On the distribution and complexity of gender and numeral classifiers

This paper surveys the occurrence of gender and numeral classifiers in the languages of the world and evaluates statistically whether there is a complexity tradeoff between these two linguistic patterns. Complexity is measured as overt coding of the pattern in a language, an approach that has been shown earlier to provide a reliable first estimate for possible trade-offs between typological variables. The data come from a genealogically and areally stratified sample of 360 languages.The relationship between gender and numeral classifiers in this data was researched by constructing Generalized Linear Mixed Models. According to the results a significant inverse relationship occurs between the variables independently of genealogical affiliation and geographical areas. The distributions are explained functionally by economy, that is, the tendency to avoid using multiple patterns in the same functional domain.

[1]  Mark Harvey,et al.  A grammar of Gaagudju , 2002 .

[2]  J. D. Dougherty.  West Futuna Aniwa: An Introduction to a Polynesian Outlier Language , 1984 .

[3]  Ana Paula Barros Brandão.  A reference grammar of Paresi-Haliti (Arawak) , 2014 .

[4]  Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky,et al.  Minimality as vacuous distinctness: Evidence from cross-linguistic sentence comprehension , 2009 .

[5]  W. Bruce Croft,et al.  Mixed effect models for genetic and areal dependencies in linguistic typology , 2011 .

[6]  Bodo Winter,et al.  Linear models and linear mixed effects models in R with linguistic applications , 2013, ArXiv.

[7]  Maria Polinsky,et al.  Women are not dangerous things: Gender and categorization , 2007 .

[8]  Kaius Sinnemäki,et al.  Complexity trade-offs in core argument marking , 2008 .

[9]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[10]  Søren Højsgaard,et al.  A Kenward-Roger approximation and parametric bootstrap methods for tests in linear mixed models: The R Package pbkrtest , 2014 .

[11]  Nelleke Elisabeth Goudswaard,et al.  The Begak (Ida'an) language of Sabah , 2005 .

[12]  Kaius Sinnemäki.  Cognitive processing, language typology, and variation. , 2014, Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science.

[13]  R. Baayen,et al.  Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items , 2008 .

[14]  William D. Davies,et al.  Choctaw verb agreement and universal grammar , 1985 .

[15]  M. Dryer.  The Greenbergian word order correlations , 1992 .

[16]  小坂 隆一.  A Descriptive Study of the Lachi Language : syntactic description, historical reconstruction and genetic relation , 2000 .

[17]  H. Harwood Hess,et al.  The syntactic structure of Mezquital Otomi , 1968 .

[18]  Louise Baird.  A grammar of Kéo : an Austronesian language of East Nusantara , 2002 .

[19]  Anna Siewierska,et al.  Variation in major constituent order; a global and a European perspective , 1998 .

[20]  D. L. Appleyard.  A descriptive outline of Kemant , 1975 .

[21]  Sebastian Fedden,et al.  A Grammar of Mian , 2011 .

[22]  Harald Hundius,et al.  Syntax and Semantics of Numeral Classifiers in Thai , 1983 .

[23]  Francesca Merlan,et al.  A Grammar of Wardaman: A Language of the Northern Territory of Australia , 1994 .

[24]  Stavros Skopeteas,et al.  The discourse function of inverse voice : an experimental study in Teribe (Chibchan) , 2010 .

[25]  Ross Charles Caughley,et al.  The syntax and morphology of the verb in Chepang , 1982 .

[26]  Philomena Hedwig Dol,et al.  A Grammar of Maybrat: A Language of the Bird's Head Peninsula, Papua Province, Indonesia , 2007 .

[27]  P. Dickens.  Ju'hoan grammar , 1992 .

[28]  J. Hardin,et al.  Generalized Linear Models and Extensions , 2001 .

[29]  Johanna Nichols,et al.  Diversity and Stability in Language , 2008 .

[30]  Helen Eaton.  A Sandawe Grammar , 2010 .

[31]  Marcin Kilarski,et al.  Nominal Classification: A history of its study from the classical period to the present , 2013 .

[32]  Eugene E. Loos,et al.  The phonology of Capanahua and its grammatical basis , 1969 .

[33]  Les Bruce,et al.  The Alamblak language of Papua New Guinea (East Sepik) , 1984 .

[34]  Colette Grinevald,et al.  Noun classes in African and Amazonian languages: Towards a comparison , 2004 .

