Instruments as verb classifiers in Kam (Dong)

Bibliographic Data

ID3988686
AuthorsMatthias Gerner (0000-0002-6934-3381, City University of Hong Kong, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume47
Issue3
Publication date2009-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling.2009.023
OpenAlexW2075843995
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited11

This article is a contribution to an emerging crosslinguistic typology of verb classifier systems. It presents an in-depth study of one particular type predominant in East Asian and Southeast Asian languages and epitomized through Kam (Dong), a Kam-Tai language spoken in Southwest China. In Kam and related languages there are basically two types of verb classifiers: sortal and mensural. Both kinds are involved with event-phase counting and temporal measuring and hence mirror the function of their twins in the nominal realm. Sortal verb classifiers can be characterized as deriving lexically from nouns that occupy an instrumental participation role. Kam exhibits ca. 40–50 of them

Classifier (UML) · Linguistics · Noun · Realm · Typology · Verb · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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