On the category and morphosyntax of numerals

Abstract This paper investigates the morphosyntax of numerals. Based on Russian and Dutch, we show that a division into three subcategories is necessary: (i) numeral ONE; 1 (ii) Cardinals ≥ TWO; (iii) Indefinite Numerals such as MANY (cf., Barbiers 2007 ). We introduce a bi-partite structure, in which a low Classifier projection is connected to a high Classifier projection by an (abstract) preposition. Building on Borer (2005) , Barbiers (2007) , Kayne (2019) , Corver (2021) we argue that ONE is an underspecified lower classifier, exhibiting meaningful parallels with the underspecified anchoring head at the clausal level (cf., Ritter & Wiltschko 2009 , 2014 ). Cardinals are phrasal. Indefinite Numerals are subject to variation in whether they head ClassP-low or ClassP-high. Based on the morphosyntactic properties of the three categories we conclude that in some environments the PP and ClassP-high layers are not projected.