A NEW LOOK AT CANTONESE EXPLETIVES
109
Chinese keeps the simple form for the generality: JRANN,55 human beings, Man (with a capital!). QHUK, houses. DRIPV, plates. JRYHV, fish. CEAKS, foot-rules.
To particularize, whether by specifying as this or that, one, two, three or any small number, my, your, his (usually, as I mentioned, further specified by this or that), the appropriate congruence-class word precedes the noun, closely bound to the pronoun or numeral. Note that the use is the same whether singular or plural:
NHIGO-JRANN60 this person
SHAAMMGHAANN-QHUK6 three houses
JHATZEAK-DRIPV® one plate (the thing)
GEETRIW-JRYHV63 a few fish
NREE GORBAAR CEAK your (that) foot-rule.
Some students are mystified to find GEE “several, a few” used as a definite number. Some large numbers are also used with some nouns as though they were themselves measure-words (therefore requiring no second classifier).
Thus you hear
BAAKGEE-JRANN05 over a hundred people
BAAKGEE-GHAANN QHUK over a hundred houses
BAAKGEE-TRIW JRYHV67 over a hundred fish
Others are mystified, after learning always to include the “classifier" with numbers, to find the numeral directly bound to a measure-word. The explanation simply is that measure-words behave syntactically just like classifiers: this is one of the reasons it is impossible to compile a really comprehensive list of classifiers.
JHATDRIP-SUNG GORDRIP-JRYHV a plateful of not-rice that plate of fish
In the use of the pointing-words, whether personal or general, since they are nearly always, the demonstratives always, found bound to a congruence-class particle (or a measure word), there
55 人 60 呢個人 65 百幾人
56 A MEMA
66 TAMA
57 #
59 R
SH 煲碟
63 * *
64 你嗰把尺
GR 一碟送
69 PÆ##
62 一隻碟
67 TÁR
A NEW LOOK AT CANTONESE EXPLETIVES
109
Chinese keeps the simple form for the generality: JRANN,55 human beings, Man (with a capita!). QHUK, houses. DRIPV, plates. JRYHV, fish. CEAKS, foot-rules.
To particularize, whether by specifying as this or that, one, two, three or any small number, my, your, his (usually, as I mentioned, further specified by this or that), the appropriate congruence-class word precedes the noun, closely bound to the pronoun or numeral. Note that the use is the same whether singular or plural:
NHIGO-JRANN60
this person
SHAAMMGHAANN-QHUK6
three houses
JHATZEAK-DRIPV® one plate (the thing)
GEETRIW-JRYHV63
a few fish
NREE GORBAAR CEAK
your (that) foot-rule.
Some students are mystified to find GEE “several, a few” used as a definite number. Some large numbers are also used with some nouns as though they were themselves measure-words (therefore requiring no second classifier).
Thus you hear
BAAKGEE-JRANN05
but always
over a hundred people
over a hundred houses over a hundred fish
BAAKGEE-GHAANN QHUK
BAAKGEE-TRIW JRYHV6?
Others are mystified, after learning always to include the “classifier" with numbers, to find the numeral directly bound to a measure-word. The explanation simply is that measure-words behave syntactically just like classifiers: this is one of the reasons it is impossible to compile a really comprehensive list of classifiers.
JHATDRIP-SUNG GORDRIP-JRYHV
a plateful of not-rice
that plate of fish
In the use of the pointing-words, whether personal or general, since they are nearly always, the demonstratives always, found bound to a congruence-class particle (or a measure word), there
55人 60 呢個人 65 百幾人
56 A MEMA
66 TAMA
57 #
59 R
SH
煲碟
63 * *
64 你嗰把尺
GR一碟送
69 PÆ##
62一隻碟
67 TÁR
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