greenberg's, they differ in some assumptions. Allan (1977: 285) says that "Classifiers denote some salient perceived or imputed characteristics of the entity to which an associated noun refers (or may refer)." Allan's findings on seven categories of CLs have greatly influenced future work on CLs. His second criterion for defining CLs states that CLs have separate meanings although they seem to be a part of the reference nouns which they classify. Tai and Wang (1990) point out that there is an important semantic distinction between CLs and MWs. CLs can only classify a limited and specific group of nouns, while MWs can be applied to a wide variety of nouns. Additionally, Cheng and Rint (1998: 12-14) argue that the difference between CLs and MWs is the CLs name the unit that the semantic representation of the noun naturally provides. Languages like Chinese, however, need the presence of a counter for the noun. In the case of mass nouns, these counters create their unit of counting, while in the case of count nouns, the counters simply name the unit that the noun's semantic representation provides. The counters are called "CLs" because different nouns have different count-CLs, depending on the shape or any other property of the individual units that are characteristics inherent to the units. In Mandarin, for instance, long, tall things like humans are counted with the CL, 個 gè, which comes from the word meaning "bamboo" (箇 gè).  (Norman, 1988:184)

Prototype and Categorization
At the end of the 1970s, Eleanor Rosch created the so-called "prototype theory." This new theory has some major differences from the classical theory. Rosch (1978: 14-15) demonstrates that categories have foundational examples called "prototypes" and different gradations of membership. For example, robins and sparrows are more typical than penguins in the bird category. In addition, human perception and mental capacity play a crucial role in categorization. In Rosch's view of categorization, categories have clear boundaries and all members of a category share a common but necessary set of properties. Yet, it is difficult to explain the heterogeneous nature of the members within a certain category (Lakoff, 1987: 8). As demonstrated by Lakoff, the assignment of members into a category does not depend on similar objective properties but rather on human experience and cognition. Although prototype theory has its origins in psychology and not linguistics, it has proven useful in such areas as lexical semantics, phonology, syntax and historical linguistics (Geeraerts, 1989: 591). It has also been applied to matters of language pedagogy (Adamson, 1990:1-25). 3. The CLs 只 zhī, 个 gè, and 条 tiáo 3.1 The Classifier 只 zhī

只 zhī in Mandarin Chinese
According to prototype theory, nouns categorized by the CL 只 zhī can be divided into central members and their extensions.

只 zhī and Its Central Members
In Mandarin Chinese, 只 zhī can be used to denote animals as shown below: 10 Shuo Wen is also known as Explaining Simple and Analyzing Compound Characters. It is the oldest and one of the most important Chinese character compositions compiled by Xu Shen. (Theobald, 2010 In Shuowen Jiezì. Retrieved January 20, 2015, from http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Scienc e/shuowenjiezi. html). 11 The simplified character is the standard written form used in Mainland China, while the traditional one is mainly employed in Taiwan.

Extended use of 只 zhī
只 zhī at some unknown time then extended its meaning to include both animate and inanimate nouns. I will give a clearer picture of the extended use of 只 zhī.
In present-day usage, 只 zhī can be used not only with fowl, insects or animals that have legs but also with one of a symmetrical pair of human body parts. Based on the origin of 只 zhī, the development of its meaning from "single" to "a pair" is quite logical. For example: 3) 一只耳朵 yī zhī ĕrduō "an ear," 14 一只眼 睛 yī zhī yănjīng "an eye," 一只手 yī zhī shŏu "a hand," 一只脚 yī zhī jiăo "a foot" 只 zhī also developed its meaning to be used with things that are generally in pairs, as in example (4). 4 ) 一只耳环 yī zhī ĕrhuán "an earring," 一 只袜子 yī zhī wàzi "a sock (a stocking)," 一只鞋 yī zhī xié "a shoe," 一只手套 yī zhī shŏutào "a glove" It should be noted that all of the examples in (4) refer to things worn on human body parts. For instance, 一只袜子 yī zhī wàzi or "one sock" is worn on a human foot or 一只手套 yī zhī shŏutào or "a glove" is worn on a human hand.
14 Some participants report that the CL 个 gè can be used with 'ear'

