Abstract :
[en] Western Amazonian languages stand out in showing classifiers that – in addition to the well-established classifier environments – also appear as derivational devices on nouns (Payne 1987; Aikhenvald 2000; Seifart & Payne 2007). Since classifiers are commonly assumed to originate in nouns (Aikhenvald 2000), classifier languages confront us with an analytical problem in the domain of Binominal Naming Constructions (BNCs), i.e. how to distinguish between the derivational use of classifiers on nouns (1)-(2) and noun-noun compounds (3)-(4). The present paper addresses this problem on the basis of primary data collected on Harakmbut (isolate, Peru), e.g. (1) and (3), and Mojeño Trinitario (Arawak, Bolivia), e.g. (2) and (4), two unrelated (and not in contact) Western Amazonian languages. While Mojeño Trinitario will be shown to be a multiple classifier language with an extensive set of classifiers, Harakmbut turns out to show (a small set of) classifiers only, in fewer environments. Yet, both languages will appear to behave strikingly similarly in the domain of BNCs.
(1) classifier-derived nouns in Harakmbut
a) siro-pi metal-CLF:stick ‘knife’ (cf. Hart 1963: 1)
b) siro-pu’ metal-CLF:cylindrical;hollow ‘metal tube’ (cf. Hart 1963: 1)
(2) classifier-derived nouns in Mojeño Trinitario
a) yuk(u)-pi fire-CLF:long;flexible ‘candle’
b) wray(u)-'a chicken-CLF:oval ‘chicken egg’
(3) noun-noun compounds in Harakmbut
a) ndumba-kuwa forest-dog ‘bush dog’ (Helberg 1984: 252; Tripp 1995: 194)
b) äwït-ku giant.otter-head ‘giant otter’s head; person with giant otter’s head’
(4) noun-noun compounds in Mojeño Trinitario
a) mari-chóchoku stone-river.bank ‘stony riverbank’
b) paku-miro dog-face ‘dog’s face; person with dog’s face’
In this paper, we will discuss how noun-classifier derivation compares to noun-noun compounding at the phonological, prosodic, semantic and syntactic levels in both Harakmbut and Mojeño Trinitario. For example, noun-noun compounds consist of clear “Thing-roots” (Haspelmath 2012) in both languages, with one element being the morphosyntactic and semantic head. In noun-CLF formations, however, classifiers do not really denote a “thing”, but rather a shape or quality; they do not contain a head.
As a factor bearing on this analytical problem, we will show that in both languages the noun/classifier distinction is blurred by the fact that there is a class of nouns that share many features with the canonical classifiers. In both languages, these nouns refer to parts of entities, such as bodyparts, cf. (3b) and (4b), or plant parts. Morphologically, these are bound roots, which require affixation to obtain independent nominal status, specifically possessor prefixes in Mojeño Trinitario and (semantically empty) nominalizing prefixes in Harakmbut. Interestingly, in both languages such N-N compounds as (3b) and (4b) can be used as endocentric compounds in their literal sense, but they can also be used exocentrically to refer to a person whose (physical) characteristics resemble those of the referent of the endocentric compound. In Mojeño Trinitario, such exocentric uses take determiners for human referents, whereas neither component noun refers to a human entity (Harakmbut lacks any formal indication for such uses). More generally, we will examine to what extent these bound nouns can be analysed as incipient classifiers, and formulate diachronic hypotheses informed by our analysis of BNCs. REFERENCES Aikhenvald, A.Y. 2000. Classifiers. A Typology of Noun Categorization Devices. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hart, R. 1963. Semantic components of shape in Amarakaeri Grammar. Anthropological Linguistics 5 (9): 1-7.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2012. How to compare major word-classes across the world’s languages. UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics, Theories of Everything 17, Article 16. 109–130.
Helberg, H. 1984. Skizze einer Grammatik des Amarakaeri. PhD dissertation, Tübingen.
Payne, Doris L.1987. Noun Classification in the Western Amazon. Language Sciences 9 (1): 21-44.
Seifart, Frank & Doris Payne. 2007. Nominal classification in the North West Amazon: Issues in areal diffusion and typological characterization. International Journal of American Linguistics 73 (4): 381–387.
Tripp, R. 1995. Diccionario amarakaeri-castellano. Yarinacocha: Min. de Educación & SIL.