[35]  Sophie Elizabeth Crouch,et al.  Voice and verb morphology in Minangkabau, a language of West Sumatra, Indonesia , 2009 .

[36]  Jeffrey Heath,et al.  Basic materials in Warndarang: Grammar, texts, and dictionary , 1980 .

[37]  Bernard Comrie,et al.  The World's Major Languages , 1987 .

[38]  Matti Miestamo,et al.  Grammatical complexity in cross-linguistic perspective , 2008 .

[39]  B. Bickel,et al.  Typological evidence against universal effects of referential scales on case alignment * , 2013 .

[40]  Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald,et al.  Dependencies between grammatical systems , 1998 .

[41]  Carl Campbell,et al.  Yade grammar essentials , 1987 .

[42]  M. V. Staden.  The body and its parts in Tidore, a Papuan language of Eastern Indonesia , 2006 .

[43]  Colleen Anne Ahland.  A Grammar of Northern and Southern Gumuz , 2012 .

[44]  Anja Walter,et al.  A Comprehensive Russian Grammar , 2016 .

[45]  Simon J. Greenhill,et al.  Universal typological dependencies should be detectable in the history of language families , 2011 .

[46]  Nicholas Poppe.  Tatar manual : descriptive grammar and texts with a Tatar-English glossary , 1965 .

[47]  G. Reesink.  Structures and their functions in Usan : a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea , 1987 .

[48]  Lyle Campbell.  Language Isolates and Their History, or, What’s Weird, Anyway? , 2010 .

[49]  Hilofumi Yamamoto,et al.  Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar , 2001 .

[50]  P. Trudgill.  Sociolinguistic Typology: Social Determinants of Linguistic Complexity , 2011 .

[51]  Doris L. Payne.  Maasai gender in typological perspective , 2010, Studies in African Linguistics.

[52]  Henri Ramirez,et al.  A fala Tukano dos Ye'pa Masa : Tomo I : Gramática , 1997 .

[53]  J. David Sapir.  A Grammar of Diola-Fogny: A Language Spoken in the Basse-Casamance Region of Senegal , 2011 .

[54]  Alonzo Horton,et al.  A grammar of Luvale , 1949 .

[55]  Silvia Luraghi,et al.  The origin of the Proto-Indo-European gender system: Typological considerations , 2011 .

[56]  Sidney da Silva Facundes,et al.  The Language of the Apurina People of Brazil (Maipure/Arawak) , 2000 .

[57]  Agreement in Halkomelem complex auxiliaries , 2012 .

[58]  Elizabeth M. Riddle.  Complexity in isolating languages: Lexical elaboration versus grammatical economy , 2008 .

[59]  Alexander Andrason,et al.  Language Complexity: An Insight from Complex-System Theory , 2014 .

[60]  Bodo Winter,et al.  Languages with More Second Language Learners Tend to Lose Nominal Case , 2013 .

[61]  Hadley Wickham,et al.  ggplot2 - Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis (2nd Edition) , 2017 .

[62]  Harold F. Schiffman,et al.  A Reference Grammar of Spoken Tamil , 1983 .

[63]  D. Hymes.  The language of the Kathlamet Chinook , 1955 .

[64]  Der-Hwa Victoria Rau.  A grammar of Atayal , 2001 .

[65]  Elisabeth Dévière,et al.  Analyzing linguistic data: a practical introduction to statistics using R , 2009 .

[66]  Marion Doble,et al.  A DESCRIPTION OF SOME FEATURES OF EKARI LANGUAGE STRUCTURE , 1987 .

[67]  Svenja Kranich,et al.  Language Contact , 2020, The Dutch Language in Japan (1600-1900).

[68]  Understanding transition probabilities , 2011 .

[69]  Harald Hammarström,et al.  Some principles on the use of macro-areas in typological comparison , 2014 .

[70]  N. Breslow,et al.  Approximate inference in generalized linear mixed models , 1993 .

[71]  L. Glinert.  The Grammar of Modern Hebrew , 1989 .

[72]  K. Artawa,et al.  The basic verb construction in Balinese , 2013 .

[73]  Simon J. Greenhill,et al.  Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals , 2011, Nature.

[74]  J. Nichols.  Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time , 1992 .

[75]  Johnson Welem Haan.  The grammar of Adang : a Papuan language spoken on the Island of Alor, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia , 2001 .

[76]  David Scorza.  A sketch of Au morphology and syntax , 1985 .

