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In linguistics, grammatical number is a feature of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more").[1] English and other languages present number categories of singular or plural, both of which are cited by using the hash sign (#) or by the numero signs "No." and "Nos." respectively. Some languages also have a dual, trial and paucal number or other arrangements.
The word "number" is also used in linguistics to describe the distinction between certain grammatical aspects that indicate the number of times an event occurs, such as the semelfactive aspect, the iterative aspect, etc. For that use of the term, see "Grammatical aspect".
Overview
Most languages of the world have formal means to express differences of number. One widespread distinction, found in English and many other languages, involves a simple two-way number contrast between singular and plural (car/cars, child/children, etc.). Discussion of other more elaborate systems of number appears below.
Grammatical number is a morphological category characterized by the expression of quantity through inflection or agreement. As an example, consider the English sentences below:
- That apple on the table is fresh.
- Those two apples on the table are fresh.
The number of apples is marked on the noun—"apple" singular number (one item) vs. "apples" plural number (more than one item)—on the demonstrative, "that/those", and on the verb, "is/are". In the second sentence, all this information is redundant, since quantity is already indicated by the numeral "two".
A language has grammatical number when its nouns are subdivided into morphological classes according to the quantity they express, such that:
- Every noun belongs to a unique number class (nouns are partitioned into disjoint classes by number).
- Noun modifiers (such as adjectives) and verbs may also have different forms for each number class and be inflected to match the number of the nouns to which they refer (number is an agreement category).
This is partly the case in English: every noun is either singular or plural (a few forms, such as "fish" and "cannon", can be either, according to context), and at least some modifiers of nouns—namely the demonstratives, the personal pronouns, the articles, and verbs—are inflected to agree with the number of the nouns to which they refer: "this car" and "these cars" are correct, while "*this cars" or "*these car" are ungrammatical and, therefore, incorrect. However, adjectives are not inflected, and some verb forms do not distinguish between singular and plural ("She/They went", "She/They can go", "She/They had gone", "She/They will go"). Only count nouns can be freely used in the singular and in the plural. Mass nouns, like "milk", "gold", and "furniture", are normally invariable in number.[2] (In some cases, a normally mass noun X may be used as a count noun to collect several distinct kinds of X into an enumerable group; for example, a cheesemaker might speak of goat, sheep, and cow milk as milks.) Many languages distinguish between count nouns and mass nouns.
Not all languages have number as a grammatical category. In those that do not, quantity must be expressed either directly, with numerals, or indirectly, through optional quantifiers. However, many of these languages compensate[clarification needed] for the lack of grammatical number with an extensive system of measure words.
Joseph Greenberg has proposed a number category hierarchy as a linguistic universal: "No language has a trial number unless it has a dual. No language has a dual unless it has a plural."[3] This hierarchy does not account for the paucal.[4]
Geographical distribution
Obligatory plural marking of all nouns is found throughout western and northern Eurasia and in most parts of Africa. The rest of the world presents a heterogeneous picture. Optional plural marking is particularly common in Southeast and East Asia and Australian languages, and complete lack of plural marking is particularly found in New Guinea and Australian languages. In addition to the areal correlations, there also seems to be at least one correlation with morphological typology: isolating languages appear to favor no or non-obligatory plural marking. This can be seen particularly in Africa, where optionality or absence of plural marking is found particularly in the isolating languages of West Africa.[5][6]
Types of number
Singular and plural
One of the simplest number distinctions a language can make is singular and plural. Singular denotes exactly one referent, while plural denotes more than one referent. For example, in English:[7]
- dog (singular, one)
- dogs (plural, two or more)
To mark number, English has different singular and plural forms for both nouns and verbs (in the third person), as in "my dog watches television" (singular) and "my dogs watch television" (plural).[7] This is not universal: Wambaya marks number on nouns but not verbs,[8] and Onondaga marks number on verbs but not nouns.[9] Latin has different singular and plural forms for nouns, verbs, and adjectives, in contrast with English where adjectives do not change for number.[10] Tundra Nenets can mark singular and plural on nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and postpositions.[11] However, the most common part of speech to show a number distinction is pronouns.[12][13] An example of a simple pronoun system distinguishing singular and plural is that of Wayoró:[14]
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First (exc.) | on | ote |
| First (inc.) | - | txire |
| Second | en | djat |
| Third | ndeke | ndeat |
Dual
Like the singular denotes exactly one item, the dual number denotes exactly two items. For example, in Camsá:[15]
- kes̈ - "dog" (singular)
- kes̈at - "two dogs" (dual)
- kes̈ëng - "dogs" (plural)
