Untitled 1

Taishanese Noun Classifiers 台山话单位词

Noun classifiers are widely used in Chinese. There are basically two types and they are called collectively in Chinese as 单位词, unit words. Measure word is used to indicate the amount or quantity, and noun classifiers shape or some other categories. The construction is Count + Unit Word + Noun.

Measure Words: Collective Classifiers				Can	Man
班 [ban33]	group, bunch	people	该班学生 this group of students 成班女仔 the whole group of girls	√	帮,群
	scheduled arrival/depart	transport	3点咛班机 the three o'clock flight 早班车 the earliest scheduled bus 一日有三班船 there're three ships scheduled every day	√	√
揸 [dza32]	irregular bunch, handful		一揸沙 a handful of sands 揸雀仔 the flock of birds	√	var
笔 [bit55]	sum	money	咛笔钱 that sum of money 𠳞笔债 their debt 几笔数 several accounts (of money)	√	√
餐 [tan33]	meal		日日三餐饭 three meals a day	√	顿
抽 [tsǝu33]	bunch	linked obj	一大抽菩提子 a big bunch of grapes 抽锁匙 the chain of keys	√	串
笪 [at33]	patch, plot		笪地 the patch of land 一笪水渍 a patch of water stains	√	块
堆 [ui33]	heap, mount	loose obj	一堆垃圾 a heap of garbage 两堆泥 two heaps of dirt	√	√
滴 [ɛt32]	drop	fluids	几滴眼泪 several drops of tears 一滴血 a drop of blood	√	√
番 [fan33]		abstract obj	一番心机/努力 efforts/hard work 一番说话/忠告 words/advice	√	√
嚿 [gɔu32]	lump, nugget		三嚿番枧 three bars of soap 嚿燶疙 [gɔu³²nǝŋ²¹giɛt⁵⁵] the piece of rice ball	√	块
副 [fu33]	set		副棋 the chess game set 两副牌 two packs of playing cards 副麻雀 the mahjong set 一副眼镜 a pair of eyeglasses	√	√
套 [hɔu33]	set		两套衫 two sets of (matching) shirts and pants 套太极拳 the set of tai ji movements	√	√
扎 [dzat32]	bundle		一扎花 a bouquet of flowers; 两扎筷子 two bundles of chopsticks	√	√
捆 [kun55]	large bundle		一捆柴 a bundle of firewood 捆禾杆草 the bundle of rice hays	√	√
排 [pai22]	row		两排树 two rows of trees 一排书架 a row of bookshelves	√	√
箸 [dzi32]	the amount held by chopsticks	food	挟一箸餸 pick one chopstick full of food from the main dishes	√
啖 [am32]	mouth	food	几啖饭 several mouthful of rice 饮啖水 to drink a mouthful of water (to drink some water)	√	口
对 [ui33]	pair		Applies to 鞋 shoes, 袜 socks, 手袜 gloves, 新人 newly-wed couple, 耳环 earrings. 三对鞋 three pairs of shoes	√	√
双 [sɔŋ33]	pair		Applies to 耳 ears, 眼 eyes, 手 hands, 脚 feet, 筷子 chopsticks 我双眼肿 my eyes are swollen.	√	√
唪 [bǝŋ32]	in the air	smells	一唪𡃴 bad smell 一唪臭𡃴 full of stinky smells	𠹻	股
阵 [dzin32]	gust	wind	一阵风 a gust of wind	√	√

Measure Words: Measurement Units is an open set: Any physical unit can be used as long as it is an appropriate measure for the following object. These are just examples.
斤 [gin33]	weight	1/2 kg	一斤猪肉 1/2 kg of pork	√	√
尺 [tsiak33]	length	1/3 of a meter	三尺布 a meter of cloth	√	√
担 [am33]	weight	50 kg	买担柴 to buy 50 kg firewood	√	√
亩 [mǝu21]	area	666.666 m²	两亩地 two mu of land	√	√
公升 [sein33]	volume	liter	十公升汽油 ten liter gasoline	√	√
度 [u32]	electricity usage	Kilowatt	上个月用 a 三度电 consumed 3 KW of electricity last month

