4. Analysis
4.1 Data Analysis in Languages
4.1.3 Obligatory classifier languages
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(41) gakusei-tati san-nin student-PL 3-CL
‘three students’ (Ishii 2000: 12)
Thus the system of Japanese is quite similar to Chinese. The classifier system is more dominant than the plural system.
4.1.3 Obligatory classifier languages
In this section, we investigate the languages whose classifiers are obligatory according to Gil (2008), including Taba, Kathmandu Newar, Belhare, Mokilese, Kham, Nivkh, Garo, Vietnamese, Ulithian, Jacaltec and Teribe. The real classification in such languages is not necessarily obligatory classifier languages. The role of classifiers in each language will be based on collected data.
4.1.3.1 Taba
Classifiers are obligatory (without supporting examples) in Taba, and include measure words, general classifiers, human classifiers, animal classifiers, inanimate classifiers and shape classifiers.
(42) Range of application of classifiers a. Measure word: ha-
Liter halu liter ha=lu litre CLASS=two
‘two liters’ (Bowden 2001: 253)
‧
d. Animal classifier: i-1/ sis-2-9/beit-10 yan iso
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
b. kabin sithol kabin sis=tol
goat CLASS=three
‘three goats’ (Bowden 2001: 257)
A plural marker -si in Taba is optional as in (44b) and it only applies to human nouns.
(44) a. With a plural marker:
mapinci mattol mapin=si mat=tol woman=PL CLASS=three
‘three women’ (Bowden 2001: 256) b. Without a plural marker:
mapin mattol mapin mat=tol woman CLASS=three
‘three women’ (Bowden 2001: 256)
The co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals, it is grammatical in Taba as in (45).
(45) mapinci mattol mapin=si mat=tol woman=PL CLASS=three
‘three women’ (Bowden 2001: 256)
Therefore, Taba violates the strict CPCD principle in which classifiers and plurals shouldn’t co-occur. But we can find that they are still in complementary
distribution in certain degree because classifier system is stronger than plural system.
‧
The classifier system of Kathmandu Newar is quite similar to Taba’s. Its system
is obligatory (without supporting examples) and include measure words, animate (human and animal) classifiers, inanimate classifiers and shape classifiers.
(46) Range of application of classifiers a. Measure word
‧
applies to animate common nouns, as in (47). And the reduplication form to express plurality is as in (48).
(47) Range of application of plural marker a. Human
The co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals is grammatical in Kathmandu Newar, as in (49).
(49) chə-gu: deś-ɛ: nya-mhə pasa-pῖ: du one-CLF country-LOC five-CLF friend-PL exist.ID
‘In a certain country there were five friends.’
(Hale and Shrestha 2006: 93)
Therefore, Kathmandu Newar violates the strict CPCD principle. Also, classifier system is stronger than plural system in Kathmandu Newar.
2 The majority data are secondary sources collected from previous studies. Examples are cited based on the original forms from authors, so the spelling may differ from person to person. For example, ‘dog’
in Kathmandu Newar were spelt as khica by Hargreaves (2003); while khicā by Weidert(1984). But, they are the same word.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
4.1.3.3 Belhare
Classifiers in Belhare are obligatory. Only two kinds of classifiers are indigenous:
human classifier -pa and non-human classifier -kira. Except for -pa and -kira, other kinds of more specific classifiers are borrowed from Nepali. (Bickel 2003).
(50) Range of application of classifiers a. Human classifier: -pa
sip- -pa mai-chi two-HUM person-nsg[ABS]
‘Two people’ (Bickel 2003: 563)
b. Non-human classifier: -kira
sik-kira phabele=ma phu tar-he-
Two NHUM red=COLOUR. ART flower[ABS] bring-PAST[-3P]-1sgA
‘I brought two red flowers. (Bickel 2003: 562)
A plural marker -chi is optional and rarely used in inanimate common nouns.
Since plural markers are optional, only few examples with plural markers were found.
We can only judge the range of application of plurals based on the description of author (Bickel 2003).