In languages with a singular/dual/plural paradigm, the exact meaning of plural depends on whether the dual is obligatory or facultative (optional).[16] In contrast to English and other singular/plural languages where plural means two or more, in languages with an obligatory dual, plural strictly means three or more. This is the case for Sanskrit,[17] North Mansi,[18] and Alutiiq.[19] In languages with a facultative dual, two of something can be referred to using either the dual or the plural, and so plural means two or more. This is the case for modern Arabic dialects,[20] at least some Inuktitut dialects,[21] and Yandruwandha.[22] In some languages, the dual is obligatory in certain cases but facultative in others. In Slovene, it is obligatory for pronouns but facultative for nouns.[23] In Comanche, it is obligatory when referring to humans, facultative for other animate nouns, and rarely used for inanimate nouns.[24]
There are also languages where the possibility of using the dual at all is restricted more than singular or plural. In the possessive noun forms of Northern Sámi, the possessor can be in the dual number, but the noun possessed can only be singular or plural.[25] Pronouns are the only part of speech with a dual form in some Polynesian languages, including Samoan,[26] Tuvaluan,[27][a] and Māori.[29] In Maltese, the dual only exists for about 30 specific nouns, of which it is obligatory for only 8 (hour, day, week, month, year, once, hundred, and thousand). Words that can take a facultative dual in Maltese include egg, branch, tear, and wicker basket.[30] In Mezquital Otomi, the dual can only be used by an adult male speaking to another adult male.[31]
| Singular | Dual | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First (exc.) | au/ahau | maaua | maatou |
| First (inc.) | - | taaua | taatou |
| Second | koe | koorua | koutou |
| Third | ia | raaua | raatou |
Dual number existed in all nouns and adjectives of Proto-Indo-European around 4000 BCE, and was inherited in some form in many of its prehistoric, protohistoric, ancient, and medieval descendents. Only rarely has it persisted in Indo-European languages to the modern day. It survived in Proto-Germanic in the first and second person pronouns, where it was then inherited by Old English, Old High German, Old Low German, Early Old Swedish, Old Norwegian, Old Icelandic, and Gothic. It continued in Icelandic until the 1700s, some dialects of Faroese until at least the late 1800s, and some dialects of North Frisian through the 1900s.[33][34] From Proto-Greek it entered Ancient Greek,[35][36] and from Proto-Indo-Iranian it entered Sanskrit.[37][17] From Proto-Slavic, it still exists today in Slovene and the Sorbian languages.[38] Indo-European languages that have long ago lost the dual still sometimes have residual traces of it, such as the English distinctions both vs. all, either vs. any, and neither vs. none. The Norwegian både, cognate with English both, has further evolved to be able to refer to more than two items, as in både epler, pærer, og druer, literally "both apples, pears, and grapes."[39]
Trial
The trial number denotes exactly three items. For example, in Awa:[40]
- iya - "dog" (singular)
- iyatade - "two dogs" (dual)
- iyatado - "three dogs" (trial)
- iyamadi - "dogs" (plural)
It is rare for a language to mark the trial on nouns,[41] and some sources even claim that trial marking on nouns does not exist.[42][43] However, it has been recorded for a few languages; besides Awa, this includes Arabana,[44][45] Urama,[46] and Angaataha.[47] It is much more common for languages to have trial pronouns,[42][43] which is the case in the Austronesian languages of Larike,[48][49] Tolai,[50] Raga,[51] and Wamesa.[52] A minimal example is Nukna, which has only a single trial pronoun, nanggula, which can be either 2nd or 3rd person.[53] The trial may also be marked on verbs, such as in Lenakel.[54]
| Singular | Dual | Trial | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First (exc.) | aʔu | arua | aridu | ami |
| First (inc.) | - | itua | itidu | ite |
| Second | ane | irua | iridu | imi |
| Third | mane | matua | matidu | mati |
While the dual can be obligatory or facultative, according to Greville Corbett there are no known cases of an obligatory trial, and the trial might always be facultative. However, languages may have both a facultative dual and a facultative trial, like in Larike, or an obligatory dual and a facultative trial, like in Ngan'gi.[55]
Most languages with a trial are in the Austronesian family, and most non-Austronesian languages with a trial are still in Oceania.[56] The latter category includes the Austronesian-influenced English creole languages of Tok Pisin,[57] Bislama,[58] and Pijin.[59] In Australia, the trial can also be found in Aboriginal languages of many different language families.[b] In Indonesia, trial pronouns are common in the storytelling of Abun, a possible language isolate.[69] In the Solomon Islands, trial pronouns are used very frequently in Touo, either a Central Solomon language or a language isolate. As a result, bilingual speakers of Touo and Pijin will use trial pronouns a lot more commonly in Pijin than other speakers, for whom the trial is usually a lot less common than the dual.[70] A very rare example of a spoken language with the trial (in both pronouns and verbs) outside of Oceania is Muklom Tangsa, spoken in northeast India.[71]
Paucal
The paucal number represents 'a few', a small inexactly numbered group of items. For example, in Motuna:[72]
- mahkata - "dog" (singular)
- mahkatakaro - "two dogs" (dual)
- mahkatanaa - "a few dogs" (paucal)
- mahkatangung - "dogs" (plural)
Almost all languages with a paucal also have a dual.[73][74] However, this is not universal. Nouns in Mocoví only have singular, paucal, and plural.[73][75] On the other hand, the pronouns in Mussau[76][77] and Lihir[78] have dual, trial, and paucal.