Semantic universals in classifier systems

Abstract

Kiyomi (1992) argues that neither animacy nor shape can be established as the primary semantic distinction in noun classification systems. However, if one distinguishes different types of classification systems according to their grammatical and ultimately semantic-pragmatic function—noun classes, numeral classifiers, possessive classifiers, and classifiers of spatial predication—then subtle but regular cross-linguistic generalizations can be made. There is a different hierarchy of semantic distinctions associated with each type of classifier. A number of apparently anomalous cases can be explained in terms of diachronic processes of grammaticalization, by which semantic distinctions found with one type of classifier are occasionally transferred to a construction characterized by another type of classifier. The distinctions found with each classifier can be accounted for by the function of the construction in which they are found.