Summary for OP Bodypart Classes

[Koontz John E]

Cutting to the chase and omitting the examples:

a 'arm'

Usually =khe, singular or plural.
There are some examples of =the with particular kinds of plurality,
specifically, once with 'both the arms' (the pattern Rory and I would
have expected with pairs and sets), and once with '(one each of) their
several arms'.

ni'tta '(outer) ear'

Here the article is =the, but, unfortunately, this is the only example of
an article with the 'outer ear' word.

naNghi'de '(inner) ear, facility of hearing'

Here the article is also =the with the 'inner ear' word, but we can't
really argue for any clear comparaiblity with the previous word, and only
singular or abstract references are available.

hiN' 'body hair, fur'

Three different articles, =dhaN, =ge, and =khe.
While =ge refers to individual hairs, the difference between =dhaN and
=khe is not clear, unless it follows the principle with naNz^i'ha.

ppahiN' 'hair'

Here =khe, but, unfortunately, only the single example.

naNz^i'=ha 'head hair, skin of head with attached hair (scalp)'

The =dhaN article seems to imply part of the whole extent of the scalp.
The =khe article seems to mean the whole scalp.
The =ge article seems to mean several head hairs or several scalps.

ppa' 'head'

With =dhaN, singular or plural.
With =the in some cases of sets of multiple heads (again Rory's expected
pattern).
With =ge for several heads of different individuals.

If there is a general pattern of usage it seems to be:

- One particular article =dhaN, =the, =khe with singular or plural
references (where a body has more than one part of a kind).  One might
want to go back to the examples and notice the case of ppa'=the 'the nose'
vs. ppa'=dhaN 'the head'.
- =the with specially marked sets of multiple parts (all the heads, both
arms, just one arm from each individual).
- =dhaN with part of an extensive feature like 'hair'.
- =khe with all of an extensive feature like 'hair'.
- =ge with less marked cases of plurality resulting from multiple bodies.

In some ways this is just a bodypart specialization of the usual pattern:

- dhaN - compact, individuated, partitive
- the - extended, series (if noted)
- khe - surface, zone or totality (if noted)
- ge - unconfigured set, multiple individuals

There are clearly some details of the contrasts that are not simply
captured.  For example, why z^i'be=khe?  On the other hand, =khe does
sometimes seem to be "in a horizontal line" or "supine" or "dead" and =the
does seem to be sometimes "vertical" or "stacked, piled, put into a
confining container."  In some cases it is natural to point out
configurational changes due to plurality, but in other cases this is
ignored.