OT: Latex Help

I posted this on the ZBB too. I'm desperate for help if someone could
give me any... I'm writing my ngwaalq grammar, and I really need long
tables that can span multiple pages to present my noun and verb
classifiers properly.

I'm having trouble getting the longtable package to work properly. I
have, for instance, the following table:

\begin{longtable}{c c}
\caption[A Complete List of Noun Classifiers]{A Complete List of Noun
Classifiers} \\

\endfirsthead

\endhead

\hline \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{{Continued on next page\ldots}} \\
\endfoot

\hline \\
\endlastfoot

\hline \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Animate Classifiers} \\
\hline \\

\ti{qa:} & Man \\
\ti{fe} & Woman\\
\ti{\~u\~i} & Person \\
\ti{\v{c}a:l} & Same Status Friendly \\
\ti{t\'siPk} & Respectful \\
\ti{liabZ} & Respectful (God, Priest, King) \\
\ti{X\~a} & Lower Status Formal \\
\ti{noP} & Children, Lower Status Perjorative, Animals \\
\ti{\v{c}ak'} & Dog \\
\ti{\'si:l} & Birds, Fish \\
\ti{\v{c}i\v{c}'} & Insects \\
\ti{p'\textbeltl{}@} & Trees \\
\ti{n\~ef} & Plant \\
\hline \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Type or Function Classifiers} \\
\hline \\
\ti{k\s{w}al} & Sweet Potato \\
\ti{me:Z\~e} & Fleshy Food \\
\ti{we\'s} & Vegetable Food \\
\ti{Pu} & Water, Liquid \\
\ti{\v{s}'u@} & Fire, Light \\
\ti{k'ai} & Boat \\
\ti{ha\v{c}} & House, Building \\
\ti{Zots} & Stone \\
\ti{xalk} & Salt \\
\ti{t\'si} & Seed\\
\ti{\v{s}a:} & Dirt\\
\ti{hon} & Books, Accountancy Tables\\
\ti{k't'a} & Hand Tool/Instrument \\
\ti{\textbeltl{}'a\textbeltl} & Mechanism (Complicated Internal
Structure)\\
\ti{maPt} & Body Part, Part of Whole\\
\ti{ku} & Abstract\\
\ti{eg\~i} & Period of Time\\

%\pagebreak

\hline \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Shape Based Classifiers} \\
\hline \\
\ti{s\~i:\v{c}} & Small Round Object (e.g. bead)\\
\ti{baP} & Long Thin Stick-like\\
\ti{qelf'} & Long Pointed (e.g. spear)\\
\ti{siPi} & Curvilinear Object (e.g. bow) \\
\ti{\textbeltl{}\~o} & Long Flexible Object (e.g. rope)\\
\ti{TXa} & Long Thick Object\\
\ti{f\~o:} & Flat Flexible (e.g. paper)\\
\ti{t\textbeltl{}'aP} & Flat Rigid Object\\
\ti{\'zuk'} & Flat, Sharp Edged Object \\
\ti{x\s{w}em} & Round Object\\
\ti{\v{c}t@q\s{w}} & Irregularly Shaped Object\\
\ti{N\s{w}o} & Long Extended (e.g. rivers, roads) \\
\ti{mPu} & Bounded Space (e.g. Garden, Lake, City)\\
\ti{ts'e:} & Unbounded Space (e.g. Ocean, World)\\
\ti{buP} & Hollow Rounded Object (e.g. pot)\\
\ti{dza:n} & Long Hollow Object (e.g pipe) \\
\ti{t\~aq} & Ring-like Object (e.g. ring, necklace)\\
\ti{i\v{s}l} & Holes, Openings (e.g. door)\\
\ti{wa:} & Flat Vertical (e.g. wall)\\
\ti{me\v{c}'} & Small Non-Spherical Object (e.g. coin) \\
\ti{X\s{w}iX\s{w}} & Granular Mass (e.g. sand)\\

\label{noun-class}
\end{longtable}

Now, when I put this table in a latex document that contains nothing
else except for the essentials (\begin{document} etc) then it compiles
perfectly with no errors, no warnings, and after a couple of runs
settles down so that everything is perfectly positioned.
BUT. When it's located in its original place in the document it came
from (with lots of text before and after it) it generates two warnings
when it chooses to work properly (about half the time), and about 24
when it chooses not to work properly (in which case the rest of the
document compiles probably but half of the table vanishes and a long
number appears in its place). When it does work the lines and alignment
are not quite right. When I remove the table from the document,
everything compiles perfectly with no errors or warnings that would
indicate that the problem is elsewhere.
Now, I was putting up with this behavoir (since half the time it
compiled and looked just about right, even though it gave two error
messages), but when I try to add another longtable the document bombs
completely and won't compile properly at all (about 150 error messages).
Yet when I put two long tables together in a text file, each compiled
perfectly, rendered perfectly, and had no problems with each other.
Finally, in the original document the long tables are not listing
properly in the list of tables, yet in my test document which only
contained longtables all appeared when I added a table list at the start.
To conclude: is it me that's doing something unknown wrong, or is
longtable just buggy? Why isn't this working? I've just spent a few
hours trying just about everything to make the longtable package do what
I want it to, and nothing I've tried seems to work. I've checked the
entire document for any mistake elsewhere that could cause this, and I
just can't find one... so, since I'm not exactly an expert in all things
Latex, I'm asking for help. :)

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