ABSTRACT
Agreement morphology can be analyzed as a system of classification, a way of encoding information about the cognitive dimensions that are relevant for described objects. These dimensions include: number/configuration, animacy, natural gender, and classification. The classifications indicated by noun morphology in a sample of fifteen languages are catalogued, using headings such as number, animacy, and respect. It is reasonable to suppose that the distinctions coded more frequently cross-linguistically are among the more salient. This chapter describes the link between nominal morphology expressed on nouns and agreement targets in terms of singular, plural, masculine, and feminine, and the classification of described objects as animate, inanimate, male, composed of individuals, and so on. It covers a different aspect of the relation between nominal morphology and the classification of objects cross-linguistically. The chapter examines systems of classification found in nominal morphology to get an approximate inventory of classifications.
