Javanese numeral expressions: structure, classification, and referential functions

Numeral classifiers constitute an important grammatical feature. Despite extensive studies on classifier systems in East Asian languages, numeral classifiers in Javanese remain underexplored. This study aims to investigate the linguistic forms of numeral classifiers in Javanese and to propose a systematic classification based on their phrase structures and referential functions. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach grounded in structural linguistics and phraseological analysis, the data were collected from naturally occurring speech and native speaker elicitation within the Javanese-speaking community of Madiun Residency. The analysis reveals two recurrent structural patterns noun + classifier and classifier + noun forming noun phrases. Furthermore, Javanese quantifying expressions or classifier-like expressions can be categorized into general and specific types according to their semantic scope and syntactic distribution Javanese exhibits a system of quantifying expressions that shares several properties with numeral classifier systems while retaining characteristics of lexical measure nouns, which determine whether the classifier functions as the head or the modifier within a phrase. These findings demonstrate that Javanese quantifying expressions exhibit diverse syntactic behaviors and classifier-like properties in which classifiers are syntactically dynamic rather than structurally fixed. This study contributes to the typology of numeral classifier systems and advances the understanding of phrase structure variation in Austronesian languages.