A GIS view of the word orders of numeral bases and numeral classifiers in Kuki-Chin languages

Abstract Tibeto-Burman (TB) languages are known for their diversity in numeral systems and classifiers. This paper investigates the Kuki-Chin (KC, also called South-Central Tibeto-Burman) languages in TB’s Northeast Indian Areal Group and provides a comprehensive description of the four types of numeral systems: base-final, base-initial, base-split, and no-base, and the four types of classifier systems: CL-final, CL-initial, CL-split, and no-CL. A thorough survey of the literature, aided by fieldwork, enables a GIS view of the distribution of the different types of languages. Also, KC languages conform to Greenberg’s Universal 20A: N does not come between Num and CL, and the numeral base and classifier harmonize in word order. We propose the following hypothesis for Proto-KC (PKC) and Proto-TB (PTB) to account for the variation in numeral bases and classifiers in KC, that is, PKC, like PTB, is base-initial and without numeral classifiers, and the current variation in numeral bases and numeral classifiers in KC is due to horizontal external influence via language contact. Bayesian phylogenetic inference tests, however, show mixed results, as PKC is likely to be base-initial, as expected, but CL-initial, and PTB is likely to be base-final but CL-initial. Thus, we plan to conduct a comprehensive survey of all TB languages and further explore the state of PTB in terms of numeral bases and classifiers.