Noun classifiers in Kam and Chinese Kam-tai languages: Their morphosyntax, semantics and history

The aim of this study is to analyse the system of Kam noun classifiers in synchronical typological and diachronical pan-Kam-Tai perspective. While Kam is at the center stage of this investigation, additional data are presented from a survey of 22 Kam-Tai languages which belong to four nationalities in the P.R. of China: the Dong, Bouyei, Shui and Zhuang nationalities. The main morphosyntax function of these Chinese Kam-Tai languages is to occur in quantificational constructions (numeral and quantifier) and in referential expressions (indefiniteness, demonstrative pronouns and nominalization). Classifiers in Chinese Kam-Tai languages appear in pre-nominal position and stand in constrast to classifiers of the Kam-Tai languages located in Burma, Thailand and Vietnam which typically project the classifier into post-nominal position. Concerning the semantics of classifier systems, the Chinese Kam-Tai languages involve animacy as primary parameter, dimensionality (shape) as secondary parameter, and functionality (or instrumentality) as tertiary parameter. The sound structure of a number of core-classifiers displays a surprisingly homogenous picture across the range of Kam-Tai languages surveyed.