Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University,
16/09/2010
Christian Lehmann
Philosophische Fakultät
Universität Erfurt
1.
Theses
At least for some languages:
1.
There is no evidence for an individuating function of numeral classifiers.
2.
The presence of numeral classification in such a language is, therefore, no evidence for some non-individuated basic semantic character of nouns in that language.
3.
Instead, numeral classifiers are hosts to such numerals that fall short of independent nouns (in the traditional sense of ‘noun’).
4.
By grammaticalization, numeral classifiers become a kind of substantivizers.
Numeral classifiers in Yucatec Maya
E1. a. hun-p'éel tunich
YM one-CL.INAN stone
“a/one stone”
b. ka'-p'éel tunich two-CL.INAN stone
“two stones”
E2. a. hun-túul xib
YM one-CL.AN man
“a/one man”
b. ka'-túul two-CL.AN xib man
“two men”

Christian Lehmann, The function of numeral classifiers 2
Functional hypotheses
Why should counting an object presuppose its classification?
1.
The speakers of a numeral classifier language have not arrived at the pure concept of number; they have not yet abstracted cardinality as the common property of all the manifold sets of objects which happen to be of the same number. (Lévy-Bruhl
1910)
2.
o o o o
Languages with numeral classification typically lack the category of nominal number.
And if they have it, it usually does not appear on a noun phrase containing a classifier phrase (just as in measure phrases).
⇒ The noun does not designate an individual falling under the concept, but just the concept itself.
⇒ The classifier has the function of individuation. (Greenberg 1972)
2.
Yucatec numeral classifier phrase
E3. a. Hay-p'éel tunich yàan tèech ? –
YM how.many-CL.INAN stone EXIST you
“How many stones do you have?” –
b. Hay-túul how.many-CL.AN xib man yàan tèech ?
EXIST you
–
“How many men do you have?” –
Ka'-p'éel. two-CL.INAN
“Two.”
Ka'-túul. two-CL.AN
“Two.”
[
Num
Num.Cl
]
Num.Cl.P
Count.Nom
G1. If a language uses numeral classifiers in counted nominals (Count.Nom) such as
E1f , then it also has naked numeral classifier phrases (Num.Cl.P) (such as E3) in the place of complete noun phrases.
Diachronic version of G1
G2. If a language acquires numeral classification in constructions such as S1, it first

Christian Lehmann, The function of numeral classifiers acquires numeral classifier phrases and uses these in anaphora.
Numeral classifier construction in Bribri
E4. a. kano ' tulur b ö -k k á uk a
B RI tepezcuinte POS.seated:PL two-CL.round cave LOC
“there are two tepezcuintes in the cave.”
b. dù tulur sts ö k b ö -tk bird POS.seated:PL sing:IMPF two-CL.flat
“there are two birds singing”
c. ye' tö tkab
ë sa w
é
b
ö
-töm
I ERG snake see:PRFV two-CL.long
“I saw two snakes”
E5. kano ' b ö -k tulur k á uk a
B RI tepezcuinte two-CL.round POS.seated:PL cave LOC
“the two tepezcuintes are in the cave.” (Constenla et al. 1998:70)
Nomi
[
Num
Num.Cl
]
Cl.Pi
3 phase 1
S3. Evolution of numeral classifier construction
2 construction classifier phrase as an anaphor
Yucatec native and loan numerals
E6. a. óox-túul xib discontinuous counted nominal
3 continuous counted nominal
YM three-CL.AN man
“three men”
b. kan-túul xib = cuatro xib-o'b four-CL.AN man
“four men” four man-PL
c. cinco xib-o'b five man-PL

Christian Lehmann, The function of numeral classifiers
“five men”
Conclusion 1
It is not the Yucatec noun that needs individuation; it is the Yucatec numeral that needs the classifier.
Yucatec numerals and classifiers – free or bound ?
E7. Hay-túul-o'b ?
YM how.many-CL.AN-PL
– Seis
six u
[ POSS.3 túul-ul.
CL.AN-REL ]
NP
“How many were they?” – “There were six of them.” [lit.: six (are) of them]
Conclusion 2
The primary function of Yucatec numeral classifiers is purely structural: its members serve as props for the numerals, which are affixes.
The primary function of numeral classifiers is to serve as dummy nouns that those numerals which are affixes can attach to.
3.
G3. If a numeral of numerical value X is adjectival in nature, then all numerals lower than X are adjectival, too.
Conversely, if a numeral of numerical value X is substantival in nature, then all numerals higher than X are substantival, too. (cf. Corbett 1978)
S4. Grammatical status of numerals affix < adjective < noun
G4. Given a numeral with numerical value X occupying position Y on S3, then numerals for numbers lower than X will not occupy positions to the right of Y.
Conversely, numerals for numbers higher than X will not occupy positions to the left of Y on S3.
4

