ABSTRACT
Quantification concerns terms such as all, everyone, anything and somewhere, which do not refer to specific objects but define classes of objects. Quantifiers in language generally have a syntax which is distinct from that of other parts of speech, and Cantonese is no exception. There are no words corresponding straightforwardly to 'everything' or 'something', for example, and each of these types of quantification calls for a different structure. To express universal quantification a quantifying expression is used in conjunction with dou before the verb. The adverb dou, appearing immediately before the verb, is used in nearly all forms of universal quantification, that is. in expressing the meanings 'all', 'every' and 'each'. The various constructions with dou have a similar syntax; in particular, quantified objects with dou precede the verb. If the quantified phrase is the object of the sentence, it may remain in its usual position after the verb, which may take the quantifying particle saai.
