Pattern borrowing, linguistic similarity, and new categories: Numeral classifiers in Mayan

Abstract

Linguistic similarity can play a significant role in language contact. Many Mayan languages evince both pattern and matter borrowing (Matras and Sakel 2007) from other Mayan languages. Here, I focus on Mayan pattern borrowing with respect to an extensive system of obligatory numeral classifiers. Numeral classification, an innovative feature of nearly half of the Mayan languages, was shared among these languages through contact. While some specific numeral classifiers were borrowed in at least some Mayan languages, the areal spread of numeral classifiers among Mayan languages is primarily a case of pattern borrowing, involving the innovation and spread of a new lexical category. Cognate morphological matter shared through common inheritance, including a suffix for numerals greater than one and a whole lexical class of positional roots with related derivational morphology, shaped the forms of numeral classifiers in recipient languages. In addition, inherited grammatical categories related to quantification provided important preconditions for the development of similar systems of numeral classification across the family. Arguably, then, inherited linguistic ‘matter’ facilitated the transfer of linguistic patterns, even as the forms themselves, already shared through common inheritance, were not borrowed. The study of pattern borrowing in Mayan languages highlights the important role of interlingual identifications (Weinreich 1953) in pattern borrowing, especially among related languages. As a case study of different pathways to structural convergence, it also highlights the entanglements between matter and pattern in contact-induced change and reveals the potentially complex structural ramifications of both pattern and matter borrowing.