The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus
Numeral classifiers are primarily used to provide semantic information about the physical and functional properties of objects, the cognitive categories of objects in a particular culture, and the perceptions of the speakers within a particular speech community towards the objects. Numeral classifi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM
2011
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1005/1/137-153.pdf |
| _version_ | 1796914335915704320 |
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| author | Khazriyati Salehuddin, Heather Winskel, Marlyna Maros, |
| author_facet | Khazriyati Salehuddin, Heather Winskel, Marlyna Maros, |
| author_sort | Khazriyati Salehuddin, |
| collection | UKM |
| description | Numeral classifiers are primarily used to provide semantic information about the physical and functional properties of objects, the cognitive categories of objects in a particular
culture, and the perceptions of the speakers within a particular speech community towards the objects. Numeral classifiers of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai have
been found to perform pragmatic functions as well. To identify if Malay does use numeral classifiers to perform a number of pragmatic functions, we analysed a 73,000-
word modern Malay corpus targeted at both adult and young audience. Results indicate that in the modern Malay corpus, the Malay numeral classifiers perform several pragmatic functions in various contexts: they function as anaphoric and cataphoric references, as indicators of definiteness and indefiniteness, and as foregrounding mechanisms in modern Malay discourse. Using twelve instances of numeral classifier usage and omission in the modern Malay corpus, this study proposes that the absence of numeral classifiers in texts is not likely to be due to language users’ ignorance of the need to use a numeral classifier or of the correct form of numeral classifiers. On the contrary,
the absence of numeral classifiers in the corpus exhibits the Malay language users’knowledge of the pragmatic functions of Malay numeral classifiers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T03:41:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | ukm.eprints-1005 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T03:41:05Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ukm.eprints-10052016-12-14T06:28:33Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1005/ The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus Khazriyati Salehuddin, Heather Winskel, Marlyna Maros, Numeral classifiers are primarily used to provide semantic information about the physical and functional properties of objects, the cognitive categories of objects in a particular culture, and the perceptions of the speakers within a particular speech community towards the objects. Numeral classifiers of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai have been found to perform pragmatic functions as well. To identify if Malay does use numeral classifiers to perform a number of pragmatic functions, we analysed a 73,000- word modern Malay corpus targeted at both adult and young audience. Results indicate that in the modern Malay corpus, the Malay numeral classifiers perform several pragmatic functions in various contexts: they function as anaphoric and cataphoric references, as indicators of definiteness and indefiniteness, and as foregrounding mechanisms in modern Malay discourse. Using twelve instances of numeral classifier usage and omission in the modern Malay corpus, this study proposes that the absence of numeral classifiers in texts is not likely to be due to language users’ ignorance of the need to use a numeral classifier or of the correct form of numeral classifiers. On the contrary, the absence of numeral classifiers in the corpus exhibits the Malay language users’knowledge of the pragmatic functions of Malay numeral classifiers. Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2011-05 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1005/1/137-153.pdf Khazriyati Salehuddin, and Heather Winskel, and Marlyna Maros, (2011) The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 11 (2). pp. 137-153. ISSN 1675-8021 http://www.ukm.my/ppbl/Gema/gemahome.html |
| spellingShingle | Khazriyati Salehuddin, Heather Winskel, Marlyna Maros, The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus |
| title | The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus |
| title_full | The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus |
| title_fullStr | The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus |
| title_full_unstemmed | The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus |
| title_short | The pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern Malay written corpus |
| title_sort | pragmatic functions of numeral classifiers in modern malay written corpus |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1005/1/137-153.pdf |
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