The use of 只 zhī in Mandarin compared with its equivalents in three other dialects
In this section, I am going to discuss how the speakers of other dialects view the CL 只 zhī and how they extend its usage to cover other nouns. Let us analyze the data below: For example, while one can say 一只学生 yit 5 zak 5 hok 6 sang 1 "a student" 一只阿哥 yit 5 zak 5 a 1 go 1 "an elder brother" in the Hakka dialect, in Cantonese, when 只 is used with human beings it always carries a negative connotation. Examples are, 一只鸡 jat 1 zek 3 gai 1 "a prostitute" (expressing the speaker's disapproval or hostility), or 一只鸭 jat 1 zek 3 app 3 "male prostitute" (Matthew and Yip, 2002: 107). Thirdly, using 只 with objects of daily use in the Southern dialect, particularly in Hakka, is quite common, but this never occurs in Mandarin and the Chaozhou dialect. For example, we can use 只 zak 5 with "bowl," and "cup" in the Hakka dialect and Cantonese. Fourthly, in the Chaozhou dialect, 只 ziah 4 can be used with furniture with legs. Examples in the Chaozhou dialect are: 一只椅 zêg 8 ziah 4 in 2 "a chair," 一只饭 床 zêg 8 ziah 4 huêng 6 ceng 5 "a dining table." Fifthly, 只 zak 5 can be used to refer to construction in the Hakka dialect. For example, one can say: yit 5 zak 5 vuk 5 一只屋 "a house". Sixthly, in the Hakka dialect, it is quite common to use 只 zak 5 with food and fruit like "egg," "watermelon," and "orange." For example, one can say: 一只鸡 卵 yit 5 zak 5 gai 1 lon 3 . Additionally, based on my study, I have also found that 只 can be used with abstract entities in the Hakka and Chaozhou dialects. The Hakka dialect makes extensive use of 只 zak 5 in this sense. For example, one can use 只 za k 5 with "plan," "news," "story," "objective, and "humorous story," while in the Chaozhou dialect, 只 ziah 4 is only used with 'ideal.' To sum up, in Mandarin 只 zhī can be regarded as a general CL for fowl and small legged animals, and one of a symmetrical pair of either some human body part or item in a pair. However, the application of 只 seems to be more flexible in the Southern dialects, especially in Hakka dialect. 只 zak 5 in Hakka can be viewed as a near-universal CL which has the widest scope of usage compared with Cantonese and Chaozhou. Wang (1996aWang ( , 1996b examines the history of 个 gè and finds that 个 gè originated from 丰 * kai in Jiaguwen ( 甲骨文 Jiǎgǔwén "oracle bone") and 介 jiè in the Pre-Qin dynasty. Wang explicitly points out that apart from 介 jiè, 匹 pĭ and 枚 méi; 个 gè is one of the oldest commonly used CLs in historical Chinese. Furthermore, although 个 gè has kept its popularity as a general CL in modern times, this has not always been the case throughout history. For example, between the Wei Jin and the Tang periods (唐 Táng, 618-907 A.D), 枚 méi originated and was used more often than 个 gè but declined gradually and has almost disappeared in modern times. On the other hand, 个 gè has grown into the most commonly used general CL in modern times.

个 gè in Mandarin Chinese
In addition, Wang also indicates that there are three different characters, 個 gè, 个 gè and 箇 gè for the same CL 个 gè in Chinese which are treated as free-variations for one single CL by many scholars. The other two, 个 gè and 個 gè, appeared later. 箇 gè means "bamboo" in ancient Chinese and was originally used as a specific CL for "bamboo".
Besides Wang, the origin of 箇 / 個 gè is traced in The Metaphor for language change -diachronic development of duo 朵 (Li, 2003)." This study shows that the historical development of the CL 箇 / 個 gè "unit of bamboo" had several stages. In the first stage, 个 gè only categorized entities associated with special image schemas 16 . In the second stage, 个 gè was broadened to associate with more generalized image schemas, and began to include other sticklike entities such as 矢 shĭ "arrow." During the third stage, 个 gè progressed to a very broad level of association with almost abstract unit schemas, so that 个 gè began to include in its categorization almost all entities concrete or abstract.  (1) and (2) Wu (1980) claim that after the Wei-Jin period, 个 gè developed its meaning to become a general CL, which is used to denote all kinds of entities, both abstract and concrete. Because 个 gè is combined with the concrete radical 人 rén "person", I will choose nouns denoting concrete entities as central members of 个 gè.

个 gè and its central members
In Mandarin Chinese 个 gè can be used to denote human beings and higher supernatural and lower supernatural beings as shown in (3).
However, the classifications given in (5) may not include all concrete entities that employ 个 gè as their CL because there are many entities that can be classified by 个 gè. Moreover, it should be noted that most of the nouns mentioned above do not have any specific CLs. That is why Mandarin speakers use 个 gè to classify them.  Table 3 The use of 条 tiáo in Mandarin and three southern dialects

