Analysis on the Comparison of Noun Quantifiers in Chinese and Thai

Abstract

    Aimed at the studies on the noun quantifiers in Chinese and Thai, this thesis is to discuss the similarity and difference between the two languages’ quantifiers in terms of their category and structure. As for their category, similarity is much larger than difference, with the biggest difference only resting on the fact that Thai has reverberant quantifiers while Chinese has compound quantifiers. The semantics of a quantifier, however, cuts out a diverse gap between the two languages, which is mainly caused by the different cognitions in its own culture. Some noun quantifiers even have a counting function, especially in Thai. As for their structure, this thesis is to make the comparison based on the syntax and the overlapping of quantifiers.

Key words: noun quantifier; category; structure; comparison