著者

Noboru Yoshioka 吉岡 乾

出版者

国立民族学博物館

雑誌

国立民族学博物館研究報告 = Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology (ISSN:0385180X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.44, no.2, pp.239-254, 2019-10-29

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There are four major nominal classes in the Burushaski language andall nouns are classified into the following groups according to their referents:human males, human females, concrete entities, and abstract entities.This paper demonstrates that the inherent noun classification system of theBurushaski variety spoken by the younger generation of immigrants in theBota Raj colony in Srinagar is decaying and being reconstructed in analtered form.Noun classification systems are generally dynamic and may decline innumber or even become lost altogether. Some languages have (partially)lost their classification systems through contact with other languages thathave simpler noun classification systems or no classification systems at all.Some languages have neutralised previously distinct classes into a newclass, decreasing the overall number of classes as a result.However, the Srinagar Burushaski of young people does not merelydemonstrate the decay of nominal classes. Having initially lost the basis ofcategorisation for noun classification, they have since re-categorised allnouns, thereby avoiding incoherency in the nominal class system. As aresult, the number of reconstructed nominal classes has increased to five:human males, human females, animals, concrete entities, and abstract entities.It is worth noting that no adjacent languages have a noun classificationsystem that specifically distinguishes animals from others.

著者

吉岡 乾 Noboru Yoshioka

出版者

大修館書店

雑誌

月刊言語 (ISSN:02871696)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.35, no.11, pp.96-99, 2006-11-01