[Lingtyp] Classifier without numerals

Tue Dec 8 10:48:50 UTC 2020

Dear Ian,

In the literature on Classifier typology, this usage classifier is generally called ‘noun classifier’ (not to be mixed with 'noun class’).
See Craig 1986, Aikhenvald 2000, Contini-Morava and Kilarski 2013, Grinevald 2015, Bisang (1993, 1999  among others).

Here is an extract of our article on Classifiers in South-East Asia (to appear) that may make it clearer:

"Second, noun classifiers occur next to the noun or within the boundaries of the noun phrase, independently of the operation of quantification. Generally, they fulfill a determiner function, giving information on the specificity or definiteness of the referent. Noun classifiers are well-attested in Australian and Mesoamerican languages (Aikhenvald 2000:149-71), but are also common in Southeast languages. The two following examples illustrate the noun classifiers in Zhuang (7) and Jakaltec (8). In both examples, the classifier modifies the noun (without the occurrence of numerals) and marks (un)definiteness or specificity.

(1)        Noun classifiers in Zhuang (Tai-Kadai, Thailand) – (Xiaohang 2007: 173)

tu2

mou1

kɯn1

bou3

im5

clf:animal

pig

eat

not

enough

‘The pig is not full…’

(2)     Noun classifiers in Jakaltek (Mayan, Guatemala) - From (Craig 1986:264)

xil

ix

ix

hune7

hin

no7

txitam

tu7

see.past

clf: female

woman

one

poss.1sg

clf: animal

pig

dem.distal

‘The woman saw that one pig of mine’

As illustrated by both examples, the operation of quantification is not a necessary condition for the use of noun classifiers. In (7), the classifier for animals is used with the noun ‘pig’ without the occurrence of a numeral. Likewise, in (8), the classifier for females is used with the noun ‘woman’ without the occurrence of a numeral."
Ref: Alice Vittrant & Marc Tang , to appear, «  Classifiers in Southeast Asian Languages » In The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia: a comprehensive guide, Mouton de Gruyter [series The World of Linguistics]. Edited by Paul Sidwell and Mathias Jenny.

 Best regards,

Alice

Le 8 déc. 2020 à 10:32, Hilary Chappell <hmchappell at gmail.com<mailto:hmchappell at gmail.com>> a écrit :

Dear Ian,
In Sinitic linguistics, the common term is 'bare classifier phrase' for this phenomenon. Referentiality of the modified noun
appears to depend on the position in the clause and the language in question.

Below is a reference that treats this topic for a sample of 120 Sinitic languages.

WANG, Jian. 2015. Bare classifier phrases in Sinitic languages: a typological perspective.
which is in a volume I edited:  Diversity in Sinitic languages. OUP, 110-133.

Best regards,
Hilary Chappell
Chair Professor in the Typology of East Asian languages / Directrice d'études en typologie linguistique de l'Asie orientale
Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l'Asie orientale (CRLAO)
Paris

On Tue, 8 Dec 2020 at 08:50, JOO, Ian [Student] <ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk<mailto:ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk>> wrote:
Dear all,

I would like to know if there is a term for the usage of a classifier without the numeral.
For example, Cantonese go-jan [CLF-person] `that person’ is such construction, where the classifier without the numeral is used to mark determinacy.
I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could point to the previous literature on this topic.

From Hong Kong,
Ian
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------------------------------
Alice Vittrant
Professeur des Universités
Université Lyon 2 - DYNAMIQUE DU LANGAGE (CNRS DDL - UMR 5596)
14 avenue Berthelot - MSH - Bât C
69363 Lyon Cedex 07
Site :
http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/AliceVittrant
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