Singulative number
In linguistics, singulative number and collective number (abbreviated SGV and COL) are terms used when the grammatical number for multiple items is the unmarked form of a noun, and the noun is specially marked to indicate a single item. When a language using a collective-singulative system does mark plural number overtly, that form is called the plurative.
This is the opposite of the more common singular–plural pattern, where a noun is unmarked when it represents one item, and is marked to represent more than one item.
Greenberg's linguistic universal #35 implies that no language is purely singulative-collective.[citation needed]
Examples
Welsh vs. English
Welsh has two systems of grammatical number, singular–plural and collective–singulative. Plurals are unpredictable and formed in several ways: by adding a suffix to the end of the word (usually [-au] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), as in [tad] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and [tadau] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), through vowel mutation, as in [bachgen] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and [bechgyn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), or through a combination of the two, as in [chwaer] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and [chwiorydd] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help). Other nouns take the singulative suffixes [-yn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (for masculine nouns) or [-en] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (for feminine nouns). Most nouns which inflect according to this system designate objects that are frequently found in groups, for example adar "birds/flock of birds", aderyn "bird"; mefus "a bed of strawberries", mefusen "a strawberry"; [plant] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "children", [plentyn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "a child"; and [coed] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "forest", [coeden] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "a tree". Still other nouns use suffixes for both singular and plural forms (e.g. [merlen] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "pony", [merlod "ponies"] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)); these are similar to nouns formed from other categories of words (e.g. [cardod] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "charity" gives rise to [cardotyn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "beggar" and [cardotwyr] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "beggars").
A collective form, such as the Welsh [moch] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "pigs" is more basic than the singular form ([mochyn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) "pig"). It is generally the collective form which is used as an adjectival modifier, e.g. cig moch ("pig meat", "pork"). The collective form is therefore similar in many respects to an English mass noun such as "rice", which in fact refers to a collection of items which are logically countable. However, English has no productive process of forming singulative nouns (just phrases such as "a grain of rice"). Therefore, English cannot be said to have singulative number.
Other
In Arabic grammar, the singulative is called اسم الوحدة, "noun of unity". It is formed by the suffixes ة -a(t) and ي -ī. The former applies to animals, plants, and inanimate objects,[1] e.g. قمح qamḥ "wheat", قمحه qamḥa(t) "a grain of wheat"; حجر ḥajar 'rocks' or 'rock' (the material in general), حجرة ḥajara(t) 'a rock'; شجر shajar 'trees', شجرة shajara(t) 'a tree'; بقر baqar 'cattle'; بقرة baqara(t) 'a cow'. The latter suffix applies to sentient beings, e.g., جند jund 'army', جندي jundī 'a soldier'; جن jinn (collective), جني jinnī (singulative); زنج zinj 'the negro race' (collective), زنجى zinjī 'a negro' (singulative).
Singulative markers are found throughout the Nilo-Saharan languages. Majang, for example, has collective ŋɛɛti 'lice', singulative ŋɛɛti-n 'louse'. (Bender 1983:124).
In Russian, which is basically of singular–plural system, the singular suffix '-in-' performs the singulative function for collective nouns:[2] skot (cattle) vs. skotina (one head of cattle, here the affix '-a' indicates the feminine form) The same with Ukrainian suffix '-yn-': pisok (sand) vs. pischyna (grain of sand)[2]
See also
References
- ^ Wright, William. A Grammar of the Arabic language. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 147. ISBN 1-84356-028-3.
- ^ a b p 47
Bibliography
- Bender, M. Lionel. 1983. "Majang phonology and morphology". In Nilo-Saharan Language Studies, 114-147. East Lansing: Michigan State University.
- Corbett, Greville G. 2000. Number. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33845-X
- Tiersma, Peter Meijes. 1982. "Local and General Markedness." Language 58.4: 832-849