Syntactic function n
count noun. Noun that can be counted without necessarily being found counted in our sources. These should be renamed nc.
1. N is negatable, if at all, only by fēi 非 "is not" and not by the verbal negation bù 不 "not". 2. N, if a count noun Nc (for count nouns see below), may be counted without classifiers. 3. N, if a count noun Nc, may be counted with postposed classifiers (mass nouns Nm may be countable with preposed classifiers/measure words) 4. N can be conjoined with words of the same category by the yǔ 與 "and" or jí 及 "and" and not by ér 而 "and", which links verbal expressions or (verbal) sentences (which - incidentally - should strictly speaking be classified syntactically as Vs). 5. N can function as subject, object, or topic without change of meaning. By calling count nouns simply "n" our notation recognises that this is the default category of nouns with the largest number of members. Countability is a complex matter to judge in all those cases where things seem countable but are not in fact counted. Instances where n are actually counted might be entered as "nc" to make them retrievable. Such a classification would be purely heuristic, enabling one to trace counting practice, and would not involve a categorial judgment on the word as such.
Usage
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