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On the putative classifier languages in Europe

A case study of Russian

 | Tunghai University
 | Moscow City University
ORCiD logo with link | Tunghai University | National Chengchi University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
In Eurasia, the hotbed of classifier languages as an areal feature is in East Asia, Southeast Asia, part of eastern India, and a less concentrated cluster in the Middle East and Central Asia. In Europe, only a few languages have been claimed to employ numeral classifiers. Russian, located in Eastern Europe, has a tripartite numeral construction [Num X N] where X’s are considered sortal classifiers by some researchers, e.g., Sussex, Roland. 1976. The numeral classifiers of Russian. Russian Linguistics 3.21:145–155. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and Goto, Ksenia. 2012. On Russian numeral classifiers. Collection of Essay of Modern Language and Culture 81:13–27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, and is listed as a classifier language in the World Atlas of Classifier Languages (WACL). However, the status of Russian as a classifier language is controversial. In this paper, we first adopt the definition of classifier languages proposed by Her, One-Soon, Harald Hammarström, and Marc Allassonnière-Tang. 2022. Defining numeral classifiers and identifying classifier languages of the world. Linguistics Vanguard 8.11:151–164. Retrieved April 7, 2025, from [URL]. . We then apply explicit syntactic criteria to evaluate Russian numeral constructions and examine the tripartite [Num X N] structure. Ultimately, our analysis demonstrates that the elements previously identified as sortal classifiers in Russian are in fact measure nouns, and we reject their classification after examining the reasons behind this misidentification. The findings suggest that it would be prudent to reexamine all putative classifier languages in Europe.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Russian and classifier languages in the world
  • 3.Numeral classifiers and the two subcategories
  • 4.Dismissing mensural classifiers in russian
  • 5.Putative russian sortal classifiers as nouns
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • List of abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
References (41)
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