The coalescence of grammatical gender and numeral classifiers in the general classifier wota in Nepali

Abstract

While nominal classification has received considerable attention, relatively little is known about cross-linguistically rare complex systems. An example is provided by Nepali (Indo-European, Indic), which possesses both grammatical gender and numeral classifiers. Our aim is to examine morphosyntactic and functional properties of the general classifier wota. Unusually, the classifier exhibits gender agreement both in its independent forms and as fused with a numeral, raising questions about its lexical and pragmatic functions. Our study contributes to the typology of nominal classification by proposing a functional approach to cases of complex co-occurrence of gender and classifiers.