When is a word not a word?

我给你三个选择，你要选一个。

Quick office questionnaire among native speakers:

“个” 读音gè（去声）
“个” spoken gè (fourth tone)

数字加上量词不构成词语。
Number plus count word does not constitute a word.

“个“字并非后缀。
“个“ is not a suffix.

• In other words, the segmenter should have splt both.

  伟思礼

  – 伟思礼

  2025-10-30 14:08:53 +00:00

  Commented8 hours ago
• I really have a problem with this answer as it shows nothing conclusively. They say 数字加上量词不构成词语, buth then what does? Also, if I were to ask you, "你要几个皮查库?", your answer could be "五个", from which we should assume either 五个 is one (maybe suffixed or prefixed) word or 五 and 个 are two words. Likewise "我有六个皮查库", question: "(你有)几个?" where 几个 should be one word (几+suff. 个 or pref.几+个) or two words (几, 个). The only way "不构成词语" adds up to this data would be to say 几个 is two words which similar to, say, "我和", do not form a new word and maybe give a feeling something is lacking (the referenced noun).

  John Frazer

  – John Frazer

  2025-10-30 14:21:52 +00:00

  Commented8 hours ago
• As for “个” 读音gè（去声） and the translation you give "“个” spoken gè (fourth tone)" I feel that it really refers not to the spoken form in a given context but rather to its 'nominal' form, like what you get when you ask an American for the pronunciation of 'and' they'll say [(ʔ)ænd], but in context it will likely become something more like [ənd], [nd], [n].

  John Frazer

  – John Frazer

  2025-10-30 14:31:06 +00:00

  Commented8 hours ago

We know from languages that use explicit word separation that speakers are often uncertain how many words a given utterance has. Also what constitutes a word may differ when you consider different aspects, such as syntactics v phonetics. In this case I'd intuitively do the exact opposite of what your segmenter does: since in 三个,ge carries the light tone I'd say it's enclitic to 三 or actually part of it, while in 一个,ge carries a full tone and I'd therefore analyze it as numeral plus noun, so two words. Actually not entirely different how English 'blackbird' v 'black bird' works prosodically. I suspect there to be many correct answers though, and maybe two contradictory analyses can actually be true at the same time (you can sit down on the ledge of a building and place your tea right next to you, so now an architectural detail is also a seat and a table, all at the same time).

• measure-word