Re: Re : Re: Fw: irregular conlangs

Mathias writes:
Dans un courrier dat? du 08/10/99 00:46:40  , Nick Taylor a ?crit :

> > Palantla Chinantec has different sets of numbers, depending on the counted
>  > word(s) being animate or inanimate:
>
>  Japanese does something like that.
all asian languages i know do have such counters.
in "Bluff Your Way in Japan" - very funny and very true -
Robert Ainsley lists the japanese counters that (bluffing) way :

[snip]

there are still many more "counters" only used as adverbs with number
ichi "one" such as "itteki", "ikkoku", "issai", etc.
<<<<<<

This strikes me as being the remnant of a complex Gender system in
proto-japanese.

Is there any truth in that?




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Pb






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