QUANTITATIVE CLASSIFIERS

We come to the third and last subcategory of noninherent arrangement classifiers, namely those which I have called the "quantitative classifiers". As I have drawn extensive parallels between my

groupings and Allan's suggested arrangement of

classifier categories, I should note here a difference between what he refers to as "the seventh and last category of classification: quanta" and those which I have called "quantitative classifiers". In his last group Allan has included several subcategories such as value, partition, collection (bunch, cluster, crowd), which I have already grouped above. Those which he refers to as the "subcategory of grammatical number" are the ones which seem to be the closest parallel to my subsection labelled "quantitative classifiers" . 105

There are fourteen classifiers in this subsection. Two specify units of measurement:

Cl 134 uva- "a span measure, about a fathom (outstretched arms); any item measured in spans (circumference of heap of yams, kuvipiti "long yams", fish)". The size of a

large heap of yams may be speci­ fied by stating the length in uva- "spans" of the liba

"encircling fence" placed around base of heap. 105

See Allan, 1977:306

106 This quantification of a group of items is the justification for placing these two measurement classifications with the arrangement classifiers; but they would probably occur more naturally with the partitive classifiers.

Cl 135 yuma- "measure of length (from finger­ tip of one hand to wrist joint of other arm, arms outstretched; about 15 cm shorter than uva-tala "span-one"); also, rarely, a hand or arm" (cf yama- "hand"). It may be that the apparent multiple

specification of this classifier arises from the stating of a unit of measure shorter by the length of one hand than the Cl 134 uva- "span" measure. As a unit of measure it only appears with -tala "one". The use of

this classifier to specify "hand" may in fact be an allo- morph of Cl 70 yam2- "hand". Two specify groups having reference to the number in the group, but the precise number is indefinite in each case:

Cl 136 puli- "bunch (two to six items) tied together, or people either tied together or connected by holding hands in games; cluster of egg cowrie shells for chief's gable ornament, or any cluster of shells for a dancing ornament; several fruit borne in a cluster on one stem." The amount of overlap between this form and the classifiers Cl 36 buko2- "fruit cluster" and Cl 105 duli- "bundle, cluster" should be noted.

Cl 137 katuluwo- "large group (people, animals,

things) - an indefinite number

in the hundreds or thousands"

(cf lakatuluwo- "thousands of").

Four have reference to groups of two or four items,

mostly marine items used in barter:

Cl 138 uwo-

C1 139 kalo-

C1 140 kupo-

C1 141 yulai-

"bundles of two items tied together" (cf -yu "two"); "bundles of two marine

Crustacea (crabs, crayfish) tied together" (cf keli

"a crustacean");

"string of two fish or other

marine creatures (eels, octopi,

e tc)";

"bundle of four things (food,

other objects)".

Some examples of counting using each of these four

classifiers are given here. An adequate free

translation is difficult, but is attempted in each

c a s e :

74. KALO-tala NA-tana107 lakum

two-bundle-one animal-one crab

"three crabs"

"A pair of crabs plus another crab (ie three

crabs)"

75. KUPO-tala kase-la yena

two-string-one remnant-its fish "three fish"

"A pair of fish plus another one (ie three fish)"

107 _Tana

is an allophone of tala, regularly used with Cl 2 and Cl 7, na-.

76. YULAI-tala UWO-tala luya four-bundle-one two-bundle-one coconut "six coconuts"

"A four-bundle plus a pair of coconuts (ie six coconuts)"

Finally, six specify ten-groups, some of them with considerable complexity of specification which only the "context of situation" would reduce to a clear specification for that situation:

Cl 142 kasila- "groups of ten wealth items (mwali "armshells", soulava "necklaces" mmakata "dancing plumes" etc)";

Cl 143 buluwo- "groups of ten animals, birds, fish; (cf bolodila "wild animal", from bunukwa "pig" and lawodila "jungle"). Counting people using this classifier is considered a

joke.

An example of this last classifier in text is: 77. Mi-NA-si-na NA-lima bunukwa ..

that-animal-pl animal-five pig "Those five pigs . .

mi-NA-si-na BULUWO-yu bunukwa that-animal-pl ten-group-two pig those twenty pigs"

Cl 145 ika- "tens of things, as kuvi

yams, skirts, coconuts, etc; some special specifications of this are:

tens of Cl 98 sa- "bunches of nuts"

tens of Cl 141 yulai- "four- bundles " tens of Cl 120 kudu- "bundles" tens of Cl 107 luva- "bundles" Two similar phrases are an example here:

78. YU LAI- luwo-tala luya .. IKA-tala luya

four-b.-ten-one coconut.Ten-yulai-one coconut "ten of four-bunches of coconuts .. ten-fours of coconuts (ie forty coconuts)"

Cl 146 kaluwo- "days in groups of ten (cf KALA-luwo-tala "day-ten-one"); also ten-groups of kai- speci­ fied items (cf Cl 3 kai- "rigid" and luwo- "ten of").

This form only occurs with numerals. Note that in reference to ten-groups of days, both kaluwo- and the regular KALA-luwo- "day-ten" occur. Note also that Cl 147 kwailuwo- "tens of items" (see below), may also specify days in groups of ten.

Cl 147 kwailuwo- "ten-groups of items". This is the regular specification of Cl 5 kwai- "thing" plus -luwo-

"tens of". However the following special specifications may be made:

tens of Cl 140 k u p o - "strings of fish";

tens of Cl 141 yulai- "four-

bundles " ;

tens of Cl 95 kila- "hands of

bananas".

Some general comments need to be made

about the domains of reference of the fourteen forms

in this last subcategory, the quantitative classifiers.

The first two, which specify units of

measurement, have a double specification similar to

that which we have come to see as a general feature

of the classifiers which modify items in some way.

Thus Cl 134 uva- "span" may specify either the non­

material concept of a span measurement, or it may

specify the item or items measured.

Those which specify a number in a group, plus the mode of putting them together, have a more complex specification, so that their use adds a great

deal of information to the phrase. Thus Cl 140 kupo-

specifies:

1. a group of two items;

2. that the two items are hung on a piece of

string;

3. that they are marine items.

Likewise Cl 142 kasila- has a triple specification:

1. the items are ten in number;

2. they must be items culturally accepted as

"wealth items";

they are in a group only, not strung together. 3 .