Counting words in light of Ch’ol, a Mayan language
Éva Dékány's (ELTE Institute of Philosophy, ELTE Theoretical Linguistics Department) research focused on linguistic expressions containing so-called sortal classifiers.
Sortal classifiers are particles/counting words which typically—though not exclusively—appear next to numerals, and refer to some salient property of the object denoted by the noun (such as animacy, size, shape, function, etc.). English does not have real sortal classifiers; the closest expression is “head” in “three head of cattle”. In Hungarian, sortal classifiers include “szál”, “szem”, “fej” and “darab” in expressions such as “két szál gyertya” (lit. two Cl candle), “négy szem gyógyszer” (lit. four Cl pill), “öt fej hagyma” (lit. five Cl onion) and “tíz darab ceruza” (lit. ten Cl pencil).
According to Ethnologue, a continuously updated database established in 2013, the number of languages spoken in the world is currently 7,164. A representative survey of four hundred languages (Gil 2013) showed that 19.5 % of languages make it mandatory, and 15.5 % allow, for sortal classifiers to appear with numerals. The rest of languages do not have sortal classifiers.
Éva Dékány's research contributed a long-standing debate: does the sortal classifier have a closer grammatical relationship with the noun or the numeral? In other words, she investigated whether the classifier forms a constituent (or syntagm) with the noun or the numeral.
The research put the spotlight on the structure of classifier expressions in Ch'ol, an indigenous Mayan language spoken in southern Mexico. According to a study published in 2019 (Bale et al 2019), the Ch'ol data support the view that there is a closer grammatical relationship between sortal classifiers and numerals than between sortal classifiers and nouns. Éva Dékány's research examined classifier expressions in Ch'ol from novel aspects. She came to the conclusion that contrary to previous claims, data from Ch’ol are not suitable for unambiguously establishing ,the grammatical relationship holding between nouns, sortal classifiers and numerals. This is because the data can be modeled with the approach in which the noun and the classifier have a closer relationship just as well as on the opposite theory.
Although the Ch'ol data do not provide conclusive evidence regarding the internal structure of classifier expressions, Éva Dékány argued that by studying Ch'ol closely, we can further our understanding of the typology of sortal classifiers, and the cross-linguistic variation related to them.
The vast majority of the literature on sortal classifiers has mainly traditionally focused on classifier languages spoken in Southeast Asia (e.g., Mandarin, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc.). In these languages, classifiers correspond to a single morpheme. A morpheme is “the smallest linguistic sign, i.e., the smallest linguistic unit that has an independent form and a related meaning” (Keszler & Lengyel 2019). In other words, classifiers in the above-mentioned languages (similarly to Hungarian “szál”, “szem”, “fej” and “darab”) cannot be decomposed into smaller components or ingredients with independent meanings. In Ch'ol, on the other hand, each classifier comprises of two morphemes (elements with independent meanings). One of these is a stem with a lexical meaning, which refers to the animacy, size, shape, function, etc. of the noun. The other ingredient is the morheme/element that also derives the passive form of verbs. Thus in Ch'ol, a parallel can be drawn between passive verb structures and classifier structures.
References:
- Bale, Alan & Coon, Jessica & López, Nicholás Arcos. 2019. Classifiers, partitions, and measurements: Exploring the syntax and semantics of sortal classifiers. Glossa 4(1). Article 77.
- Ethnologue: languages of the world. Weboldal. SIL International, Dallas, TX, 2013.
- Gil, David. 2013. Numeral Classifiers. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) WALS Online (v2020.4) [Adatbázis]. Zenodo.
- Keszler, Borbála–Lengyel Klára (2019): Kis magyar grammatika. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.