Classifiers and plurals in Belhare must co-occur, as in (51). If there are no plurals as in (51b), it will be ungrammatical.
(51) a. sip- -pa mai-chi
two-HUM person-nsg[ABS]
‘two people’ (Bickel 2003: 563)
b. *sip- -pa mai
two- HUM person [sgABS] (Bickel 2003: 563)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
4.1.3.4 Mokilese
Classifiers in Mokilese are obligatory. But there are only four numeral classifiers:
-w, -men, -pas, and -kij. -w is a general classifier; -men is an animate classifier; -pas is a long object classifier; -kij denotes things which have pieces or parts.
(52) Range of application of classifiers a. Measure word: -kij
adroau riahkij egg two-CL
‘two pieces of eggs’ (Harrison 1976: 97)
b. General classifier:-w wus riaw
banana two-CL
‘two bananas’ (Harrison 1976: 96)
c. Animate classifier:-men jeri roahmen
child two-CL
’two children’ (Harrison 1976: 95)
d. Shape classifier:-pas amper dohpas umbrellas nine-CL
’nine umbrellas’ (Harrison 1976: 96)
Based on Her (2012a), the number of classifier should be equal to ‘1’. However, -kij denotes the number less than one (Harrison 1976). Thus, -kij should be a measure word rather than a real classifier.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(53) a. adroau riahkij egg two-M
‘two pieces of eggs’ (Harrison 1976: 97) b. adroau riaw
egg two-CL
‘two eggs’ (Harrison 1976: 97)
In Mokilese, personal pronoun has four ways of distinction, singular, dual, plural, remote plural. And in common nouns, determiner -pwi serves as the function of distinguishing singular and plural.
(54) Ngoah kapang woalpwi o I see man-D there
‘I saw some men there.’ (Harrison 1976)
An interesting phenomenon in Mokilese is that both classifier system and plural system are strong. Both system are obligatory and applying to the highest ranking.
Thus, Mokilese violates the general CPCD principle, and represents no complementary distribution in its usage. Therefore, it deserves a closer look in further research.
The co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals is ungrammatical in Mokilese.
Doetjes (to appear) suggested that if a sentence contains a numeral which fused with a classifier, the co-occurrence of the plurality determiner -pwi will be prohibited.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
4.1.3.5 Kham
Based on Watter (2002), there are only measure words in Kham. Because we can’t find the true classifier from the same reference of Gil (2008) provided by WALS
online database, we assume that there are no true classifiers but only measure words in Kham.
(55) a. t-kri: sya:
‘a chunk of meat’ (Watter2002: 54)
b. to-cop mnm
‘a pinch of flour’ (Watter2002: 54)
A plural marker -r can obligatorily apply to all nouns and include human, animate, and inanimate common nouns.
(56) Range of application of plurals a. Human
luhza Child:SG
‘a child’ (Watter2002: 54) b. Animal
Ka:h-ni Dog-DL
‘(two) dogs’ (Watter2002: 54)
c. Inanimate lu:-r Stone-PL
‘(three or more) stones’ (Watter2002: 54)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
As for the co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals, there are no classifiers but measure words in Kham based on Watter (2002). So there is no need to concern the issue.
4.1.3.6 Nivkh
Classifiers are obligatory (according to WALS online database) in Nivkh, and include measure words, general classifiers, human classifiers, animal classifiers, inanimate classifiers, and shape classifiers. (Mattissen. 2003)
(57) Range of application of classifiers
a. General classifiers: ñaqr ‘1’; meqr ‘2’; ̢taqr ‘3’
b. Human classifier: ñin ‘1’; men ‘2’; ̢taqr ‘3’
c. Animal classifier: ñəñ ‘1’; mor ‘2’; ̢tor ‘3’
d. Inanimate classifier (for boats): ñim ‘1’; mim ‘2’; ̢tem ‘3’
e. Shape classifier (for long shape): ñex ‘1’; mex ‘2’; ̢tex ‘3’
(Mattissen p.c., Panfilov 1962: 181-183, Krejnovič 1934: 202-203)
Plurals being optional in Nivkh can be denoted in two ways. One is plural marker; the other is reduplication. There are four forms of plural markers: ku, gu, γu, and xu, and they can apply to all common nouns.
