Classifiers in Tawrã Mishmi

Bibliographic Data

ID14799669
AuthorsRolf Hotz (0009-0005-4954-2614, University of Passau, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume48
Issue2
Pages296-324
Publication date2025-10-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0731-3500 • E-ISSN: 2214-5907
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/ltba.25002.hot
OpenAlexW4415100659
LanguageEN
References cited40

Numeral classifiers in Tawrã stand out from other Tibeto-Burman languages in Northeast India for having several members, many of which do not have a nominal counterpart. Tawrã also shares the typologically uncommon order [ n clf num ] with neighboring Tani and Boro-Garo languages. This article has three purposes: (i) it describes the classifier system of Tawrã, an under-described language from Arunachal Pradesh, (ii) it discusses the referential effect of classification, which commonly signals individuation and (iii) it discusses the participation of classifiers in nominal compounding, a typologically uncommon construction. Although the connection between classifiers and individuation has already been established in the literature, this investigation explores examples from a naturalistic corpus, elicitation and translation

Individuation · Naturalism · African history and culture analysis · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access