Linguistic similarity can play a significant role in language contact. Many Mayan languages evince both pattern and matter borrowing (Matras and Sakel 2007) from other Mayan languages. Here, I focus on Mayan pattern borrowing with respect to an extensive system of obligatory numeral classifiers. Numeral classification, an innovative feature of nearly half of the Mayan languages, was shared among these languages through contact. While some specific numeral classifiers were borrowed in at least some Mayan languages, the areal spread of numeral classifiers among Mayan languages is primarily a case of pattern borrowing, involving the innovation and spread of a new lexical category. Cognate morphological matter shared through common inheritance, including a suffix for numerals greater than one and a whole lexical class of positional roots with related derivational morphology, shaped the forms of numeral classifiers in recipient languages. In addition, inherited grammatical categories related to quantification provided important preconditions for the development of similar systems of numeral classification across the family. Arguably, then, inherited linguistic ‘matter’ facilitated the transfer of linguistic patterns, even as the forms themselves, already shared through common inheritance, were not borrowed. The study of pattern borrowing in Mayan languages highlights the important role of interlingual identifications (Weinreich 1953) in pattern borrowing, especially among related languages. As a case study of different pathways to structural convergence, it also highlights the entanglements between matter and pattern in contact-induced change and reveals the potentially complex structural ramifications of both pattern and matter borrowing.

语言相似性可以在语言接触中发挥重要作用。许多玛雅语言都从其他玛雅语言中借用模式和物质借用（Matras和Sakel 2007）。在这里，我将重点放在玛雅模式借用方面，涉及广泛的强制性数字分类器系统。通过接触，在这些语言之间共享了数字分类，这是近一半的玛雅语言的创新功能。尽管至少在某些玛雅语言中借用了一些特定的数字分类器，但在玛雅语言中数字分类器的区域分布主要是模式借用的情况，涉及新词汇类别的创新和传播。通过共同的继承而共享的同类形态物质，包括大于一个的数字后缀和具有相关派生形态的整个位置类别的词法类，从而塑造了接收方语言中数字分类器的形式。此外，与量化相关的继承的语法类别为整个家族中类似的数字分类系统的发展提供了重要的前提。因此，可以说，继承的语言“问题”促进了语言模式的转移，即使已经通过普通继承共享的形式本身也没有被借用。对玛雅语言中的模式借用的研究突显了语种识别在模式借用中的重要作用（Weinreich 1953），尤其是在相关语言之间。作为不同结构融合途径的案例研究，