Classifiers in the Ma language
The paper discusses classifiers in the Austroasiatic language Ma. Materials of the Soviet-Vietnamese expedition of 1981 are used. It is asserted that the use of classifiers in constructions of different types is motivated by their primary function, which is to mark definite referential status and singularity of nouns. We point out the rules for their obligatory usage/non-usage and optional usage, as well as the regulating factors: morphological structure and referential status of the noun, status of assertion of the proposition, and communicative structure.