A Feature-checking Study Of Chinese Classifier Phrases

From the perspective of language typology, human languages are divided into classifier languages and non- classifier languages. C lassifiers as a special ite m are attracting more and more eyes in the field of modern linguistics. The thesis presents a study of the properties of C hinese classifiers and classifier p hrases under the framework of feature checking theory.Concerning the construction of C hinese classifier phrases, Although there have been numerous studies on classifiers and classifier phrases, they do not provide us with a satisfying explanation. The main divergence lies in whether classifier phrases have a left- branched projection or a right- branched projection. The current study holds that classifiers belong to the functional category and play the role of individuating entities to make them countable. They occupy the head position of nominal phrases in Chinese, thus classifier phrases show a right-branched projection. We adopt Gebhardt's(2009) syntactic framework and argue that the projection of Chinese classifier phrases is either a SQ P or a WQ P, depe nding on whether it has a definite interpretation or not. Meanwhile, the reasonability of the syntactic structure is analyzed in detail within the theory of feature checking. The feature checking theory is also applied to explain the distribution and interpretation of classifier phrases in different Chinese dialects.As to the semantics of classifiers, the thesis mainly concerns their relationship with the plural marker ‘-men' and definiteness. We hold that classifiers and plural markers are not in complementary distribution but have different functions in the counting of entities. Although these two functional items are both closely related to the number of nomina l phrases, they play different roles. Their incompatibility in Mandarin C hinese is caused by feature inconsistency. As to the interaction between classifiers and definiteness, it is held that classifier do not equal to D. C hinese has not developed a grammatical system to mark definiteness and thus definiteness is strongly dependent on the context. The reason why in some C hinese dia lects bare classifier phrases have definite interpretation is that in these dialects classifiers are more grammaticalized and are associated with [def] feature.The significance of the present study includes: first, the adoption of feature checking theory enables us to present the right projection of C hinese classifier phrases; second, the feature checking theory provides a reasonable explanation of the differences of nominal projections between classifier languages and non-classifier languages; third, this study gives us a new perspective of analyzing functional items in Chinese.