Classifier Systems and Noun Categorization Devices in Burmese
2015
This article will deal with noun categorization devices in Burmese, including the well-known numeral classifier system. It will start by a brief review of typological studies on classifiers, before focusing on the studies done especially on Burmese classifiers. Then, in a second section I will present a summary of the features and functions of NUMERAL classifiers in this language, before taking up the question of another noun classification or noun categorization device. 1. Studies on noun classification systems 1.1. Typology of classifier systems Since Greenberg’s article Numeral classifiers and substantival number in (1972), there have been a number of proposals for a typology of noun categorization systems; Adams and Conklin (1973), Denny (1976), Allan (1977), Seiler (1980), Croft (1994) provide essentially semantic cross-linguistic criteria for classification, whereas Dixon’s noun categorization analysis (1986) is based on grammatical features of classifiers, and makes a clear distinction between noun class systems and classifier systems. Further typological studies on classifiers have been proposed by Craig