Expression of indefinite quantity in a diachronic aspect in Chinese and Japanese

In this article we compare appearance and development of the category of quantity in a diachronic aspect in Chinese and Japanese languages. In particular we compare the development of different ways of expression of indefinite quantity in the history of these languages. The modern ways of expression of this meaning are not examined. Typology of quantity expressing with the help of different linguistic ways and its interpretation is one of the most difficult problems of modern linguistics. Russian linguists such as E. V. Gulyga, A. A. Holodovich, and O. V. Vysochin have supposed classifications based on the following features: singularity - plurality, sum - distributive, discrete - indiscrete, finite -infinite. The Chinese and Japanese are typologically different languages; the Chinese is an isolating language and the Japanese is an agglutinating language. Both languages, however, possess developed systems of classifiers and lack a category of numbers. The category of quantity is considered as a semantic category that is a linguistic interpretation of category of quantity and simultaneously as a functional and semantic field i.e. a group of linguistic measures interacting on the base of quantitative functions. The category of quantity is divided in two components: the first is a semantic field of indefinite quantity and the second is a semantic field of definite quantity. Indefinite quantity may be correlated with a number expressed with an approximate (some) meaning, but may not correlate with a number expressed in an indefinite meaning. As Chinese as Japanese nouns originally did not possess a grammar category of numbers, therefore a noun in both languages could be expressed as singular and plural objects. From the ancient stages of development of languages, the meaning of approximate quantity in Chinese and Japanese was expressed with the help of words with their own approximate meaning that were used in pre or post-positionally to numerate or with words expressing this meaning only in combination with numerals. The meaning of indefinite quantity was expressed with the help of different ways namely reduplication, neighboring numerals, interrogative and indefinite pronouns and with the help of words with their own meaning of indefinite that were used in pre or post-positionally to the noun. In Japanese the meaning of indefinite was also expressed syntactically with the help of conjunctive or restrictive particles.