‧
(58) Range of application of plural marker a. Human
The co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals is grammatical in Nivkh as following.
(60) a. ku-umguo ʁla-gu men, hə ţ͗-umgu-nanak-xu
3pl that sibling-PL 2_human_being-ALL carry-converb come-IND/NML-PL
‘they brought it to those two brothers (or relatives)’
(Mattissen p.c., Panfilov 1962 : 192 )
4.1.3.9 Garo
Classifiers are optional in Garo and include measure words, general classifiers,
‧
human classifiers, animal classifiers, inanimate classifiers, and shape classifiers.
(61) Optional classifiers (62) Range of application of classifiers
a. Measure word
In Garo, some classifiers which contains meanings are not true classifiers.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(63) a. te’-rik gal- sa banana M one
‘one small bunch of bananas’ (Burling 2003: 394) b. te’-rik ol- sa
banana M one
‘one large bunch of bananas’ (Burling 2003: 394)
Based on the criteria of Her (2012a), a real classifier should be semantically null.
The classifiers gal- and ol- denote the quantity of nouns. Thus these are not true classifiers, but measure words.
With regard to number marking, nouns are transnumerals in Garo. Thus the plural marker -rang optionally applies to all common nouns (without supporting examples for animate nouns).
(64) Range of application of Plurals a. Human
man-de-ra-ko nik-a-ha-ma
‘did you see the men?’ (Burling 1961: 44) b. Inanimate
re-ka-ra te-bir-o da-a
‘the papers are on the table.’ (Burling 1961: 44)
Apart from plural marker, there is a collective marker -ma in Garo.
(65) Collective
na-gan-ma’ -ni nok
‘the house of Nanggan and family’ (Burling 1961: 44)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Since neither examples of the co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals were found nor native speakers can be consulted, we assume the case in Garo from personal communication with an expert of Garo, Burling. He states that it is weird for classifiers and plurals to co-occur. In addition, Burling (1961) indicated that plurals may not be used if there are other elements denoting plurality. So we assume that classifiers and plurals can not co-occur in Garo.
4.1.3.10 Vietnamese
Classifiers are obligatory in Vietnamese and include measure words, general classifiers, human classifiers, animal classifiers, inanimate classifiers, and shape classifiers.
(66) Obligatory classifiers a. With classifiers
ba cuốn sách three CL book
‘three books’ (Nguyen 2004: 10)
b. Without classifiers
*ba sách three book
‘three books’ (Nguyen 2004: 10) (67) Range of application of classifiers
a. Measure word một kí đủὸ̉ng one kilogram sugar
‘a kilogram of sugar’ (Nguyen 2004: 2)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
b. General classifier: cái cái ghế
‘a chair’ (Thang 1999: 72)
c. Human classifier: đúa đúa bạn
‘a freind’ (Thang 1999: 72)
d. Animal classifier: con con bò
‘a cow’ (Thang 1999: 72)
e. Inaimate classifier: cuốn hai cuốn sách
‘two books’ (Nguyen 2004: 99)
f. Shape classifier: hòn hòn đá
‘a stone’ (Thang 1999: 75)
Nouns are transnumerals in Vietnamese. Its plural markers can optionally apply to all common nouns.
(68) Transnumeral nouns sách
‘(a/the) book(s)’ (Nguyen 1986: 9)
There are two major plural markers in Vietnames: những and các. Thompson (1965) stated that những denotes only certain of the total possible number and các represents all of a given set of entities. The range of application of the plural marker is all common nouns.
The co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals is grammatical as in (69).
‧
There are two kinds of classifier system in Ulithian. One is numeral classifiers;
the other is noun classifiers. And we only focus on numeral classifiers in this paper.
