Comparing classifier use in 1995 and 2010 early child Cantonese to explore social change in Hong Kong Li, Hui and Mei Wong, Eileen Chin,, 5, 79-97 (2014), doi = https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.5.1.04li, publicationName = John Benjamins, issn = 1877-7031, abstract= This study compared and analysed the classifier usage in two cohorts: the 492 Cantonese-speaking young children tested in 1995 (Tse & Li, 2011), and the 143 children tested in 2010 (Li &Tse, 2011). The results indicated that: (1) the 1995 and 2010 cohorts shared the same 8 most commonly used classifiers, 個 go3, 隻 zek3, 架 gaa3, 杯 bui1, 把 baa2, 嚿 gau6, 張 zoeng1, 間 gaan1; (2) Two top 10 classifiers were found in the 2010 cohort: 支 zi1, and 部 bou6; (3) both cohorts overused the general classifier 個 go3; and (4) both cohorts overused 隻 zek3 and 嚿 gau6 to replace sortal classifiers and even to replace the general classifier 個 go3. The pragmatic features and the associated social changes were discussed to understand the minor changes in classifier use between 1995 and 2010 cohorts., language=, type=