Classifiers in Tawrã Mishmi

Abstract Numeral classifiers in Tawrã stand out from other Tibeto-Burman languages in Northeast India for having several members, many of which do not have a nominal counterpart. Tawrã also shares the typologically uncommon order [ n clf num ] with neighboring Tani and Boro-Garo languages. This article has three purposes: (i) it describes the classifier system of Tawrã, an under-described language from Arunachal Pradesh, (ii) it discusses the referential effect of classification, which commonly signals individuation and (iii) it discusses the participation of classifiers in nominal compounding, a typologically uncommon construction. Although the connection between classifiers and individuation has already been established in the literature, this investigation explores examples from a naturalistic corpus, elicitation and translation.