Numeral classifiers are obligatory (according to WALS online database) in Ulithian, including measure words, general classifiers, animate (human and animal) classifiers, inanimate classifiers, and shape classifiers.
(70) Range of application of classifiers a. Measure word
ttaxe ‘slice’
xumu ‘mouthful of water, beer, or other liquid’
(Sohn and Bender.1973 p.202) b. General classifier: wo ‘general object’
(Sohn and Bender 1973: 202) c. Animate (Human&Animal) classifier: male
diwa male malėxė
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
e. Shape classifier: fase ‘ rounded object’
(Sohn and Bender.1973: 201)
Unlike plural markers which are marked on nouns in other languages, a plural marker ka- in Ulithian is marked on demonstrative as in (71).
(71) a. Singular
senseye laa mə yap teacher DEM from Yap
‘that teacher from Yap’ (Lynch, Ross and Crowley 2002: 797)
b. Plural
yiir senseye kalaa mə yap they teacher DEM from Yap
‘(they) those teachers from Yap’ (Lynch, Ross and Crowley 2002: 797)
From a website, Habele (http://www.habele.org/language.htm 2012/11/14), we achieve a personal communication with Neil Mellen who is familiar with Ulithian. He suggests that the sentence in (72) is grammatical which means classifiers and plurals can co-occur in a noun phrase in Ulithian. But he also indicates that “in practice most
people are using English counting words now as they don't have the numerous suffixes to remember”.
(72) ruw-xaye pinsan kalaa
‘those two pencils’ (Mellen, p.c.)
4.1.3.12 Jacaltec
Similar to Ulithian, there are numeral classifiers and noun classifiers in Jacaltec.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Numeral classifiers are obligatory based on the classification of WALS online database, and most of them are measure words in Day (1973). We only find some true classifiers for inanimate and shape as following.
(73) Range of application of classifiers a. Measure word: pulato
ca pulato chib’e
‘two plates of meat’ (Day 1973: 60)
b. Inanimate classifier: c’otan ox c’otan ixim
‘three grains of corn’ (Day 1973: 60)
c. Shape classifier: c’olan ca c’olan k’oye
‘two balls of dough’ (Day 1973: 60)
A plural marker hej is optional in Jacaltec (Day 1973) and applies to all common nouns. But we only found examples applying to human and animate common nouns.
(74) Optional Plurals (hej) heb’-ho’ uẍtaje
‘the brothers’ (Day 1973:.69)
(75) a. Human hej w-uẍtaj
‘my brothers’ (Day 1973: 69)
b. Animate hej no’ cheh
‘the horses’ (Day 1973 p.69)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
As for the co-occurrence of classifiers and plurals, there are some limitations.
Classifiers can occur with plurals in majority, except for those human classifiers which do not denote kin (Day1973). Thus the co-occurrence is grammatical in Jacaltec.
4.1.3.13 Teribe
Classifiers are obligatory (based on WALS online database) in Teribe and include animate (human and animal) classifiers, inanimate classifiers, and shape classifiers.
(76) Range of application of classifiers a. Animate classifier: kl-
Domer kl-ara u man CL.ANIMATE-one house
‘One man’s house’ (Quesada 2000: 48) b. Shape classifier (for round): kw-
Sbi kw-ara roy di pot CL.Round-one inside water
‘One pot of water’ (Quesada 2000: 48)
A plural marker -ga can optionally apply to all common nouns, including human, animate, and inanimate common nouns. Among all common nouns, human and animate common nouns are more likely to be pluralized (Quesada, 2000).
(77) walë-ga wolëso woman-PL pretty
‘pretty women’ (Quesada. 2000: 52)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Teribe follows the strict CPCD principle; classifiers and plurals do not co-occur in a noun phrase.
(78) a. domer kl-öbö /doglo mya Man CL.ANIMATE -some/ CL. ANIMATE three
‘some/ three men’ (Quesada. 2000: 52)
b. *domer-ga kl-öbö /doglo mya Man PL CL.ANIMATE -some/ CL. ANIMATE three
‘some/ three men’ (Quesada. 2000: 52)