Noun classes in African and Amazonian languages: Towards a comparison

Abstract

Many Amazonian systems of nominal classification have been perceived as constituting a descriptive and typological challenge. The proposal presented here is to consider many of them as emerging noun class systems rather than as a-typical systems that defy integration within an overall typology of nominal classification, at the opposite end from the Niger-Congo systems on a continuum of grammaticalization. First the African noun class systems are reviewed, with an emphasis on the sociolinguistic context of their descriptions and on their common deviations from a prototypical image of them projected in the general linguistic literature. Then a recapitulation of various proposals of atypicality of the Amazonian systems is given, followed by the presentation of a typology of nominal classification systems that integrates the dynamic dimension of grammaticalization. The application of this typological framework is illustrated with a case study from the Miraña language of Colombia.

Nominal Subclasses in Dalabon (South-western Arnhem Land)

“…They also differ from other well-known types of noun classes such as classifier classes (nominal classifiers, e.g. in Amazonian languages (Grinevald & Seifart 2004) and Tryon (1970) for Australian languages (Daly family); numeral classifiers, e.g. in Mandarin Chinese (Li 2013); and possessive classifiers, e.g.…”

The Place of Classifiers in the History of Linguistics

“…It is thus remarkable that only one attempt was made to expose the myth of the verbs for "wash" during the century that elapsed between Worcester's account published in 1852 and the papers by Haas (1948) and Hill (1952). The exposition was given by John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt (1858-1937 in an article on "Polysynthesis in the Languages of the American Indians" (Hewitt 1893).…”

“…(Ullmann 1951: 49) Such interpretations of 'primitive' polysynthetic languages were explicitly rejected by Archibald Hill (1902Hill ( -1992 in "A Note on Primitive Languages" (1952). In fact, Hill's article is the first attempt to analyse the morphology of the verbs for "wash", and, with the exception of the brief references by Hewitt (1893) and Haas (1948) (cf. §3.2 above), the first attempt at an analysis of the semantics of Cherokee classificatory verbs since the 1850s.…”

“…Recent studies of individual languages have focused on the classifier-like behaviour of gender systems, e.g., Mawng (Iwaidjan; Australia) (Singer 2010, forthcoming), 'interstitial' systems or uses, i.e., those which cannot be easily accommodated within the existing typologies as well as complex systems, as in Mian (Ok, Trans-New 8. See Aikhenvald (2000Aikhenvald ( , 2004, Craig (1992Craig ( , 1994, Grinevald (2000Grinevald ( , 2002Grinevald ( , 2003Grinevald ( , 2004 and Grinevald & Seifart (2004). An overview of recent research on the typologies of nominal classification and noun classifiers specifically can be found in Grinevald (2012). Guinea; Papua New Guinea), which combines gender and verbal classifiers ( Fedden 2011;Fedden & Corbett 2014).…”

Do um à metafora: para um entendimento da matemática pa'ikwené (Palikur)

“…Grinevald & Seifart, 2004). Tentando apreender o sistema, me chamou a atenção que possa ser um exemplo de uma conceituação metafórica.…”