The Nature and Development of Structures and Syntactic Functions of Quantifier in Chinese from the Perspective of the Evolution of Word Order: From “Chang Liumi”to“Liumi Chang”

In Modern Chinese, changin 六米长 ( liumi chang) is understood as a noun indicating measurement. The structure of shuci(number 数词) + danweici(words indicating measurement units单位词) + liangduci(words of measurements量度词) emerged during the period of Six Dynasties. It was a reordering of the original structure in ancient Chinese, which followed the pattern of liangduci(words of measurements) + shuci(number) + danweici(words indicating measurement units), under the linguistic framework of Chinese as a “modifier + head”. Within a discourse, the structure of shuci(number) + danweici(words indicating measurement units), carries the potential to function as an attributive modifier, and its fronting enhances its ability to serve as an attributive. This adjustment gained significant development during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and had remained in modern Chinese.