Extended use of 个 gè
The classifier 个 gè can be used to denote abstract entities, as shown in example (6) 6) 一个目的 yī gè mùdì "an objective," 一个 理想 yī gè lĭxiăng "an ideal," 一个计划 yī gè jìhuà "a plan," 一个笑话 yī gè xiàohuà "a humorous story" Generally, 个 gè can be viewed as a nearuniversal CL because it can be used with a great number of nouns referring to all sorts of concrete and abstract entities. Next, gee has come to replace or reclassify certain other CLs, for example, 7) 一只/个耳朵 yī zhī / gè ĕrduō "an ear," 一只/个鸟 yī zhī / gè niăo "a bird," 一座 /个寺 庙yī zuò /gè sìmiào "a temple,"一 家/个工厂 yī jiā/gè gōngchăng "a factory" , or electrical appliances (e.g. television, washing machine)' Thirdly, 个 is employed to reclassify nouns denoting buildings in Mandarin as in 教室 jiàoshì "classroom," 书店 shūdiàn "bookstore" and 墳 墓 fénmù "tomb" which are normally used with the CLs 间 jiān, 家 jiā, and 座 zuò, respectively. This circumstance is rarely found in the Southern dialects because Southern people prefer to use specific CLs over 个. However, based on my study, 个 is used with "public square" in all dialects. However, it is also used with "lake" only in Cantonese. Fourthly, Mandarin, and Cantonese use 个 to name round-shaped fruit like "orange." In this case, 个 and 只 are interchangeable in Cantonese, and Hakka speakers use 只 instead of 个 , whereas Chaozhou speakers select 粒 lieb 8 as the associated CL for small and roundshaped fruit. Lastly, all dialects can use 个 to denote abstract entities. Zhang and Liu (1991) provide us with some important information on the historical development of 条 tiáo, stating that 条 tiáo originated as a noun 18 , meaning 小枝 xiăo zhī "twig" as in example (8) In examples (8) and (9), we can see that 条 tiáo originated from "twig" and then expanded to become an adjective, meaning "long." Thus, nouns denoting long shaped objects are chosen as central members of the CL 条 tiáo in this study. 18 In the beginning of the Eastern Han period (东 汉 Dōng Hàn, 25 -220 A.D.), 条tiáo grammaticalized from a noun to be a classifier (Chen, 2013: 85) 19 Shijing is also known as The Book of Songs. It assembled 305 works of Chinese poetry in the Zhou period (周 Zhōu, 1050-221B.C.) (Theobald, 2010 In Shijing. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classi cs/shijing.html).
As discussed above, 条 tiáo developed from a noun to a CL, and it is used to refer to long shaped objects. Now, we can see why 条 tiáo is employed to name animals and their body parts along with human beings and their body parts. Below are lists of their members: 13) 一条虫 yī tiáo chóng "a worm," 一条蛇 yī tiáo shé "a snake," 一条狗 yī tiáo gŏu "a dog," 一条魚 yī tiáo yú "a fish" 14) 一条腿 yī tiáo tuĭ "a leg," 一条皱纹 yī tiáo zhòuwén "a wrinkle," 一条好汉 yī tiáo hăohàn "a hero," 一条尾巴 yī tiáo wĕiba "a tail" We can see from (13) and (14) that 条 tiáo is used with long shaped animals, human beings and body parts of animals and humans. For example, 一条狗 yī tiáo gŏu "a dog" is an animal, while 一条尾巴 yī tiáo wĕiba "a tail " is a body part of a dog. Let us see the lists in (14) 一条好汉 yī iáo hăohàn "a hero," while yī tiáo tuĭ 一條腿 "a leg" is a human body part.

Extended use of 条 tiáo
条 tiáo can be used to classify not only concrete entities but also abstract ones. Consider example (15): 15) 一条建议 yī tiáo jiànyì "a suggestion," 一条人命 yī tiáo rénmìng " a human life" The members of group (15) can be viewed as abstract objects. Tai and Wang (1990) give a good explanation that the metaphorical extension is based on human imagination and creativity.
It can be said that 条 tiáo is used to refer to long objects but this does not mean that all long shaped objects can use 条 tiáo. Apart from 条 tiáo, there are still some CLs that can denote long shaped attributes in Mandarin, as shown in (16).
16) 一棵树 yī kē shù "a tree," 一根筷子 yī gēn kuàizi "a chopsitck," 一枝笔 yī zhī bĭ "a pen," 一支歌 yī zhī gē "a song" All of the items in (16) have a long shaped property but we can select different CLs to use with them. 棵 kē is a special CL for 'tree'. For 根 gēn, 枝 zhī and 支 zhī, Tai and Wang (1990: 35-56) explain that 根 gēn and 条 tiáo overlap considerably. However, 条 tiáo can be extended from being used with three-dimensional objects to being used with one or two dimensional objects. Moreover, they explicitly indicate that 支 zhī first appeared to mean "a tree branch." Later, as 支 zhī was extended to mean "division," 枝 zhī was added to stand for "tree branch." 20

