![]() The continuum of noun categorization devices covers a range of devices, from the lexical numeral classifiers of Southeast Asia to the highly grammaticalized gender agreement classes of Indo-European languages. This article is a concise and encyclopaedic summary of grammatical means for the linguistic categorization of nouns and nominals based on original work by Aikhenvald. They share a common semantic core and differ in the morphosyntactic contexts of their use and in their preferred semantic features. Two relatively rare types are locative and deictic classifiers. We distinguish noun classes, noun classifiers, numeral classifiers, classifiers in possessive constructions, and verbal classifiers. Noun categorization devices come in various guises. They are restricted to classifier constructions, morphosyntactic units (e.g., noun phrases of different kinds, verb phrases, or clauses) that require the presence of a particular kind of morpheme, the choice of which is dictated by the semantic characteristics of the referent of the nominal head of a noun phrase. Noun categorization devices are morphemes that occur in surface structures under specifiable conditions, and denote some salient perceived or imputed characteristics of the entity to which an associated noun refers (Allan, 1977: 285). They provide a unique insight into how people categorize the world through their language in terms of universal semantic parameters involving humanness, animacy, sex, shape, form, consistency, and functional properties. They have a similar semantic basis, and one can develop from the other. Almost all languages have some grammatical means for the linguistic categorization of nouns and nominals. ![]()
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