Abstract: In the present study, 4 to 6-year-old children speaking mandarin or Cantonese and bilingual overseas Chinese children in the same age group were tested for their ability to use some of the common classifiers with the objects shown to them through pictures. This was followed by another test for their ability to generalize four classifiers among a number of novel objects called by pseudo names. The results show that the. 4-yearTolds' ability to use classifiers was poor, but their ability improved quickly with age. The usage of basic common classifiers was learned by the end of the preschool period. Dialect and foreign language both as important variables had strong effects on the children's ability. And the development of such ability was also found to be closely related to the cognitive development of abstract thinking and the power of generalization.

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