Object classifier: People Object classifier: Individual Autoclassifiers

3.3 Lalo numerals

Numerals in Lalo are a closed class and entirely monosyllabic Bjorverud 1998:67. Only the words for ‘one’ to ‘eleven’ are considered numerals. ‘Eleven’ apparently preserves an alternative form of the word ‘one’ Björverud 1998:67. Larger numbers are expressed with a number + classifier phrase. ‘Zero’ is a loan word from Chinese Björverud 1998:67–68. Large numbers are strung together from greater to lesser values as in English: first ‘thousands’, then ‘hundreds’…. Empty spots in a longer number phrase are filled by the term ni ka, which can indicate either one or two zeroes in the number Björverud 1998:68: • ‘one thousand ni ka three ten’ = 1030 • ‘one thousand ni ka three’ = 1003 Two consecutive numbers most often ‘two’ and ‘three’ may be strung together to indicate an approximate value Björverud 1998:68.

3.4 Nuosu numerals

There is one lexeme for numbers one to ten. ‘Eleven’ is literally ‘ten-one’, and this is regular through ‘nineteen’, with tones and some loss of aspiration for some numbers Fu 1997:137. A variation on the number ‘two’ is used for ‘twenty’, which is literally ‘two-ten’ Fu 1997:138. For higher numbers, there are specific lexemes for ‘hundred’, ‘thousand’, ‘ten thousand’, and ‘hundred thousand’ Fu 1997:138. Compounding for still higher numbers is somewhat flexible in that ‘five hundred thousand’, for example, can be represented either by ‘five – hundred thousand’ or ‘fifty – ten thousand’. Similarly, a ‘hundred million’ can be either ‘ten thousand – ten thousand’ or a ‘thousand – hundred thousand’. Fu 1997:138. 4 Classifiers Classifiers are “a type of limited noun” that appears “only after numerals or after another classifier, and whose selection is determined by a preceding overt or implicit noun” Matisoff 1973:88. Nouns may select a number of classifiers, some being more elegant than others. An “autoclassifier” is a noun that is used as the classifier for itself.

4.1 Bisu classifiers

Xu distinguishes two main types of classifiers: object classifiers and action classifiers. There are many more object classifiers, which are divided into three subcategories according to what kind of nouns are being counted: individual, collective, and indefinite classifiers. Examples of collective entities are ‘group’, ‘flock’, ‘herd’, ‘type’, ‘sheaf’, ‘bunch’, and ‘bundle’. The indefinite classifiers each mean ‘some’. The most common action classifier is ‘timeoccurance’. Others are ‘stroke, bit, and a while’. These always refer to some action. Autoclassifiers, a third type of classifier, are nouns that select themselves as classifiers.

4.1.1 Object classifier: People

A point of complexity in usage concerns the two classifiers for people Xu 2001:108: • one is for counting • the other is used with ‘this’ and ‘that’ or with a numeral to indicate ranking or seniority 78 tshaŋ 55 xan 55 fu 33 saŋ 55 person four CLF CLF ‘four people’ 79 tshaŋ 55 xan 55 saŋ 55 person four CLF ‘the fourth person or the fourth eldest’ Xu 2001:108 The noun tshaŋ 55 ‘person’ can also be used as a classifier, but its word order remains that of a noun: 80 aŋ 33 ai 55 tshaŋ 55 ni 31 aŋ 33 ai 55 ni 31 fu 33 elder brother CLF two elder brother two CLF ‘two elder brothers’ Xu 2001:111

4.1.2 Object classifier: Individual

In the Hauipa dialect of Bisu, there are only three specific individual classifiers that are not autoclassifiers: • one for people and animals • a general one • one without a glossed meaning There are four such individual object classifiers in Lanmeng dialect, which is Xu’s main source of data: • two different ones for people • one for animals, birds, boats, and containers • a general one

4.1.3 Autoclassifiers

In addition to the specific individual classifiers, Xu lists fifty-one autoclassifiers 2001:277-278, including the following: • places • clouds • trees • knives • string and other long, slender objects • rods or sticks • stones • leaves • songs • cigarettes • sentences • night • month • year • mountains or buildings and other large immobile objects • ears of grain • pieces of fruit, of clothing, of lumberwood—three different lexical items • plotspieces of land • roads Also listed among the autoclassifiers are measure words: • pair • bottle • bowl • jar • armspan • handspan • double handful • spoonful • bucket • basket of vegetables • pile • drop • a short period of time • an instant Autoclassifiers also include the Chinese measures for the following: • length inch+, foot+ • land area 16 of an acre • weight 50 grams and 500 grams • liquid volume 10 liters 4.2 Lahu classifiers 4.2.1 General, special, auto-, and round number classifiers