Cognitive, linguistic, and socio-cultural perspectives on classifier usage

Abstract Classifiers serve as tools for exploring how individuals use languages to cognitively categorize the world within social contexts. 只 (zhī), a prevalent classifier in modern Mandarin using simplified Chinese characters, categorizes both animate and inanimate referents, with the latter lacking significant similarities in shape or function. This paper conducts a corpus-based diachronic and synchronic semantic analysis of 只 (zhī) to reveal associations among its classified referents. It discovers that canonical referents classified by 只 (zhī) in simplified Chinese writing stem from two semantic meanings: “bird” and “one out of a pair”, linked to the original meaning of 隻 (zhī) from which the classifier 只 (zhī) originates. Additionally, 只 (zhī) is creatively used in the Internet Chinese language to categorize human referents, contributing to a playful style. The study identifies how cognitive and socio-cultural factors, in addition to lexical borrowing, influence the usage of 只 (zhī), aiding in the understanding of the comprehensive motivations behind Chinese classifier usage.