James Crippen: Added some examples of the Tlingit classifier (use in middle voice), and discussion of why the term is still apt for Tlingit.

2008-03-10T21:30:52Z

Added some examples of the Tlingit classifier (use in middle voice), and discussion of why the term is still apt for Tlingit.

Linguipedia: New page: In Athabaskan linguistics, the term '''classifier''' is traditionally used for a class of verbal prefixes that modifiy the transitivity or valence of the verb in some way. ===Exa...

2007-07-02T14:04:52Z

New page: In Athabaskan linguistics, the term '''classifier''' is traditionally used for a class of verbal prefixes that modifiy the transitivity or valence of the verb in some way. ===Exa...

New page

In Athabaskan linguistics, the term '''classifier''' is traditionally used for a class of verbal prefixes that modifiy the [[transitivity]] or [[valence]] of the verb in some way.

===Examples===

Slave (Rice 1989:455)

*''tse dé-Ø-k'ǫ́'' ‘the wood is burning’

*''tse dé-h-k'ǫ́'' ‘she burned the wood’

The prefix ''h-'' is a transitivizing classifier.

===Comments===
::*''“This term...is a clear misnomer since so-called classifiers do not classify either verb lexical entries or verb arguments — as it was originally supposed — in any reasonable sense. .. The unhappy nature of the term “classifier” is recognized by many Athabaskanists (see Krauss 1969, Cook 1984:162, Young and Morgan 1987:117, Thompson 1989:9, Rice 1989:439). However, the listed authors still use the term preferring to preserve the continuous tradition. I propose to abandon this harmful term that keeps misleading both newcomers to the field of Athabaskan linguistics and non-Athabaskan linguists.”'' (Kibrik 1993:...)

===Synonym===
* ''transitivity indicator'' (proposed by Kibrik 1993:48)

=== Origin ===
The term dates back “to the early work by Boas on Tlingit and by Sapir on Athabaskan” (Kibrik 1993:48).

===References===
*Cook, Eung-Do. 1984. ''A Sarcee grammar.'' Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
*Kibrik, Andrej A. 1993. "Transitivity increase in Athabaskan languages." In: Comrie, Bernard & Polinsky, Maria (eds.) 1993. ''Causatives and transitivity.'' Amsterdam: Benjamins, 47-67.
*Krauss, Michael. 1969. "On the classsifiers in Athapaskan, Eyak and Tlingit verb." Supplement to ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 35.2:49-83.
*Rice, Keren. 1989. ''A grammar of Slave.'' Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
*Thompson, Chad. 1989. "Pronouns and voice in Koyukon Athabaskan: A text-based study." ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 55.1: 1-24.
*Young, Robert W. & Morgan, William. 1987. ''The Navajo language: A grammar and colloquial dictionary.'' 2nd edition. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

{{dc}}
[[Category:Verbal morphology]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 In Athabaskan linguistics, the term '''classifier''' is traditionally used for a class of verbal prefixes that modifiy the [[transitivity]] or [[valence]] of the verb in some way.
@@ Line 11: / Line 10: @@
 The prefix ''h-'' is a transitivizing classifier.
 ===Comments===
-::*''“This term...is a clear misnomer since so-called classifiers do not classify either verb lexical entries or verb arguments — as it was originally supposed — in any reasonable sense. .. The unhappy nature of the term “classifier” is recognized by many Athabaskanists (see Krauss 1969, Cook 1984:162, Young and Morgan 1987:117, Thompson 1989:9, Rice 1989:439). However, the listed authors still use the term preferring to preserve the continuous tradition. I propose to abandon this harmful term that keeps misleading both newcomers to the field of Athabaskan linguistics and non-Athabaskan linguists.”'' (Kibrik 1993:...)
+The term “classifier” is sometimes derided by those working in Athabaskan lanuages, e.g. by Kibrik (1993):
 ===Synonym===
-* ''transitivity indicator'' (proposed by Kibrik 1993:48)
+* ''transitivity indicator'' — proposed by Kibrik (1993:48)
 === Origin ===
-The term dates back “to the early work by Boas on Tlingit and by Sapir on Athabaskan” (Kibrik 1993:48).
+The term dates back “to the early work by Boas on Tlingit and by Sapir on Athabaskan” (Kibrik 1993:48). Recent historical work by Jeff Leer has reconstructed the classifier for the entire Na-Dené family (Leer 2008:22).
 ===References===
 *Cook, Eung-Do. 1984. ''A Sarcee grammar.'' Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
-*Kibrik, Andrej A. 1993. "Transitivity increase in Athabaskan languages." In: Comrie, Bernard & Polinsky, Maria (eds.) 1993. ''Causatives and transitivity.'' Amsterdam: Benjamins, 47-67.
+*Kibrik, Andrej A. 1993. “Transitivity increase in Athabaskan languages.” In: Comrie, Bernard & Polinsky, Maria (eds.) 1993. ''Causatives and transitivity.'' Amsterdam: Benjamins, 47-67.
 *Krauss, Michael. 1969. "On the classsifiers in Athapaskan, Eyak and Tlingit verb." Supplement to ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 35.2:49-83.
 *Rice, Keren. 1989. ''A grammar of Slave.'' Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
-*Thompson, Chad. 1989. "Pronouns and voice in Koyukon Athabaskan: A text-based study." ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 55.1: 1-24.
+*Story, Gillian. 1966. ''A morphological study of Tlingit''. Master’s thesis, School of Oriental and African Languages, University of London.
 *Young, Robert W. & Morgan, William. 1987. ''The Navajo language: A grammar and colloquial dictionary.'' 2nd edition. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
 {{dc}}
 [[Category:Verbal morphology]]

Classifier (Athapaskan linguistics) - Revision history

James Crippen: Added some examples of the Tlingit classifier (use in middle voice), and discussion of why the term is still apt for Tlingit.

Linguipedia: New page: In Athabaskan linguistics, the term '''classifier''' is traditionally used for a class of verbal prefixes that modifiy the transitivity or valence of the verb in some way. ===Exa...