Editing Mayan languages (section)

===Numeral classifiers===
In many Mayan languages, counting requires the use of [[numeral classifiers]], which specify the class of items being counted; the numeral cannot appear without an accompanying classifier. Some Mayan languages, such as Kaqchikel, do not use numeral classifiers. Class is usually assigned according to whether the object is animate or inanimate or according to an object's general shape.<ref>See, e.g., Tozzer (1977 [1921]), pp. 103, 290–292.</ref> Thus when counting "flat" objects, a different form of numeral classifier is used than when counting round things, oblong items or people. In some Mayan languages such as Chontal, classifiers take the form of affixes attached to the numeral; in others such as Tzeltal, they are free forms. Jakaltek has both numeral classifiers and noun classifiers, and the noun classifiers can also be used as pronouns.{{sfn|Craig|1977|p=141}}

The meaning denoted by a noun may be altered significantly by changing the accompanying classifier. In Chontal, for example, when the classifier ''-tek'' is used with names of plants it is understood that the objects being enumerated are whole trees. If in this expression a different classifier, ''-tsʼit'' (for counting long, slender objects) is substituted for ''-tek'', this conveys the meaning that only sticks or branches of the tree are being counted:<ref>Example follows {{harvtxt|Suárez|1983|page=88}}</ref>

{|align="center" class="wikitable"
|+Semantic differences in numeral classifiers (from Chontal)
|bgcolor="#FFDEAD"|'''''untek wop''''' (one-tree Jahuacte)
|bgcolor="#FFFFAA"|'''''untsʼit wop''''' (one-stick jahuacte)
|-
|{{interlinear|un- tek wop|one- "plant" {jahuacte tree}|"one jahuacte tree"}}
|{{interlinear|un- tsʼit wop|one- {"long.slender.object"} {jahuacte tree}|"one stick from a jahuacte tree"}}
|}