The use of 条 tiáo in Mandarin compared with its equivalents in three other dialects
Next, I am going to demonstrate how speakers of the other three dialects view the CL 条 tiáo and how they have extended its use to refer to other objects.
From Table (3) above, we can summarize: firstly, Cantonese speakers perceived 条 tiu 4 differently as, impolite by the normal polite Chinese standard, for example, 你条女 nei 5 tiu 4 neoi 5 "your girlfriend (slang)" or 你 条菜 nei 5 tiu 4 coi 3 "your girlfriend (vulgar)" (Matthew and Yip, 2002: 107). Furthermore, it should be noted that Cantonese speakers also use 只 zek 3 in this sense. Secondly, all dialects use 条 with long-shaped animals like "snake". However, this classifier is dominant in the Hakka dialect because Hakka people also use 条 tiau 2 with "horse" and "dog." Thirdly, Mandarin, and all Southern dialects in this study use 条 for "wrinkle" and "tail". It is used For "hair" in all Southern dialects in this study, while 条 is used with "leg" in Mandarin and Cantonese. Thus, I can summarize that for the body part group in this study, Cantonese extensively employs the CL 条 tiu 4 . Fourthly, in all dialects, people use 条 to classify long thin objects (i.e. trousers, scarf, river) but not "bridge". This case is understandable because they have certain special CLs which are 座 and 个 to group them. Surprisingly, for the food and fruit category, though some contain long-shaped properties, Mandarin speakers do not choose CL 条 tiáo to classify them. Lastly, concerning abstract entities, all dialects use 条 for "life" and "news." However, only the Chaozhou dialect selects 条 to classify "riddle" and Hakka selects it to classify "story." Tai (1990: 308-322) points out that CL systems vary considerably across Chinese dialects. The specific CLs are different from dialect to dialect and the general CLs in different dialects also differ from each other significantly.

只 zhī , 个 gè and 条 tiáo in other Southern dialects as compared to Mandarin
Let us now illustrate the semantic contrast between 只 zhī, 个 gè and 条 tiáo in Mandarin and the three Southern dialects by using the classification that follows: As can be seen in the table above, the CLs 只, 个 and 条 can be used with animate and inanimate entities in Mandarin and the three Southern dialects. Now, let us take a look at the differences in their use. We can see that only in Cantonese can the CLs 只, 个 and 条 be used to classify both animate entities, especially human ones, and inanimate entities. Next, if we look at the animate class, at least three findings are revealed. Firstly, 个 gè is used with humans in all dialects. Secondly, in the Southern dialects, except Chaozhou, it is common to use 只 when referring to human beings. Perhaps, this is because the speakers in these two dialects view humans as animals in that both are living creatures. Finally, although Mandarin and Cantonese use the CL 条 to denote humans, this does not mean that they express is the same meaning. Simply stated, when 条 tiáo is used in Mandarin, it has a positive connotation. For example, 一条好 汉 yī tiáo hăohàn "a hero" On the other hand, when it is used in Cantonese, it is always used in slang expressions, for example, 我 条 仔 ngo 5 tiu 4 zai 2 "my boyfriend (vulgar)" (Matthew and Yip, 2002: 106). In the non-human (animal) and inanimate columns, all the dialects select all the CLs, 只, 个 and 条.
The diagrams below show the appearance of these three classifiers with their objects in Mandarin and the three Southern dialects in this study.

Conclusion
Based on my observations, I have demonstrated the conceptual structure of the three individual CLs 只 zhī , 个 gè and 条 tiáo in Mandarin and the three Southern dialects by employing the prototype theory. This study represents one aspect of how people in the North and South view the world through their categorization. As Shi (2001: 34) stated: "The classification of Chinese classifiers and the establishment of its amount is not random, in contrast, it profoundly reflects the characteristics of categorization of the Han people." I conclude that these three CLs have their unique characteristics and can be used with both concrete and abstract entities.
I have also found that some words in Mandarin and all the Southern dialects in this study can employ more than one classifier. For example, the words "pig, deer, news, story" in the Hakka dialect can be used with both 只 zak 5 and 条 tiau 2 . In Mandarin, one can use the CLs 只 zhī and 条 tiáo with "dog"; and 个 gè and 只 zhī with "ear". In the Chaozhou dialect, the word "watermelon" can be used with both 粒 lieb 8 and 个 gai 5 . Also, in Cantonese, one can use 个 go 3 and 粒 lap 1 with "pin". This phenomenon may lead to a change of CL in the near future because one CL may compete with another and gain more popularity, while the other may disappear. Southern dialects, it can be analyzed by means of the prototype principle. Hopefully, this study will not only give a clearer picture of differences in the three CLs among dialects but it will also be useful to Chinese language learners who are interested in the CL system.