Proforms vs. Classifiers

[Horváth Brigitta]

Dan
Thanks a lot!
Brigitta Horvath

Dan Parvaz wrote:

> > As I'm not a linguist (yet), please forgive me for this question if the
> > answer is evident for everybody on this list: what is the real ifference
> > between the terms proform and classifier?
>
> (Dredging up forgotten syntax lessons...)
>
> As far as I recall, proforms can replace phrasal level stuff; in the
> quoted sentence above, "the terms proform and classifier" can be replaced
> with "them." It's one of the tests for constituency, and one of the
> reasons for positing phrasal constituents like N' and V' (much of the rest
> of the X-bar madness having something to do with "theoretical elegance"
> :-)
>
> Classifiers, at the broadest level, are words that stand for semantic
> classes of objects, so the "3" classifier (thumb, index, and middle
> fingers extended) in ASL represents vehicles, Japanese "hon" has something
> to do with measure (although it's more complicated than that), and so on.
> Different languages use classifiers in different morphosyntactic
> environments, and Colette Grinevald (at one point, Craig) has created a
> typology of classifiers based on those environments.
>
> I guess there is a commonality: proforms stand for syntactic entities, and
> classifiers for semantic categories.
>
> I welcome any refinements to this really sketchy beginning.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dan.