In Chinese, classifiers are words that must be used whenever a noun is
modified by a number or a demonstrative such as "this" and "that".
There are as many as 150 different classifiers, and many nouns are
associated with certain ones—for example, flat objects such as tables
use the classifier zhāng, whereas long objects such lines use tiáo. How
exactly these classifier–noun associations are formed has been a
subject of debate, with some linguists proposing that they are based on
innate semantic features (i.e., all nouns with "long" features use a
certain classifier), and others suggesting that they are motivated by
analogy to prototypical pairings (i.e., dictionaries and textbooks use
whatever the more general noun "book" uses). There is also, however, a
"general classifier", gè, which can be used in place of the specific
classifiers; in informal speech, this one is used far more than any
other. Furthermore, speakers often choose to use only a bare noun,
dropping both the classifier and the number or demonstrative preceding
it; therefore, some linguists believe that classifiers are used more
for pragmatic reasons, such as foregrounding new information, rather
than for strict grammatical reasons.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_classifier>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1283:
Dafydd ap Gruffydd the Prince of Wales, the last native ruler of Wales
to resist English domination, was executed by drawing and quartering.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dafydd_ap_Gruffydd>
1935:
Italian forces under General Emilio De Bono invaded Abyssinia during
the opening stages of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bono%27s_invasion_of_Abyssinia>
1942:
World War II: The first successful test of the German V-2 rocket, the
world's first ballistic missile and first human artifact to achieve
sub-orbital spaceflight, occurred after two previous failed tests were
recovered by the Allies.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket>
1981:
The Hunger Strike by Irish Republican Army prisoners at the Maze jail
in Belfast ended after seven months and 10 deaths .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Irish_hunger_strike>
1990:
The German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany
officially joined to form the first fully sovereign united German state
since the end of World War II when France, the United Kingdom, the
United States, and the Soviet Union occupied the country after the
defeat of the Nazis.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
curfew (n):
1. (historical) A regulation in feudal Europe by which fires had to be
covered up or put out at a certain fixed time in the evening.
2. The evening bell, which continued to be rung in many towns after
the regulation itself became obsolete.
3. Any regulation requiring people to be off the streets and in their
homes by a certain time.
4. The time when such restriction begins
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/curfew>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are
used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by
destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people
will solemnly vote against their own interests.
--Gore Vidal
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal>
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