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").
One widespread distinction, found in English and many other languages, involves a simple two-way contrast between singular and plural number (car/cars, child/children, etc.).
However, many of these languages compensate[clarification needed] for the lack of grammatical number with an extensive system of measure words.
For example, in Camsá:[15] In languages with a singular/dual/plural paradigm, the exact meaning of plural depends on whether the dual is obligatory or facultative (optional).
[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.
[31] 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.
[c] For example, trial pronouns were once described as being found in all the Kiwaian languages,[98][99] but it is now recognized that many actually have a paucal instead.
[146][147] While the apparent Marshallese quadral can mean exactly four, it also has an alternate rhetorical use in speeches to larger groups in order to impart a sense of individual intimacy.
Robert Blust and others have said they exist in some of the Austronesian Kenyah languages, specifically the highland Lepoʼ Sawa dialect spoken in Long Anap.
[155] Outside the Austronesian family, Abun storytelling reportedly frequently contains quadral pronouns in addition to trial ones.
[69] Perhaps the only known spoken language outside Oceania to have a claimed quadral is Apinayé of Brazil, recorded as having a third person pronominal prefix meaning "they four", although this has been little researched or described.
For example, in Bislama, the numerals tu (two) and tri (three) are contained within the second person pronouns yutufala (dual) and yutrifala (trial).
Linguist Susan McBurney has contended that American Sign Language has a true dual, but that the trial, quadral, and quintal should instead be classified as numeral incorporation rather than grammatical number.
[170] Other authors have treated these concepts as perfectly equivalent, referring to pronoun numeral incorporation while still applying the terms quadral and quintal.
[200] There are also languages which regularly employ different number systems with a dual, trial, paucal, or greater plural in addition to a general:
[239][240] A four-way system of minimal, unit augmented, paucal, and plural is theoretically possible, but has never been observed in any natural language.
[244] In Breton[241] and Classical Arabic,[246][247] as well as in Somali[248] and Maasai,[249] some nouns may compose the plural with itself, to mean multiple different groups.
[271][272] Some nouns in Navajo have also been described as working this way, such as:[273] Similarly, although Larike pronouns exhibit singular, dual, trial, and plural, they can only be used for human referents.
[282] The nondual violates a proposed universal of conflated systems, namely that they will always encompass every value except plural.
[294] The distributive plural denotes multiple entities that are separated and distinct, either in physical space, through time, or by type.
Lapurrak bi etxeetan sartu dira ("The thieves have broken in both houses" [definite plural: both are known to the speakers]).
Lapurrak bi etxeotan sartu dira ("The thieves have broken in these two houses" [definite close plural: both are being shown by the speaker]).
[319] Modern Russian has a singular vs plural number system, but the declension of noun phrases containing numeral expressions follows complex rules.
The third logical possibility, found in only a few languages such as Welsh and Sinhala, is an unmarked plural contrasting with marked singular.
Many languages, such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Malay (including Indonesian), particularly spoken in Southeast and East Asia, have optional number marking.
In many such languages, number tends to be marked for definite and highly animate referents, most notably first-person pronouns.
[325] The plural form of a pronoun may also be applied to a single individual as a sign of importance, respect or generality, as in the pluralis majestatis, the T–V distinction, and the generic "you", found in many languages, or, in English, when using the singular "they" for gender-neutrality.
For example: but A collective noun is a word that designates a group of objects or beings regarded as a whole, such as "flock", "team", or "corporation".