Measure words, in linguistics, are words (or morphemes) that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate the count of nouns. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields In Morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. Measure words often classify the noun they modify into some semantic class and consequently measure words are considered numeral classifiers, closely akin, but distinct from grammatical number. In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" Measure words are most often used when counting. Their use is analogous to English words that represent units or portions of mass nouns, for example one drop of milk, fifty head of cattle, three pieces of cake. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass
Measure words are part of the grammar of most East Asian languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Malay, Thai, and Hmong, plus Bengali just to the west of this area, as well as many Indigenous languages of the Americas near the Pacific coast, including Classic Maya. East Asian languages describe two notional groupings of languages in East and Southeast Asia: Languages which have been greatly influenced by is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) The Malay language ( ISO 639-1 code MS is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people and people of other ethnic groups who reside in the Thai (th ภาษาไทย, transcription: phasa thai, transliteration:; pʰāːsǎːtʰāj is the national and Hmong ( RPA: Hmoob) or Mong ( RPA: Moob) is the common name for a group of dialects of the West Hmongic (Chuanqiandian branch Indigenous languages of the Americas (or Amerindian Languages are spoken by indigenous peoples from the southern tip of South America to Alaska and The Classic Maya language is the oldest historically-attested member of the Mayan language family. They also occur in some languages of the Amazon Basin and a very small number of West African languages. There are an estimated 2000 Languages spoken in Africa. About a hundred of these are widely used for inter-ethnic communication
They are also known as counters, count words, counter words, or counting words.
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Indo-European languages
In contrast to Asian languages and others, measure words are not grammatical in the case of most Indo-European languages including English. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States
English
English has a distinction between mass nouns and count nouns, and employs a small number of fixed words that can be considered semantically-oriented counters. In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass In Linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun which can be modified by a Numeral and occur in both singular and Plural Consider the following:
- five head of cattle (said by ranchers)
- ten stem of roses (said by florists)
- three pair of pants (or pairs)
Note that the preceding measure words are singular in form. A ranch is an area of landscape including various structures given primarily to the practice of ranching the practice of raising grazing livestock such as Cattle Floristry is the general term used to describe the professional floral trade In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" If they were plural, the first two phrases would have different meanings. Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world
Most measure words in English are more accurately called units of measurement. They are normal count nouns, not grammatical particles. In Linguistics, the term particle is a word lacking a strict definition but has the function of changing the relation of the parts of the sentence to one another and is therefore A measure word is the only way to quantify a mass noun:
- three cups of coffee
- four kernels of corn, three ears of corn, two bushels of corn
- one litre of water
A water or a corn (taken in the sense of grain) do not make sense and are almost never heard. The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of Volume.
With count nouns, however, measure words are unnecessary. A number alone can be used as an adjective to modify the noun to be counted:
- four pencils
- three horses
However you cannot say "three cattles".
English also features some cases in which the number and the measure word are combined as a single word: for example, when counting
- golfers: twosome, threesome, foursome. . .
- musicians: solo, duet, trio, quartet. In Music, a solo (from the Italian solo, meaning alone) is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer A duet is a Musical composition or piece for two Performers In Classical music the term is most often used for a composition for two singers Trio is generally used in any of the following ways Three Musicians playing the same or different Musical instrument. In Music, a quartet (quatuor Quartett quartetto cuarteto is a method of instrumentation (or a medium used to perform a musical composition and consisting of four parts . .
- wombmates: twins, triplets, quadruplets. Twins are Offspring resulting from the same Pregnancy, either of the same or opposite Sex. . . .
See also collective noun for a concept related to measure words that is found in English. In Linguistics, a collective noun is a word used to define a group of objects where "objects" can be People, Animals Inanimate things
Bengali
Although not typical for an Indo-European language, Bengali makes use of measure words. Every noun in this language must have its corresponding measure word (MW) when used with a numeral or other quantifier. Most nouns take the generic measure word ţa, although there are many more specific measure words, such as jon, which is only used to count humans. Still, the number of measure words in Bengali certainly does not compare to that of Chinese or Japanese. As in Chinese, Bengali nouns are not inflected for number.