Measure Words: Container Classifiers is an open set: Any valid combination of container and noun objects are all right in general. These are just examples
碗 [vɔn55]	bowl		三碗饭 three bowls of rice; 两碗糖水 two bowls of 'dessert soup'	√	√
樽 [dun21]	bottle		几樽酒 several bottles of wine 一樽汽水 a bottle of soft drink	√	√
杯 [bɔi33]	cup		一杯茶 a cup of tea	√	√
盘 [pɔn22]	plate, tray		一盘花生 a tray of peanuts; 作 a 两盘棋 played two chess games	√	√
盒 [hap21]	box		人生似盒朱古力 Life is like a box of chocolates	√	√
包 [bɔu21]	pack, bag, sack		一包烟 a pack of cigarette 一包茶叶 a bag of tea leaves	√	√
窦 [ǝu21]	nest, den, lair		一窦鸡 a chicken family (hen and chicks together)	√	窝
屋 [ǝk55]	house		一屋人 a houseful of people	√	√
村 [tun21]	village		两村人 people from the two villages	√	√
封 [fǝŋ33]	envelope		一封信 a letter 两封利是 two red envelopes (of lucky money)	√	√

Measure Words: Body Parts
This category is a degenerated special case. It is distinguished from the other measure words for the following:
1. the Count is necessarily one (or two in some cases, i.e. hands or legs)
2. many of the usages are idiomatic
3. most importantly, they are adjective-like. For example:
佢一肚火 's/he-stomach full-fire' S/he is very angry
我一肚水 'I-stomach full-water' I've drunk too much water
Note that one would not say 我一杯水 'I-cup full-water' as both 我 and 一杯水 are nouns or noun phrases.

身 [sin33]	body	一身汗 sweat all over 一身烟味 smell of cigarette all over 一身蚁 trouble all over (lit: have ants all over one's body)
肚 [u55]	stomach	一肚水 a stomach full of water 一肚火 a stomach full of fire (in a state of anger)
头 [hǝu22]	head	一头白发 a full head of white hair 一头烟 a full head of smoke (in a state of turnmoil)
额 [ŋak32]	forehead	一额汗 a forehead full of sweat
脚 [giak33]	foot, leg	一脚泥 a leg full of mud 两脚牛屎 two legs full of cow manure
口 [hǝu55]	mouth	一口牛津英文 mouthful of Oxford English 一口开平口音 mouthful of Kaiping accent

Noun Classifiers: Shape Classifiers
顶 [iaŋ55]	objects with protruding top	hats	√	√
幅 [fǝk55]	flat, rectangular objects	picture, drawing, photo, land, cloth	√	var
面 [mein32]	objects with flat surface	mirror, flag	√	√
粒 [lip33]	small objects	grains, pills, beads, peas, stars	√	√
支 [dzi33]	solid long and slender objects	pens, sticks, branches, sugarcane, poles, guns, flags, flash light, spear, fluorescent tubes, arrow, army	√	var
块 [fai33]	small and thin objects	cookie, biscuits, wiping cloths, board	√	√
条 [hiau22]	long, slender and twisting objects	fish, dragon, snake, worm, rope, thread, string, towel, road, hair, intestine, tube, pants, skirt, tail	√	√
嚿 [gɔu32]	thick piece, nugget, lump	rock, pieces of chicken, bar of soap, bar of chocolate	√	塊
层 [taŋ22]	layer	story (of a building)	√	√
格 [gak21]	rectangular portion out of the whole	chocolate bar, shelf space, floor space (with rectangular patterns)	√	√

Noun Classifiers: Category Classifiers
个 [gɔi33]	generic (people, roundish object, etc.)	people, students, apple, ball, bun, cake, nose, stomach, head, idea, conspiracy, story, project, windows, holes, nation, species	√	√
把 [ba55]	hand tools/instruments	scissors, sweeper, sword, knife, lock, umbrella	√	√
本 [bɔn55]	volume	book, magazine, notebook	√	√
场 [tsiaŋ22]	open field activities	show, movie, ballgame, contest, battle, exhibition	√	√
出 [tsut55]	show/movies	show, movie	√	√
朵 [ɔ55]	irregular shape with soft edges	flowers, cloud	√	√
架 [ga21]	vehicles	airplane, car, bicycle, train, tank	√	var
座 [dzɔ32]	large heavy object	mountain, statue, machine, tower	√	√
部 [bu32]	machines	television, novel, movie, car, machine, coffee maker, computer, mobile phone	√	√
	volume	novel, book, musical piece	√	√
间 [gan33]	objects with housing	room, house, school, factories, stores, companies, temples	√	√
		bed	张	张
件 [gein32]	countable and others	upper-body clothing (shirts/jackets), jewelry, legal cases, matter/affairs, dim sum,	√	√
张 [dziaŋ33]	thin objects	paper, sheet, photo, ticket, net	√	√
	furniture with a flat surface	bench, chair, table, bed	√	√
	tools with thin/sharp edge	knife, hoe, sickle, bow	把	把
兜 [ǝu33]	plants	vegetables, trees, sugarcane	棵	棵
只 [dziak33]	animals	cows, chicken, bird, cockroach, insects	√	√
	one of a pair	shoe, sock, ear piece, ear, eye, hand, leg, foot	√	√
	misc.	eggs, ship, boat, wrist watch, tooth, kite, audio CD	√	√
索 [sak55]	slice/half (by cutting)	apple, pear
棯 [niam33]	(natural) peeled section of certain fruit	orange, mandarin, tangerine	√
盏 [dzan55]	lights	light, lamp, firefly	√	√
首 [siu55]	verses	songs, poems	√	√
份 [fun32]		newspapers, insurance policy, document, job, salary, 感情 feels, 人情 favor, 礼物 presents	√	√
埲 [bǝŋ32]	vertical flat objects	wall, boards (in a vertical position)	√	堵
度 [u32]		door, bridge	√	var
栋 [ǝŋ32]		buildings, bridge	√	√
篇 [pein33]		written articles	√	√
扻 [ham22]		gun	√	支
樑 [liaŋ22]		saw, ladder	var	var
度[u32]		bridge, door	var	var
种 [dzǝŋ55]	type, category, kind	corresponds to types of or categories of in English, i.e. three types of rices (三种米)	√	√
样[yiaŋ32]	type, category, kind	corresponds to types of or categories of in English, i.e. three types of rices (三样米)	√	√