[77]  Douglas Inglis.  Conceptual structure of numeral classifiers in Thai , 2003 .

[78]  Pirkko Suihkonen,et al.  The Uralic languages , 2002 .

[79]  Q. Atkinson.  Phonemic Diversity Supports a Serial Founder Effect Model of Language Expansion from Africa , 2011, Science.

[80]  Kaius Sinnemäki,et al.  Word order in zero-marking languages , 2010 .

[81]  Stefan Th. Gries,et al.  The most under-used statistical method in corpus linguistics: multi-level (and mixed-effects) models , 2015 .

[82]  Angelika Jakobi.  A Fur grammar : phonology, morphophonology, and morphology , 1990 .

[83]  J. Sakel.  Gender agreement in Moseten , 2002 .

[84]  Bhadriraju Krishnamurti,et al.  The Dravidian Languages , 2003 .

[85]  Balthasar Bickel,et al.  Distributional biases in language families , 2013 .

[86]  Wolf Leslau,et al.  Reference grammar of Amharic , 1998 .

[87]  Frank Seifart.  The structure and use of shape-based noun classes in Miraña (North West Amazon) , 2005 .

[88]  Jean Critchfield Braine.  Nicobarese Grammar (Car Dialect) , 1970 .

[89]  สมทรง บุรุษพัฒน์,et al.  A Reference Grammar of Thai , 2006 .

[90]  Ryan Keith Shosted,et al.  Correlating complexity: A typological approach , 2006 .

[91]  D. Hayward.  The Arbore language : a first investigation, including a vocabulary , 1984 .

[92]  M. Durie.  A grammar of Acehnese on the basis of a dialect of north Aceh , 1985 .

[93]  Christiaan Wouter Kusters,et al.  Linguistic complexity : the influence of social change on verbal inflection , 2003 .

[94]  Jeffrey Heath,et al.  A Grammar of Koyra Chiini: The Songhay of Timbuktu , 1998 .

[95]  B. Bickel.  A refined sampling procedure for genealogical control , 2008 .

[96]  William A. Kretzschmar,et al.  Language and Complex Systems , 2015 .

[97]  Erik Svärd,et al.  Selected Topics in the Grammar of Nalca , 2013 .

[98]  Raquel Guirardello,et al.  A reference grammar of Trumai , 1999 .

[99]  J. Gandour,et al.  The acquisition of numeral classifiers in Thai , 1984 .

[100]  Elizabeth Murane,et al.  Daga grammar : from morpheme to discourse , 1974 .

[101]  A. Aikhenvald.  13. Gender, Noun Class and Language Obsolescence: The Case of Paumarí , 2010 .

[102]  Jonathan Owens,et al.  A Grammar of Harar Oromo (Northeastern Ethiopia) , 1985 .

[103]  Joseph Greenberg.  10. Numeral Classifiers and Substantival Number: Problems in the Genesis of a Linguistic Type , 2013 .

[104]  Seth Lloyd,et al.  Effective Complexity , 1995 .

[105]  Robert Dixon,et al.  The Dyirbal language of North Queensland , 1972 .

[106]  J. W. Whiting,et al.  Regions Based on Social Structure , 1996, Current Anthropology.

[107]  The Purview Effect: Feminine Gender on Inanimates in Halkomelem Salish , 2011 .

[108]  William J. Samarin,et al.  The Gbeya language : grammar, texts, and vocabularies , 1968 .

[109]  Matthias Benjamin Passer,et al.  What) Do verb classifiers classify , 2016 .

[110]  M. Klamer.  The Alor-Pantar languages: Linguistic context, history and typology , 2014 .

[111]  Colin Phillips,et al.  Conditions on Agreement in Yimas , 1993 .

[112]  Andra Kalnača.  A Typological Perspective on Latvian Grammar , 2014 .

[113]  Damian G. Sohl,et al.  Ponapean Reference Grammar , 1981 .

[114]  Kaius Sinnemäki.  Global optimization and complexity trade-offs , 2014 .

[115]  Richard Applegate,et al.  Ineseño Chumash Grammar , 1972 .

[116]  N. Ohashi,et al.  Agreement , 2002 .

[117]  Wouter Kusters.  Complexity in linguistic theory, language learning and language change , 2008 .

[118]  Richard S. Harrell,et al.  A Short Reference Grammar of Moroccan Arabic , 1962 .

[119]  Edward J. Vajda,et al.  The languages of native North America , 1999 .

