Pronouns and Gender: Exploring Nominal Classification Systems in Northern New Guinea

2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-349
Author(s):  
Mark Donohue
Keyword(s):  
New Guinea ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Nominal Classification ◽  
And Gender

The gender system of Durop

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-425
Author(s):  
Bruce Connell
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Present Approach ◽  
Cross River ◽  
University Of Leiden ◽  
Nominal Classification ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender System ◽  
Classification Agreement

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of grammatical gender and agreement in Durop, a language of the Upper Cross subgroup of Cross River. The data used are drawn from Kastelein (Kastelein, Bianca. 1994. A phonological and grammatical sketch of DuRop. Leiden: University of Leiden Scriptie), whose analysis treats gender as the singular – plural pairings of nouns different from the present approach. Kastelein identifies eight concord classes (agreement classes); these form the basis of gender in Durop in the present analysis; as many as 24 agreement classes are identified here. The various systems comprising nominal classification, agreement and gender in Durop are compared and discussed. The agreement system comprises three subsystems of differing numbers of agreement classes.

Bare classifier phrases in Thai and other mainland Asian languages: implications for classifier theory and typology

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitipong Pichetpan ◽  
Mark W. Post
Keyword(s):  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Function ◽  
Nominal Classification ◽  
Discourse Functions ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Referential Function ◽  
Asian Languages ◽  
Modern Standard

Abstract This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the little-known “bare classifier phrase” construction in Modern Standard Thai. It describes the syntax, semantics and discourse functions of Thai bare classifier phrases, and further proposes a diachronic account of their origin in reduction of post-posed numeral ‘one’. Following this synchronic and diachronic description, this article attempts to locate Thai within a working typology of bare classifier constructions in mainland Asian languages, and further argues for the importance of bare classifier constructions to the theory of classifiers more generally. Following Bisang (1999) and others, it argues that bare classifier constructions reveal the core function of classifiers in Asian languages to be individuation – a referential function. It therefore cautions against some recent proposals to merge classifiers and gender markers within a single categorical space defined on the semantic basis of nominal classification, and in favour of continuing to treat classifiers as a discrete linguistic category – in mainland Asian languages, at least.

The rise of gender in Nalca (Mek, Tanah Papua)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Wälchli
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Stable Structure ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender System ◽  
Transfer Chain

This chapter reconstructs how Nalca, a Mek language of the Trans-New Guinea phylum, has acquired gender markers and describes the non-canonical properties of this highly unusual gender system. Gender in Nalca is mainly assigned by two different defaults, phonological assignment is holistic, there is a gender switch depending on the syntax of the noun phrase, controller and target are adjacent, and gender has the function of case marker hosts. Gender in Nalca is only weakly entrenched in the lexicon and predominantly phrasal. It is argued that canonical gender is an attractor (a complex, diachronically stable structure with heterogeneous origins). A model of the gender attractor based on the notion of information transfer chain is developed. The rise of Nalca gender is an instance of system emergence where several diachronic processes, such as grammaticalization, reanalysis, and analogy, interact. Chains of rapid diachronic change are triggered by anomalies that entail other anomalies.

Canonical gender

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
GREVILLE G. CORBETT ◽  
SEBASTIAN FEDDEN
Keyword(s):  
Classification Systems ◽  
Single Type ◽  
Entire System ◽  
Single Gender ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
The World ◽  
Canonical Ideal ◽  
Typological Approach ◽  
Nominal Classification ◽  
Gender System

Nominal classification remains a fascinating topic but in order to make further progress we need greater clarity of definition and analysis. Taking a Canonical Typology approach, we use canonical gender as an ideal against which we can measure the actual gender systems we find in the languages of the world. Building on previous work on canonical morphosyntactic features, particularly on how they intersect with canonical parts of speech, we establish the distinctiveness of gender, reflected in the Canonical Gender Principle: In a canonical gender system, each noun has a single gender value. We develop three criteria associated with this principle, which together ensure that canonically a noun has exactly one gender value; we give examples of non-canonicity for each criterion, thus gradually building the typology. This is the essential groundwork for a comprehensive typology of nominal classification: the Canonical Typological approach allows us to tease apart clusterings of properties and to characterize individual properties with respect to a canonical ideal, rather than requiring us to treat the entire system as belonging to a single type. This approach is designed to facilitate comparisons of different noun classification systems across languages.

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