10. Numeral Classifiers and Substantival Number: Problems in the Genesis of a Linguistic Type

Abstract

This chapter presents the data and hypotheses that are part of a broader investigation concerned with numeral classifier systems considered both as representatives of a type of nominal classification and in relation to the problems of quantification in language. Initially, it considers an extensive, ideally, an exhaustive sample of languages which is based on preliminary notions regarding the definitional characteristics of the type. The chapter emphasis on questions relating to the initial conditions under which numeral classifier systems may be conjectured to arise. It discusses a number of synchronic generalizations that can be made about numeral classifier languages. The chapter explains four basic topics in linguistics and outlines hypotheses in some instances. Keywords:language; linguistics; numeral classifier systems; quantification

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