Abstract
Nominal classification systems such as grammatical gender (e.g., the masculine/feminine distinction in French) and noun classes (e.g., Bantu noun classes based on fruits, plants, liquids, among others) provide a window on how the human brain perceives and categorizes objects and experiences it encounters. While the diachronic development of grammatical gender systems is well studied, noun class systems have received less attention. We use phylogenetic comparative methods to analyze where noun classes are marked (on nouns, pronouns, demonstratives, articles, adjectives, numbers, and verbs) in thirty-six Atlantic languages and how these markers change diachronically. Our results show that noun class marking is generally preferred and more stable within the noun phrase, i.e., on nouns, demonstratives, and adjectives.
Rochant, Neige