泰语量词的连接作用

Connective Function of Classifiers in the Thai Language

泰语和其他台语的量词主要具有分类功能和计量功能。本文考察发现泰语的量词还存在第三类分布,即在"名+量+形"分布中起到连接修饰语和中心语的作用。这表明量词是台语体词化的手段之一。

Previous studies propose that in Thai and other Tai languages, classifiers mainly serve the classifying and quantifying functions. This paper discovers that classifiers may serve a third function in another distributing environment, that is, in Thai phrases of Noun＋Classifier＋Adjective, the classifiers link modifying adjectives following with the head noun preceding it, nominalizing the adjectives. Classifiers function as nominalizers in other Tai languages as well. This indicates that using classifiers as connective nominalizers is a device ofnominalization in Tai languages.