This paper argues that numerals as single morphemes can be formed from morphological fusion of more basic numerals and classifiers. It reports that such morphological fusion is found in Shuhi, a Qiangic language of the Tibeto-Burman branch, and discusses its theoretical implications for the ontological semantics of numerals. Specifically, we argue that there are two kinds of numerals, deficient numerals and full-fledged numerals, each demonstrating distinctive properties in syntax and semantics and that data regarding Shuhi supports Krifka's (1995) syntax-semantics interface analysis of numeral-classifier-noun expressions, in which the numerals and classifiers form constituents excluding the nouns. We present empirical data from this language to support the Fregean view that numerals are number-referring terms (deficient numerals), while ʥi33 ‘one’ in Shuhi and possibly liǎ ‘two-Cl’ and sā ‘three-Cl’ in Mandarin Chinese are full-fledged numerals that should be best treated as denoting properties of cardinality.
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