paucal

In languages where noun phrases are pluralized using a specific function word (pluralizer), this function word is tagged DET and Number=Plur is its lexical feature. [sl] singular glas “voice”, dual glasova “voices”, plural glasovi “voices” [ar] singular سَنَةٌ sanatun “year”, dual سَنَتَانِ sanatāni “years”, plural سِنُونَ sinūna “years”. A greater paucal noun denotes “more than several but not many” persons, animals or things. It occurs in Sursurunga, an Austronesian language. A greater plural noun denotes “many, all possible” persons, animals or things. Precise semantics varies across languages. Inverse number means non-default for that particular noun. (Some nouns are by default assumed to be singular, some dual or plural.) Occurs e.g. in Kiowa. [kio] ę́:dè sân khópdɔ́: “This child is sick.” (basic, singular) [kio] ę́:dè sân ę̀khópdɔ́: “These two children are sick.” (basic, dual) [kio] ę́:gɔ̀ są̂:dɔ̀ èkhópdɔ́: “These children are sick.” (inverse, plural) In Bulgarian and Macedonian, this form is known variously as “counting form”, “count plural” or “quantitative plural” (Sussex and Cubberley 2006, p. 324). (The form originates in the Proto-Slavic dual but it should not be marked Number=Dual because 1. the dual vanished from Bulgarian and 2. the form is no longer semantically tied to the number two.) Other languages (e.g., Russian) have forms that are not necessarily related to dual, yet they are used exclusively with numerals. Some nouns appear only in the plural form even though they denote one thing (semantic singular); some tagsets mark this distinction. Grammatically they behave like plurals, so Plur is obviously the back-off value here; however, if the language also marks gender, the non-existence of singular form sometimes means that the gender is unknown. In Czech, special type of numerals is used when counting nouns that are plurale tantum (NumType = Sets). Sussex, Roland and Cubberley, Paul. 2006. The Slavic Languages. Cambridge University Press.