CONCLUSIONES SOBRE EL EXAMEN DEL CARBONO 14

Nominal measure words are the most diverse CMW categories in Chinese language, and there are a large number of these words. By comparison, the number of EMU for nouns in English is small, and most of them are used for mass nouns. Therefore, although measure words do not exist in English, some EMU constructions can be seen as the ‘equivalents’ to some CMW.

Generally speaking, the majority of weights and measures in NM and DM unit are attributives in a sentence and they are often used to modify nouns, and these measure words have ‘equivalents’ in English.

Table 2.2.1.1 Weights and Measures and their English ‘Equivalents’ Chinese English 两米布 [NM] liǎngmǐbù *two CMW cloth two metres of cloth 十英寸冰 [NM] shíyīngcùnbīng *ten CMW ice ten inches of ice

这米布 [DM] zhèmǐbù

*this CMW cloth one metre of this cloth

As presented, weights and measures can be translated into English. However, weights and measures such as 米 (mǐ) and 英寸 (yīngcùn) are measure words in the phrases, whereas their equivalents metre (米) and

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inch (英寸) are nouns that need to be used with the preposition ‘of’ to use before nouns to describe the quantity. Although weights and measures 米 (mǐ) and 英寸 (yīngcùn) and their English ‘equivalents’ (‘metre of’ and ‘inch of’) are different parts of speeches, they appear at the same position and have similar functions.

Individual nominal measure words are the most abundant measure words category in Chinese as these words are obligatory in counting referents of nouns and also put nouns into classes according to their semantic features such as animacy, shape, and function. There is no similar expression in English for individual measure words, which is also one of the most obvious cross lingual differences between Chinese and English.

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Table 2.2.1.2 Individual Nominal Measure Words and their English Translations Animacy 只 zhī [animacy] 一只苍蝇 [NM] yīzhīcāngyíng *a animacy fly a fly 一只母鸡 [NM] yīzhīmǔjī *a animacy hen a hen 一只兔子 [NM] yīzhītùzi *a animacy rabbit a rabbit

Shape 条 tiáo [for long items] 一条围巾 [NM] yītiáowéijīn *a long scarf a scarf 一条信息 [NM] yītiáoxìnxī *a long message a message 一条绳子 [NM] yītiáoshéngzi *a long rope a rope Function 辆 liàng [for vehicles]

一辆汽车 [NM] yīliàngqìchē *a vehicle car a car 一辆自行车 [NM] yīliàngzìxíngchē *a vehicle bike a bike 一辆公共汽车 [NM] yīliànggōnggongqìchē *a vehicle bus a bus 我给你一支枪。 [attributive] Wǒ gěi nǐ yīzhīqiāng. *I give you a gun. I give you a gun.

路上有一根香蕉皮。 [attributive] Lùshàng yǒu yīgēn xiāngjiāopí. *Road has a CMW banana skin. There is a banana skin on the road.

As the English translations of the Chinese phrases and sentences in the above table indicate, no equivalents or similar expressions for the individual nominal measure words exist in English. This also suggests that English does not adopt the same system to describe nouns, as numerals can be

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used before nouns directly to count the objects such as a hen, a scarf and a gun.

Most collective nominal words have similar expressions in English, and some can be directly translated into English quantifiers such as ‘些 (xiē) = some’.

Table 2.2.1.3 Collective Nominal Measure Words and their English ‘Equivalents’ 一群学生 [NM] 一双袜子 [NM] 一些沙 [NM] 一堆文件 [NM] yīqúnxuéshēng a CMW students a group of students yīshuāngwàzi a CMW socks a pair of socks yīxiēshā a CMW sand some sand yīduīwénjiàn a CMW documents a pile of documents 外面有一群学生。 [attributive]

Wàimiàn yǒu yīqúnxuéshēng.

*Outside have CMW (a group of) students. There is a group of students outside.

As Table 2.2.1.3 shows, there are similar expressions in English for the collective nominal measure words although the English ‘equivalents’ are mainly ‘noun + preposition (of)’ constructions such as 群 (qún) = group of. 群 (qún) is a measure word, whereas its English equivalent ‘group of’ is a phrase.

Temporary nominal measure words do not have similar expressions in English and they cannot be directly translated. The relationship between

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some CMW and nouns is not transparent and some even arbitrary as most of the ‘numeral + temporary nominal measure words + noun’ constructions have totally different meanings from their word to word expressions.

Table 2.2.1.4 Temporary Nominal Measure Words and their English Translations

一手冷汗 [NM] 一屁股债 [NM] 一鼻子灰 [NM]

yī shǒu lěnghàn yī pìgǔ zhài yī bízi huī

*a handful of sweat *a bottom full of debt *a nose full of dust

sweaty hand lot of debt encounter snub

冠名没想到自己会碰这么一鼻子灰。 [attributive]

Guànmíng méi xiǎngdào zìjǐ huì pèng zhème yībízihuī. *Guanming did not think he will get a nose full of dust. Guanming did not think he will encounter snub.

他惊吓得一抖腿，起了一身鸡皮疙瘩。 [attributive] Tā jīngxiàde yīdǒutuǐ, qǐle yīshēnjīpígēdá.

*He was scared to jump, raised a body full of goose pimples.

He was scared to jump that caused him to break out in goose pimples.

As the above Table 2.2.1.4 presents, the temporary nominal measure words in phrases and sentences cannot be translated into English directly, and these measure words do not have the same or similar expressions in English.

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Comparing with temporary nominal measure words, container measure words create ‘a unit of measure’, which have similar concepts to EMU, and these words have ‘equivalents’ in English.

Table 2.2.1.5 Container Measure Words and their English ‘Equivalents’ 一瓶啤酒 [NM] 一卡车沙 [NM] 一包糖 [NM] 一盆花 [NM] yī píng píjiǔ a CMW beer a bottle of beer yī kǎchē shā a CMW sand a truckload of sand

yī bāo tang a CMW sweet a bag of sweets

yī pén huā a CMW flower a pot of flowers

Quasi-measures express ‘measurement’ themselves, and these measure words are seen as nouns first, for which reason there are English equivalents for quasi-measures.

Table 2.2.1.6 Quasi-Measures and their English Equivalents

他给我三天时间考虑他的提议。 [attributive] Tā gěi wǒ sāntiān shíjiān kǎolǜ tādetíyì.

*He gave me three days time to consider his offer. He gave me three days to consider his offer.

两国人都反对这个政策。 [attributive] Liǎngguórén dōu fǎnduì zhègè zhèngcè. *Two countries’ people all against this policy. People of two countries all against this policy.

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