[Lingtyp] genifiers (gender markers/classifiers)

Mon Mar 20 22:25:42 UTC 2017

Hi Martin,

I agree, that the gender/classifier distinction is no longer useful. See
also work by Kilarski and Contini-Morava in this vein:
Contini-Morava, Ellen & Marcin Kilarski. 2013. Functions of nominal
classification. *Language Sciences* 40. 263–299.
doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2013.03.002.
Kilarski, Marcin. 2013. *Nominal Classification: a history of its study
from the classical period to the present.* Amsterdam: John  Benjamins.

What I've done to solve this terminology issue is to extend the term
'classifier' to cover any kind of nominal classification device (Singer
2010, 2012, 2016). The term 'classifier' is used to cover a pretty
disparate group of phenomena anyhow. The terms 'gender' and 'numeral
classifier' can then be reserved for subsets of the general category
'classifier' like you suggest.

This approach fits with Corbett and Fedden's recent ideas too as they
propose gender as a special kind of nominal classification.

Corbett, Greville G. & Sebastian Fedden. 2017. Canonical gender. Journal of
Linguistics(available on CJO June 2015). 1–37.
doi:10.1017/S0022226715000195.

Fedden, Sebastian & Greville G. Corbett (forthcoming). Genders and
classifiers as concurrent systems: a first typology.

Singer, Ruth. 2010. Creativity in the use of gender agreement in Mawng: how
the discourse functions of a gender system can approach those of a
classifier system. Studies in Language 34. 382–416.

Singer, Ruth. 2012. Do nominal classifiers mediate selectional
restrictions? an investigation of the function of semantically-based
nominal classifiers in Mawng (Iwaidjan, Australian). Linguistics 50.
955–990.

Singer, Ruth. 2016. The dynamics of nominal classification: productive and
lexicalised uses of gender agreement in Mawng. (Pacific Linguistics 642).
Mouton de Gruyter.
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=34mlCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=%22dynamics+of+nominal+classification%22&ots=X-IKgrhldm&sig=1721LueyC8yH1M2sQ6gdVvyituM
.

On 21 March 2017 at 02:05, Martin Haspelmath <haspelmath at shh.mpg.de> wrote:

> Dear typologists,
>
> Cross-linguistic terminology (comparative concepts) should be both clear
> and conform to the tradition, in order to preserve continuity with the
> older literature.
>
> In the case of the terms "gender" and "classifier", it seems that these
> two goals cannot be achieved simultaneously without coining a new term
> ("genifier").
>
> There is quite a bit of general literature on gender/classifiers (e.g.
> Dixon 1986; Grinevald 2000; Aikhenvald 2000; Seifart 2010; Corbett & Fedden
> 2016), but none of these works provide clear definitions of these terms,
> and the more recent literature (e.g. Corbett & Fedden, and also Seifart &
> Payne 2007) actually emphasizes that there is no reason to say that gender
> markers and classifiers are distinct phenomena in the world's languages.
>
> Thus, it seems to me that we need the new term "genifier", perhaps defined
> as follows:
>
> A *genifier system* is a system of grammatical markers which occur on
> nominal modifiers, predicates or anaphoric pronouns, and each of which
> expresses (i.e. normally reflects, but sometimes contributes) a broad
> property other than person and number of the controlling noun (i.e. for
> nominal modifiers: the modificatum, for predicates: an argument, for
> anaphoric pronouns: the antecedent).
>
> The alternative to coining a new term, it seems to me, would be to extend
> the meaning of the term "gender" or of the term "classifier" in such a way
> that there would be no more continuity with the earlier literature.
>
> Given the above definition of genifier, we can perhaps define "gender" and
> "numeral classifier" as follows (as arbitrary subcategories of genifiers,
> defined just to preserve continuity with the older literature):
>
> A *gender system* (= a system of gender markers) is a system of genifiers
> which includes no more than 20 genifiers and which is not restricted to
> numeral modifiers.
>
> A *numeral classifier system* is a system of genifiers which is
> restricted to numeral (plus optionally other adnominal) modifiers.
>
> I wonder if the above definitions have any obvious defects, i.e. any cases
> that everyone would call gender or numeral classifier and that wouldn't
> fall under the definitions, or cases that fall under them and that nobody
> would call gender or numeral classifier.
>
> Note that the new term "genifier" also has the advantage that the whole
> domain can be called *genification* (rather than the cumbersome "noun
> classification/nominal classification", which is also vague because there
> are all kinds of "classes" or "classifications" of nouns which have nothing
> to do with genifiers).
>
> Any comments?
>
> Thanks,
> Martin
>
> *************************
>
> References
>
> Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2000. *Classifiers: A typology of noun
> categorization devices*. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
> Corbett, Greville G. & Sebastian Fedden. 2016. Canonical gender. *Journal
> of Linguistics* 52(3). 495–531.
> Dixon, R. M. W. 1986. Noun classes and noun classification in typological
> perspective. In Colette Grinevald Craig (ed.), *Noun classes and
> categorization*, 105–112. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
> Grinevald, Colette G. 2000. A morphosyntactic typology of classifiers. In
> Gunter Senft (ed.), *Systems of nominal classification*, 50–92.
> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
> Seifart, Frank. 2010. Nominal classification. *Language and Linguistics
> Compass* 4(8). 719–736.
> Seifart, Frank & Doris L. Payne. 2007. Nominal classification in the North
> West Amazon: Issues in areal diffusion and typological characterization. *International
> Journal of American Linguistics* 73(4). 381–387.
>
> --
> Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at shh.mpg.de)
> Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
> Kahlaische Strasse 10	
> D-07745 Jena
> &
> Leipzig University
> IPF 141199
> Nikolaistrasse 6-10
> D-04109 Leipzig
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Dr Ruth Singer
DECRA Postdoctoral Fellow
Linguistics Program / Research Unit for Indigenous Language
School of Languages and Linguistics
Faculty of Arts
University of Melbourne 3010
Tel. +61 3 90353774
http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person2621
http://indiglang.arts.unimelb.edu.au/
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