Classifier declinations in an isolating language: On a rarity in weining ahmao

In this paper, we scrutinize a rare classifier system in an isolating language. Weining Ahmao, a Miao-Yao language spoken in western Guizhou Province in the PRC, inflects each of its noun classifiers in twelve basic forms and stands in stark contrast to other isolating languages of East Asia (including other Miao languages), in which nominal classifiers are unique indeclinable morphemes. This paper focuses on a synchronic analysis of all aspects of the classifier system; i.e. a representation of its phonological, semantic, and pragmatic properties as well as the syntactic constructions in which the classifiers are involved. A data list of cognate classifiers from four Miao languages encapsulates the uniqueness of the Ahmao inflectional classifiers.