gender, noun classes, and noun classification

[Nobukatsu Minoura]

> Susan Fischer wrote:
>> To follow up on Ulrike's point, the phenomenon in NS (NihonSyuwa)  is not,
>> however, grammatical gender in the sense of assigning a near-arbitrary
>> classification to a noun;

Ingeborg van Gijn wrote:
> This is exactly the kind of grammatical gender that according to Inge
> Zwitserlood and me IS present in all signed languages. In our work on
> agreement we argue for classifiers (in classifier predicates) being gender
> agreement markers, because these classifiers are reminiscent of the gender
> markers (or noun class markers) in Bantu languages. These languages have
> sets of markers to indicate the shape characteristics of entities, to
> indicate males and females, animates, etc.

Is noun classification in sign languages the same as Bantu noun classes?  I
am not so sure about it.  Gender systems in Indo-European languages,
Afroasiatic languages, etc., noun classes in Bantu languages, and noun
classification in many languages of the world are related phenomena.  And
especially the gender system and the Bantu classes are very similar but are
different in the number of the "classes" they have.  A gender system usually
has 2 or 3 classes.  Bantu languages have 20 or more classes.  But the
gender systems and Bantu noun classes are similar in that they inflict
agreement  within noun phrases (head nouns with articles, adjectives,
numbers, demonstratives, possessive particles, etc.) and within clauses with
the predicate verbs.

Noun "classes" in sign languages are not that through when it comes to
agreement.  It is more like classificatory verbs in Athabaskan languages,
which are noun classifiers but do not form noun classes.  In Athabaskan
languages, the "agreement" is only between the noun and the predicate verb
(or the relativized form thereof).  And also the biggest difference between
Bantu noun classes and Athabaskan classificatory verbs is that an Athabaskan
noun can take different classifiers according to its form or shape.  Bantu
nouns do not have that freedom.  A Bantu noun can switch between the
singular class (Swahili 'mtu', a man, M-class) and its corresponding plural
class (Swahili 'watu', men, WA-class).  When it is assigned a different
class other than that, it is already a separate lexical item (Swahili
'kitu', a thing, KI-class; 'vitu', things, VI-class).

In Koyukon Athabaskan of Alaska, a noun can take different classificatory
verbs (Chad L. Thompson, 1987, _An Introduction to Athabaskan Languages_,
Yukon-Koyukuk School District -- available from Alaska Native Language
Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks):

saahal la'onh   'a sugar cube is there'
saahal lidlo   'cubes or bags of sugar are there'
saahal lakkonh   'a bowl of sugar is there'
saahal daaltonh   'a box of sugar is there'
saahal alhidzok   'sugar cubes are scattered about'
saahal alhitlaakk   'wet, sticky sugar is there'
saahal daalhinokk   'loose, granulated sugar is there'

Saahal is a loanword from Russian sakhar (sugar).  And the classificatory
verbs shown above all mean "is/are there," but they have different
roots/stems (i.e. are suppletive) and are chosen according to the shape/form
of the noun.  Saahal above is presented with seven different verbs.  But it
does not mean that saahal belongs to seven classes.  The different verbs
merely suggest the different shape/form of the sugar.

Koyukon Athabaskan and other northern Athabaskan languages also have
so-called gender prefixes, which are not found in southern Athabaskan
languages like Navajo and Apache.  Koyukon Athabaskan has 6 classes of the
so-called gender.  And appropriate prefixes are assigned to certain verbs
which require a gender prefix.

nizoonh   'it is good (0 gender)'
neezoonh   'it (face, rope) is good (ni gender)'
deezoonh   'it (stick-like object) is good (di gender)'
dineezoonh   'it (pencil, rock) is good (dini gender)'
hoozoonh   'it (house, area) is good (hu gender)'
Hudeezoonh   'it (weather) is good (hudi gender)'

These classes are more like noun classes and gender.  But it is not as
thorough as Bantu in that the agreement is only between the noun and the
verb.  But a noun does not cut across the "classes" here like in the case
with classificatory verbs shown earlier.



In JSL (= NS), some nouns are assigned only one classifier (e.g. train,
airplane, etc.)  But other nouns can be assigned several classifiers.  E.g.
water can be in a cup, a bowl, etc.  Sugar perhaps can take different
classifiers, but it is probably often assigned the generic open-B-handshape
classifier.  A woman can take a singular female person classifier (the pinky
finger sticking up), a singular generic person classifier (the index finger
sticking up or down), and even a singular male person classifier when the
context allows and/or requires (!!! the thumb sticking up).  Do we still
have to say that a woman can belong to three (or four) "classes"?

Nobukatsu "Nobu" Minoura

--
Nobukatsu Minoura
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Asahicho 3-11-1
Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8534, Japan
Phone: +81-42-330-5370
Fax: +81-42-330-5408
mailto:minoura at fs.tufs.ac.jp, mailto:nobum at gol.com