Glen:
> The usage of classifiers would appear to be an areal feature
of
> many Asian languages. I've encountered them in Vietnamese,
Mandarin,
> Cantonese and Japanese.
It is so in the sense that in
the languages of Eastern and South-Eastern Asia the usage of classifiers is a
very developed feature. But really, something similar is attested also in many
other languages, including some IE ones. Russian examples:
tri s^tuki
karandas^ej
three CLF (lit.
"things") of-pencils
"three pencils"
desjat' golov ovec
ten CLF (lit. heads) of-sheep
"ten sheep"
sorok sabel' kavaleristov
forty CLF (lit. sables)
of-cavalrymen
"forty cavalrymen"
The only difference is that in
Russian the classifiers are not obligatory, so that the same meanings can be
expressed without trhem: tri karandas^a, desjat' ovec, sorok kavaleristov. And.,
I think, something similar exists even in such English expressions as: two cups
of coffee, five glasses of milk, etc.
==========
Vadim
Ponaryadov