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Chinese requires classifiers when numerals or demonstratives are present. Different nouns go with different classifiers, where classifiers group nouns into classes by semantic properties such as shape, material, and size. In English, only a limited set of nouns require classifiers for quantification. This paper examined whether this language difference affects how Chinese and English speakers conceptualize and classify objects. The results of classification indicate that speakers of both languages classify objects based on taxonomic similarity most of the time, though Chinese speakers made more shape choices than English speakers. No difference was found in shape ratings with pictures between Chinese and English speakers, while there was a difference when only words were used. The results indicate that Chinese and English speakers perceive shape in a similar way, though their prototypical mental representations of referents may be different. This book is appealing to anyone that is interested in language and thought.

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Jenny Yi-chun Kuo is currently a faculty member in the Department of Foreign Languages at National Chiayi University. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Minnesota in 2003. Her research interests include language acquisition, psycholinguistics, semantics and pragmatics.

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