| Bengali | Literal English translation | Normal English translation |
|---|---|---|
| Nôe-ţa ghoŗi | Nine-MW clock | Nine clocks |
| Kôe-ţa balish | How. many-MW pillow | How many pillows |
| Ônek-jon lok | Many-MW person | Many people |
| Char-pañch-jon shikkhôk | Four-five-MW teacher | Four or five teachers |
Similar to the situation in Chinese, measuring nouns in Bengali without their corresponding measure words (e. g. aţ biŗal instead of aţ-ţa biŗal "eight cats") would typically be considered ungrammatical. However, omitting the noun and preserving the measure word is grammatical and not uncommon to hear. For example, Shudhu êk-jon thakbe. (lit. "Only one-MW will remain. ") would be understood to mean "Only one person will remain. ", since jon can only be used to count humans. The word lok "person" is implied.
East Asian languages
Languages such as Ainu, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai use measure words as the standard way of indicating the count of the number of items, rather than, as in most Indo-European languages, allowing numbers to count a noun directly. The Ainu language (Ainu ain アイヌ イタク aynu itak; Japanese: ja アイヌ語 ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) Thai (th ภาษาไทย, transcription: phasa thai, transliteration:; pʰāːsǎːtʰāj is the national and
Chinese
In Mandarin, nouns are not conjugated for singular or plural numerus; a noun without a classifier can be translated as either singular or plural. In the modern Chinese languages measure words or classifiers ( Cantonese (Yale: leung4 chi4) are used along with numerals to define the quantity Classifiers are used when enumerating a count noun:
| Chinese | Literal translation | Grammatically correct/idiomatic translation |
|---|---|---|
| 他有三雙筷子。 他有三双筷子。 Tā yǒu sān shuāng kuaìzi. In Linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun which can be modified by a Numeral and occur in both singular and Plural |
He have three pair chopstick. | He has three pairs of chopsticks. |
| 你有沒有七張桌子？ 你有没有七张桌子？ Nǐ yǒu méi yǒu qī zhāng zhuōzi? |
You have-not-have seven [flat-thing classifier] table? | Do you have seven tables? |
| 一個人 一个人 yī ge rén |
one [general classifier] person | one person or a person |
Measure words are not used in Classical Chinese. Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of Written Chinese based on the Grammar and Vocabulary of ancient Chinese In all dialects of modern Chinese, however, measure words are obligatory with enumeration of all count nouns; "yī rén" in modern Chinese when used as a measure word is grammatically incorrect. The choice of a classifier for each noun is a matter of grammar, is somewhat arbitrary–though frequently corresponds with a relatively well-defined classification of objects based on physical characteristics–and must be memorized by learners of Chinese. The classifier assigned to a noun often has an imagistic association with that object. Thus, zhāng has table as one of its meanings, and is used for large and thin objects. (Though uncommon, it is even possible to omit the noun if the choice of classifier makes the intended noun obvious–like the Bengali example above. ) Not all classifier words derive from nouns. For example, the word bǎ can also be a verb meaning to grab, and is the measure word for objects that have handles.
Japanese
In Japanese grammar, most nouns are effectively mass nouns, and measure words must be used with a number when counting them. In Japanese, counter words or counters' ( josūshi 助数詞) are used along with numbers to count things actions and is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities The appropriate measure word is chosen based on the kind and shape of the noun, and combines with the numeral, sometimes adopting several different forms. This is similar to noun classes in many African languages, except that the classifiers are used only when counting. In Linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing Nouns A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its Referent
| Japanese | English, literal | English |
|---|---|---|
| 鉛筆五本 enpitsu go-hon |
pencil five cylindrical-things | five pencils |
| 犬三匹 inu san-biki |
dog three animal-things | three dogs |
| 子供四人 kodomo yo-nin |
child four people-things | four children |
| 鶏三羽 niwatori san-wa |
chicken three bird-things | three chickens |
| ヨット三艘 yotto san-sō |
yacht three boat-things | three yachts |
| 車一台 kuruma ichi-dai |
car one mechanical-thing | one car |
| トランプ二枚 toranpu ni-mai |
playing card two flat-things | two cards |
See also
- Analytic language
- Classifier (linguistics)
- Collective noun
- Grammatical number
- Korean count word
- Mass noun
- Numeral
- Quantification
- Unit of measurement
Dictionary
measure word
-noun
- Words or morphemes that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate the count of nouns, used especially in Asian languages
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