A Comparative Study of Classifier Omission Collocates with Nouns in Chinese and Thai

Abstract

This qualitative research aimed to: 1) study the rules of classifier omission collocated with noun in Chinese, and 2) compare the similarities and differences with its equivalent in Thai by using secondary data and Chinese sentences recording form as tools for data revision and collection. The findings of this study had shown that there were 3 cases that classifier in Chinese could be omitted: 1) in the context of news writing, especially the headline; 2) for referring the person or things mentioned before; 3) for telling the amount or elements of 2 or more things. There were 4 types of classifiers those couldn’t be omitted: 1) quantifier measure word; 2) classifier that told the number of pairs or groups; 3) classifier for approximation; and 4) classifier for telling the time. When it was compared with its equivalents in Thai, it showed that there were 2 similar cases including 1) the context of news writing; 2) when telling the amount or elements of 2 or more things, and there was 1 different case, which was when the person or things mentioned before were referred. For the classifiers those couldn’t be omitted, there were 3 similar cases including 1) quantifier measure word; 2) classifier that told the number of pairs or groups; 3) classifier for telling the time; 4) classifier for approximation.