The default construction is Count + Unit Word + Noun. However, there are variations.

Mapping of classifier to noun is not one-to-one, i.e. both 本 and 部 can be used for books.

乃 [nai55], approximately corresponds to some in English, is used when the count is more than one. In this case, both the count and unit word are dropped:
     有乃鸭在后园 There're ducks in the back garden.
     乃鸭在后园 The ducks are in the back garden.
     咛乃鸭在后园 Those ducks are in the back garden.

In some cases, the count can be omitted when it is one:
     有只鸭在后园 There's a duck in the back garden.
     有一只鸭在后园 There's ONE duck in the back garden. (i.e. only one, not two, not three ...)
     只鸭在后园 The duck is in the back garden.
     咛只鸭在后园 That duck is in the back garden.

Both the count and unit word can be omitted when the noun is referred to in the general sense, or is an abstract entity. Note that 鸟类, the bird family, has no classifier in Taishanese, but not so in English. This is because bird family is thought of as a generic class in Chinese but a specific class in English.
鸭属于鸟类 Ducks belong to the bird family.
自由诚可贵, 爱情价更高 Freedom is dear, love is dearer.

Unit Words are required when accompanied by demonstratives (该 [kɔi21], 咛 [nein21], 𠴛 [kǝŋ21]), 哪 [nai21] which, or 每 [mɔi21] every, but not 乜 [mɔt55] any/all:
     该只鸭在后园 This duck is in the back garden.
     哪只鸭在后园? Which duck is in the back garden?
     每个人都养鸭 Everyone raises ducks.
     乜鸭都有毛      All ducks have feathers.

Unit Words can be omitted with relative quantity words like 几多 how much, 好多 much, 好少 very little, 唔少 not too few, etc. for some uncountable nouns (but the line is blurred here). Compare the following:
     (a) 我有好少钱 I have very little money.
     (b) 你有几多钱啊? How much money do you have?
     (c) 我有好多笔 I have a lot of pens.
     (d) 你有几多笔啊? How many pens do you have?
     (e) 你有几支笔啊? How many pens do you have?
I suspect sentence (e) is the 'correct' form, but you'll also hear (d) as it is a carry over of sentence (c).

Sometimes the noun can be dropped if it is implied:
有五个人到我房. 两个坐到地, 三个企到张枱上高.
There are five people in my room. Two sit on the floor, and three stand on the table.

The Unit Word can be repeated to indicate every/any:
     今晚个个都饮酒 Everyone drinks tonight.
     只只鸭都肥 Every duck is fat.
     碟碟餸都好吃 Any dish is delicious.

With respect to the usage of Unit Words, there are excellent agreements among Taishanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin (check the right most two columns).

Mapping of classifier to noun is not one-to-one, i.e. both 本 and 部 can be used for books.

Noun classification is a common feature in many languages, i.e. in French and Spanish, nouns are classified according to gender. However, all these complications do not seem to accomplish a whole lot. I wonder that classifiers might played a more important role in the past, and what we have today are just remnants of that period. In any case, we can take comfort in the fact that the result of using a wrong classifier may just be mild embarrassment. A little girl once asked for a whole chicken (一只鸡) in stead of just a piece of it (一嚿鸡) in a dinner party, and and that's about as serious a consequence as I've encountered. But this is not universally so -- there exist noun classification schemes that tell if something is edible, and a mistake could be deadly.

For those who might be interested, this paper describes the development and operation of the interesting noun classification scheme of Dyirbal, an Australian aboriginal language.