Classifiers are for specification: Complementary Functions for Sortal and General Classifiers in Cantonese and Mandarin

Abstract

Cantonese uses over five times more sortal classifiers (,extended object' tiuh 条) than Mandarin to describe Chafe's 'Pear Stories' film. Forty percent of nouns appear without a classifier. Just 18% of Cantonese nouns and 3% of Mandarin take a sortal. Stories are near-identical. Classifiers reveal differences in grammar, not cognition.