[120]  A. I︠u︡. Aĭkhenvalʹd.  Classifiers : a typology of noun categorization devices , 2000 .

[121]  H. Schielzeth,et al.  Conclusions beyond support: overconfident estimates in mixed models , 2008, Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology.

[122]  Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu.  Code-mixing across languages: Structure, functions, and constraints , 1989 .

[123]  Robert Detrick,et al.  Aspects of Lakhota syntax : a study of Lakhota (Teton Dakota) syntax and its implications for universal grammar , 1977 .

[124]  Wallace L. Chafe,et al.  Seneca Morphology and Dictionary , 1967 .

[125]  Michael Cysouw.  Dealing with diversity: Towards an explanation of NP-internal word order frequencies , 2010 .

[126]  D. Bates,et al.  Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4 , 2014, 1406.5823.

[127]  K. Hornik,et al.  Residual-Based Shadings for Visualizing (Conditional) Independence , 2007 .

[128]  S. Munshi.  Jammu and Kashmir Burushaski : language, language contact and change , 2006 .

[129]  Johanna Nichols,et al.  Linguistic complexity : a comprehensive definition and survey , 2009 .

[130]  R. Kramer.  The Morphosyntax of Gender , 2015 .

[131]  Georges Charachidzé.  Grammaire de la langue avar (langue du Caucase Nord-Est) , 1981 .

[132]  Ian Maddieson,et al.  Correlating phonological complexity: data and validation , 2005 .

[133]  Antti Arppe,et al.  Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate methods in corpus-based lexicography : A study of synonymy , 2008 .

[134]  Paul Schachter,et al.  Tagalog reference grammar , 1973, The Journal of Asian Studies.

[135]  Carl Hoffmann.  A grammar of the Margi language , 1963 .

[136]  Thomas L. Willett.  A reference grammar of Southeastern Tepehuan , 1991 .

[137]  katharine dorothy Hunt,et al.  Clause structure, agreement and case in Gitksan , 1993 .

[138]  Joseph Hilbe,et al.  Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models , 2009 .

[139]  John R. Swanton,et al.  A Sketch of the Atakapa Language , 1929, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[140]  Jeff Good.  Typologizing grammatical complexities or Why creoles may be paradigmatically simple but syntagmatically average , 2012 .

[141]  Angela Terrill.  A grammar of Lavukaleve , 2003 .

[142]  Robert Dixon,et al.  Where have all the adjectives gone? and other essays in semantics and syntax , 1982 .

[143]  Rolland G. Rich.  Diccionario arabela-castellano , 1999 .

[144]  The Tiwi language : grammar, myths and dictionary of the Tiwi language spoken on Melville and Bathurst Islands, northern Australia , 1974 .

[145]  Eva Lindström,et al.  Topics in the grammar of Kuot a non-Austronesian language of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea : a non-Austronesian language of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea , 2002 .

[146]  John Thayer Jensen,et al.  Yapese Reference Grammar , 1977 .

[147]  Matti Miestamo,et al.  Symmetric and asymmetric encoding of functional domains with remarks on typological markedness , 2007 .

[148]  M. B. Emeneau.  Language and Linguistic Area: Essays , 1980 .

[149]  Ronald Stuart McGregor.  Outline of Hindi grammar,: With exercises, , 1972 .

[150]  Matti Miestamo.  Implicational hierarchies and grammatical complexity , 2009 .

[151]  Michael Cysouw,et al.  Some Structural Aspects of Language Are More Stable than Others: A Comparison of Seven Methods , 2013, PloS one.

[152]  J. Hawkins.  Efficiency and complexity in grammars , 2004 .

[153]  J. Nichols,et al.  Oceania, the Pacific Rim, and the Theory of Linguistic Areas , 2006 .

[154]  Timothy Jowan Curnow,et al.  A grammar of Awa Pit (Cuaiquer) : an indigenous language of south-western Colombia , 1997 .

[155]  Katharina Haude,et al.  A grammar of Movima , 2006 .

[156]  Kurt Hornik,et al.  The Strucplot Framework: Visualizing Multi-way Contingency Tables with vcd , 2006 .

[157]  Marcin Kilarski,et al.  Functions of nominal classification , 2013 .

[158]  Louise Baird,et al.  A Grammar of Klon: A Non-austronesian Language of Alor, Indonesia , 2008 .

[159]  Donald M. Topping,et al.  Chamorro Reference Grammar , 1980 .

