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Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 42:2 (2025) ► pp.161–197

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The diachrony of verbal classification

Classifier mergers and semantic incoherence in Southern and Western Daly

ORCiD logo with link | University of Zurich
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Zurich.

Published online: 19 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.24036.man
Abstract
Classifier systems apply a semantic classification to nouns or verbs, though in some systems the number of classes is much reduced, and classes may lose their semantic coherence. In this article I investigate the diachronic process by which classifier systems undergo set reduction and semantic dissolution, shifting them along a cline towards purely morphological classes. Following previous literature I identify two potential mechanisms, obsolescence and mergers, each of which reduces a set of classifiers by one. We might expect obsolescence to be the more dominant mechanism, since mergers are generally presumed to be rare. However, in a case study of verbal classifiers in Daly languages of northern Australia, I find extensive evidence for mergers, suggesting they play a major role in class reduction. I also consider the extent to which mergers may occur in other classifier systems, hypothesising a general relationship between compounding, information load and phonological erosion.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From classifiers to classes in northern Australian verbs
    • 2.1From lexical verbs to class markers in northern Australia
    • 2.2Diachronic processes in Australian verbal classifiers
    • 2.3Obsolescence and mergers in Daly verbal classifiers
    • 2.4Scope and sources for the current study
  • 3.Suppletive roots
  • 4.Rootless classifiers and semantic incoherence
    • 4.1Rootless classifiers
    • 4.2Merging to zero
    • 4.3Semantic incoherence in other rootless classifiers
    • 4.4Interim summary
  • 5.Analogical convergence with phonologically realised roots
    • 5.1Recent analogical convergence in Murrinhpatha
    • 5.2Partially syncretic classifiers
    • 5.3Semantic incoherence with phonologically realised roots
  • 6.Towards a diachronic model of class reduction
    • 6.1Obsolescence and mergers in Daly verbal classifiers
    • 6.2Australian pathways from verbal classifiers to class markers
    • 6.3Low information load
    • 6.4General conditions for mergers in classifier systems
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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