Christian Lehmann, The function of numeral classifiers
Numeral classifiers in Bribri numeral longish object flat object round object human
1 e'-töm e'-tk e'-k
2 b ö -töm b ö -tk b ö -k
3
4 ma
ñ
à
-töm ma
ñ
à
-tk ma
ñ
á
-l tk
ë
-töm sk
è
-töm tk sk
ë
-l
é
-l tk sk
ë
-l
é
-l 5
9 su l
ì
-töm
how many i
ë
-töm i su
ë l
-tk
ì tu i su
ë
-k l
ì tu e'-köl b ö -l ma
ñ
á
-l tk
ë
-l sk
é
-l su l
ì tu i
ë
-l
the other bì-töm bì-tk bì-k bí-l
T1. Paradigm (after Constenla et al. 1998:65f, 73)
Numerals and numeral classifiers
G5. If, in a language, a numeral of numerical value X combines with numeral classifiers, then all numerals with numerical values lower than X also combine with numeral classifiers.
Conversely, if a numeral of numerical value X does not require a numeral classifier, then numerals with numerical values higher than X do not require one, either.
class longish object flat object round object human function classifier -töm
substantivizer -ëtöm
-tk
-ëtk
-k
-ëk
-l
-ël
T2. Paradigm (after Constenla et al. 1998:92)
E8. a. bua'-ëk
B
RI
good-CL.round
“the good one (fruit etc.)”
b. chkàii-ël fat-CL.HUM
“the fat one (person)”
c. chkàii-ël-pa fat-CL.HUM-PL
“the fat ones (persons)”
5

Christian Lehmann, The function of numeral classifiers
E9. Was für Eier willst du? – Gib mir mal kleine.
G
ERM
“What (kind of) eggs do you want?” – “Give me small ones.”
E10. Wie viele Eier willst du? – Gib mir mal sechs.
G
ERM
“How many eggs do you want?” – “Give me six.”
E11. Wie viele Eier willst du? – Gib mir mal sechs Stück.
G ERM “How many eggs do you want?” – “Give me six items.”
E12. Wie viele Eier willst du? – Gib mir mal sechse.
G ERM “How many eggs do you want?” – “Give me six.”
E13. Wann treffen wir uns? – a. Um acht Uhr.
G
ERM
b. Um acht.
c. Um achte.
“When shall we meet?” – “At eight o'clock.”
E14. a. kleine Eier
G
ERM
“small eggs” b. sechs Eier
“six eggs”
/ *sechse Eier
E15. a. alle neune
G ERM “all nine (pins)” b. alle Kleinen
“all small ones”
E16. a. Erwin begab sich auf alle Viere.
G
ERM
“Irvin got down on all fours.” b. Irvin näherte sich auf allen Vieren.
“Irvin approached on all fours.”
T3. German substantivized numerals einer, eine, eins zweie, dreie ... zwölfe [ ʦ vœlv ə
]
?
dreizehne,
?
vierzehne ...
?
neunzehne
*zwanzige, *dreißige ... (hunderte, tausende), *millione
6

Christian Lehmann, The function of numeral classifiers 7
4.
1.
At least in some languages that use numeral classifiers, these function as hosts to numerals that are not words.
2.
They are nominalizers in the broadest sense.
3.
The final destination of a numeral classifier is the categorial operator.
5.
Constenla Umaña, Adolfo & Elizondo Figueroa, Feliciano & Pereira Mora, Francisco
1998, Curso básico de bribri. San José, C.R.: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica
Corbett, Greville G. 1978, "Universals in the syntax of cardinal numbers." Lingua
46:355-368.
Creissels, Denis 2006, Syntaxe générale. Une introduction typologique. 2 vols. Paris:
Lavoisier.
Drosdowski, Günther et al. 1984, Duden. Grammatik der deutschen
Gegenwartssprache. Mannheim etc.: Dudenverlag (Der Duden in 10 Bänden, 4)
(4 th
ed.).
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963, "Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements." Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.), Universals of language. Report of a conference held at Dobbs Ferry, New York, April 13-15,
1961. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (2. ed. 1966) ; 58-90.
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1969, "Some methods of dynamic comparison in linguistics."
Puhvel, Jan (ed.), Substance and structure of language. Lectures delivered before the Linguistic Institute of the Linguistic Society of America, University of
California, Los Angeles, June 17 - August 12, 1966. Berkeley & Los Angeles:
University of California Press; 147-202.
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1972, "Numeral classifiers and substantival number. Problems in the genesis of a linguistic type." Working Papers on Language Universals 9:1-
39.
Iturrioz Leza, José Luis 1986, "Semiotic levels. On the metalinguistic nature of grammatical meaning." Función 1:119-144.
Lambrecht, Knud 1994, Information structure and sentence form. Topic, focus and
the mental representations of discourse referents. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Lehmann, Christian 2000, "On the German numeral classifier system." Schaner-
Wolles, Chris & Rennison, John & Neubarth, Friedrich (eds.), Naturally!
Linguistic studies in honour of Wolfgang Ulrich Dressler, presented on the
occasion of his 60th birthday. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier; 249-253.
Lehmann, Christian 2002, Possession in Yucatec Maya. Erfurt: Seminar für
Sprachwissenschaft der Universität (ASSidUE, 10) (2 nd
revised ed.).

Christian Lehmann, The function of numeral classifiers 8
Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien 1910, Les fonctions mentales dans les sociétés inférieures. Paris:
F. Alcan.
Lucy, John A. 1992. Grammatical categories and cognition: a case study of the
linguistic relativity hypothesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language, 13).
Lyons, John 1977, Semantics. 2 vols. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press.
Quesada, J. Diego 2000, A grammar of Teribe. München & Newcastle: LINCOM
Europa.
Quesada, Juan Diego 2007, The Chibchan languages. Cartago: Ed. Tecnológico de
Costa Rica.
Seiler, Hansjakob 1986, Apprehension. Language, object, and order. Part III: The universal dimension of apprehension. Tübingen: G. Narr (LUS, 1/III).