Classifiers
Which classifier accompanies which noun is a highly lexical, word specific thing. While details may vary (specific words having different classifiers), the broad strokes of such pairings will be the same as Retla, so i'll be briefer.
khu - Adult humans. Females may be referred to by
pi, even as adults.
pi - Children, sometimes used for animals (akin to calling your pet 'he' or 'she' instead of just 'it')
tju - Animals. Natural phenomena (lightning, fire, etc.) are sometimes put here.
plo - long, thin stuff. Like sticks, trees and maybe snakes (snakes not being so rigid is something of a point against being placed here).
kikh - For round, or roughly round stuff; eggs, the sun maybe coconuts, although i don't believe there were coconuts where Tlapthuv was spoken.
toṣi - thin, broad things, like leaves and clothe.
thju - general classifier that encompasses everything that failed is not paired with other classifiers, including stuff that is too formless to fit into the form-oriented classifiers (like wind, sand), abstract concepts and everything else that's smaller than a man.
eshwi - classifier for stuff that don't fall into the other classifiers but are bigger than a man. Like mountains.
Usage
Obligatoriness
Classifiers are only obligatory in the presence of numerals or of the DEF.SPEC thing (iŋpij)
mil eshwi hthuŋp
3 CL mountain
three mountains
Nouns are accompanied by adjectives or other modifiers without classifiers:
toxp ŋujt
wind cold
cold wind
not
*thju toxp ŋujt (Which has a classifier)
Number
The plural is marked by placing the classifier after the noun. As previous examples have shown, this is not necessary in the presence of numerals.
khap khu
person CL
People
*jen khap khu
five person CL
The number situation is quite simple in Tlapthuv.
Specificity
Nouns are marked for Specificity, with the Specific nouns being marked for definiteness. An example of each of those situations:
Nonspecific Indefinite
kpap phfirṣ khu le kvali
talk-PFV woman CL ACC child
The women talked to a child
Each woman might have talked to a different children, we don't know.
Nonspecific Definite
Pihalth kpè le khapteh
want-IPFV talk-SJV ACC chief
I want to talk to the chief
It shows i don't know who the chief is or don't have a specific chief in mind (if there's more than one)
Specific Indefinite
kpap phfirṣ khu le wi pi kvali
talk-PFV woman CL ACC SPEC.INDEF CL child
Women talked to a child
Every women involved talked to the same specific child.
Specific Definite
Pihalth kpè le iŋpij khu khapteh
want-IPFV talk-SJV ACC SPEC.DEF CL chief
I want to talk to the chief
I know the chief and have a certain chief in mind.
It seems i lied to Prinsessa. You were going to see <ṣ> it seems.