Classifiers: A Typology of Noun Categorization Devices

by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald

Overview

Almost all languages have some grammatical means for categorizing nouns. This book provides a comprehensive and original analysis of noun categorization devices all over the world. It will interest typologists, those working in the fields of morphosyntactic variation and lexical semantics, as well as anthropologists and all other scholars interested in the mechanisms of human cognition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199264667
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/05/2003
Series:	Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory
Pages:	564
Product dimensions:	9.18(w) x 6.34(h) x 1.17(d)

About the Author

Alexandra Aikhenvald has been Professor of Linguistics at the Australian National University since 1994. She was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR 198089, and Professor of Linguistics at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, until 1994. Her books include A Structural and Typological Classification of Berber (Moscow 19867, in 3 parts) and Modern Hebrew (Moscow 1990).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: PreliminariesChapter 2: Noun Class and Gender SystemsChapter 3: Noun ClassifiersChapter 4: Numeral ClassifiersChapter 5: Classifiers in Possessive ConstructionsChapter 6: Verbal ClassifiersChapter 7: Locative and Deictic ClassifiersChapter 8: Different Classifier Types in One LanguageChapter 9: Multiple Classifier LanguagesChapter 10: Classifiers and Other Grammatical CategoriesChapter 11: Semantics of Noun Categorization DevicesChapter 12: Semantic Organization and Functions of Noun CategorizationChapter 13: Origin and Development of Noun Categorization DevicesChapter 14: Noun Categorization Devices in Language Acquisition and DissolutionChapter 15: ConclusionsAppendix 1: Noun Categorization by Means Other than ClassifiersAppendix 2: From Nouns to Classifiers: Further Examples of Semantic ChangeAppendix 3: Fieldworker's Guide to Classifier Languages

Editorial Reviews

"Classifiers is a superbly realized work of typology, remarkable for its encyclopedic breadth, its analytic precision, and especially its wealth of data... This book will surely prove to be an essential, invaluable reference for the future research on the principles of noun categorization"—General Linguistics

"This is a major contribution to the field. ... I recommend Aikhenvald's book to linguists in general, and especially anyone interested in language typology or cognition."—Linguist List

From the Publisher