This research probed how classifiers marking an object’s membership in the grammar of classifier languages like Mandarin Chinese and Korean may influence their speakers to categorize objects differently compared to speakers of non-classifier languages like English. Surveys in multiple-choice format were given to native speakers of the three languages. Analysis of the results demonstrated that significant proportions of Mandarin Chinese and Korean speakers behaved differently from English speakers due to the classifier-based strategy influencing classifier language speakers’ categorization. Adopting the Competition Model, we suggest that among the various categorizing strategies available to language users, the one with the greatest strength at the moment of performing the task wins the categorization competition. Classifiers that are grammaticalized in classifier languages may be providing their speakers with a powerful cognitive tool to notice diverse characteristics shared between objects, which is usually unavailable to non-classifier languages. Therefore, the strength of classifier-based strategy in the minds of classifier language speakers is strong enough to win some of the categorization competitions, which guides them to make different categorizing decisions from non-classifier language users.

这项研究探讨了分类器在普通话和韩语等分类器语言的语法中标记对象的成员资格如何影响其说话者与非分类器语言（如英语）的说话者对对象进行不同的分类。对三种语言的母语人士进行了多项选择形式的调查。结果分析表明，由于基于分类器的策略影响分类器语言说话者的分类，很大一部分普通话和韩语使用者的行为与英语使用者不同。采用竞争模型，我们建议在语言用户可用的各种分类策略中，执行任务时实力最强的策略赢得分类竞争。在分类器语言中语法化的分类器可以为其说话者提供强大的认知工具，以注意到对象之间共享的不同特征，这通常是非分类器语言所无法获得的。因此，基于分类器的策略在分类器语言使用者心目中的强度足以赢得一些分类竞赛，这引导他们做出与非分类器语言用户不同的分类决策。