[160]  Juha Janhunen,et al.  The Mongolic Languages , 2006 .

[161]  Joan Bresnan,et al.  Retained inflectional morphology in pidgins: A typological study , 2008 .

[162]  B. Bickel.  Typology in the 21st century: Major current developments , 2007 .

[163]  Rachel Nordlinger,et al.  A grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) , 1998 .

[164]  Frank Seifart,et al.  Nominal Classification , 2010, Lang. Linguistics Compass.

[165]  Ilana Mushin,et al.  A Grammar of (Western) Garrwa , 2012 .

[166]  R. B. D. Azcona.  A Coatlan-Loxicha Zapotec Grammar (Mexico) , 2004 .

[167]  H. Myron Bromley.  A grammar of lower grand valley Dani , 1981 .

[168]  M. Passer.  The typology and diachrony of nominal classification , 2016 .

[169]  Don Killian,et al.  Topics in Uduk Phonology and Morphosyntax , 2015 .

[170]  John Haiman,et al.  Hua, a Papuan language of the eastern highlands of New Guinea , 1980 .

[171]  J. Wu.  Verb classification, case marking, and grammatical relations in Amis , 2006 .

[172]  Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky,et al.  The Neurophysiology of Language Processing Shapes the Evolution of Grammar: Evidence from Case Marking , 2015, PloS one.

[173]  Charles N. Li,et al.  Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar , 1989 .

[174]  Maarten Mous,et al.  A Grammar of Iraqw , 1993 .

[175]  Angela Terrill,et al.  Systems of Nominal Classification in East Papuan Languages , 2002 .

[176]  Robert Carlson,et al.  A Grammar of Supyire , 1994 .

[177]  Doris L. Payne.  Source of the Yagua Nominal Classification System , 2007, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[178]  One-Soon Her,et al.  Distinguishing classifiers and measure words: A mathematical perspective and implications , 2012 .

[179]  Robert Dixon,et al.  Fusional Development of Gender Marking in Jarawara Possessed Nouns , 1995, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[180]  Noun class and number in Kiowa-Tanoan : Comparative-historical research and respecting speakers ’ rights in fieldwork 1 , 2010 .

[181]  The syntax of variable binding in Palauan , 1985 .

[182]  Colette Grinevald,et al.  Making sense of nominal classification systems: Noun classifiers and the grammaticalization variable , 2002 .

[183]  Alice C. Harris,et al.  Historical Syntax in Cross-Linguistic Perspective: Extension , 1995 .

[184]  Francesca Di Garbo.  Gender and its interaction with number and evaluative morphology : An intra- and intergenealogical typological survey of Africa , 2014 .

[185]  Jane Chih-Chen Tang,et al.  Two Types of Classifier Languages: A Typological Study of Classification Markers in Paiwan Noun Phrases , 2004 .

[186]  Patience Epps,et al.  A Grammar of Hup , 2008 .

[187]  Martin Haspelmath,et al.  The World Atlas of Language Structures Online , 2013 .

[188]  DONNA Β. GERDTS,et al.  Salish numeral classifiers: a lexical means to a grammatical end , 2004 .

[189]  John McWhorter,et al.  Language Interrupted: Signs of Non-Native Acquisition in Standard Language Grammars , 2007 .

[190]  Colette G. Craig.  Jacaltec Noun Classifiers: A Study in Language and Culture , 1986 .

[191]  A. Capell,et al.  Maung grammar: Texts and vocabulary , 1970 .

[192]  Miriam Corris.  A grammar of Barupu : a language of Papua New Guinea , 2008 .

[193]  Malcolm Ross,et al.  Some elements of Vanimo, a New Guinea tone language , 1980 .

[194]  Susan R. Quigley.  The Awara verbal system , 2002 .

[195]  Janessa L. Brown.  A BRIEF SKETCH OF URAMA GRAMMAR WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF PARTICLES MARKING AGENCY, ASPECT, AND MODALITY , 2009 .

[196]  D. Barr,et al.  Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. , 2013, Journal of memory and language.

[197]  Östen Dahl,et al.  The growth and maintenance of linguistic complexity , 2004 .

[198]  J. McWhorter,et al.  The worlds simplest grammars are creole grammars , 2001 .

[199]  Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald,et al.  Palikur And The Typology Of Classifiers , 2011 .

[200]  Parag A. Pathak,et al.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 1964, Nature.

[201]  The “marked nominative” in Datooga , 2007 .