ABSTRACT
Now for a quick review of the measures. Mandarin uses a measure word whenever a noun is quantified by a number or linked to a demonstrative, 䖭 zhèi ‘this’ or 䙷 nèi ‘that.’ The measure always appears between the number or the demonstrative and the noun. The choice of the measure, however, is determined by the noun. Many nouns require a specific measure. And the same noun may take different measure words in different circumstances, e.g. ϔᴵ䴶ࣙ yì-tiáo-miànbAo ‘one loaf of bread’ or ϔ⠛䴶ࣙ yí-piàn-miànbAo ‘one slice of bread.’ Since the most frequently used measure in Mandarin is Ͼ ge, some nouns may take either ge or a specific measure.
