Universal #535

Legacy number: 535

 Number  533
 Original  If a language includes numeral classifiers as its dominant mode of forming quantification expressions, then it will also have facultative expression of the plural. In other words, it will not have obligatory marking of the plural on nouns.
 Standardized  IF numeral classifiers are included in the dominant mode of forming quantification expressions, THEN plural marking on nouns will not be obligatory.
 Formula  numeral classifier ⇒ ¬ obligatory plural marking (noun)
 Keywords  numeral classifier, number, plural
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  languages surveyed in Sanches 1973
 Source  Sanches 1973: 4

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Tarascan (Chibchan) (for details see Friedrich 1970); Samoan (Oceanic, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian), Palauan (Palauan, Western Malayo-Polynesian); Khambu (Gyarung-Mishmi, Tibeto-Burman); Kharia (Munda, Austro-Asiatic); Nootka (Wakashan); Yuki (Yukian), Tlingit (Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit) - all languages mentioned in Sanches 1973.Ossetic (Northern Iranian, IE), Oman-Zanzibar and Egyptian Arabic (both modern Arabic dialects) (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic) - mentioned in Greenberg 1972: 18
Notes
1. Sanches 1973: 13: A quick survey of these exceptional languages reveals that (1) either the plural or the classifier system is ‘weakly developed’ and that (2) they are located geographically in what we might call a transition area where groups of languages of (at least) two different genetic affiliations have been in contact for a long time. It seems possible that the prevailing conditions in the structure of quantification expressions in these languages represent a state of change from the dominance of one feature, i.e. either CLASSIFIER or PLURAL MARKING, to the other as a result of a contact situation.2. Cf. the claim by Serebrennikov (#1353): “Numeral classifiers occur in languages where plural is weakly developed.”
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Sanches 1973: 13: A quick survey of these exceptional languages reveals that (1) either the plural or the classifier system is 'weakly developed' and that (2) they are located geographically in what we might call a transition area where groups of languages of (at least) two different genetic affiliations have been in contact for a long time. It seems possible that the prevailing conditions in the structure of quantification expressions in these languages represent a state of change from the dominance of one feature, i.e. either CLASSIFIER or PLURAL MARKING, to the other as a result of a contact situation.

2. Cf. the claim by Serebrennikov (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1353"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): "Numeral classifiers occur in languages where plural is weakly developed."