Re: No plural morpheme

On Nov 24, 2007 1:34 PM, caeruleancentaur <caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:
> I enjoy reading fantasy lit.  Sometimes the authors use archaic
> language in the mouths of some of the characters.  I recently read one
> character saying, "It's seven mile away...."
>
> I'm trying to keep Senjecan grammar as uncluttered as possible.  I
> thought that I might not use a plural morpheme if the plurality of the
> noun was obvious as when, say, a number qualified the noun.
>
> What are your experiences with this in either a natlang or your
> conlang?  I believe that Japanese does this.
I believe Hungarian does this - not adding a plural morpheme when the
noun is already quantified.

German does this to a lesser extent, only with (most?) units of
measurement and currency. "Der Stab ist fünf Fuß lang" (not *"fünf
Füße"), "the rod is five foot long"; "Das Buch kostet zwanzig Pfund"
(not *"zwanzig Pfunde"), "The book costs twenty pound".

English does this to an even lesser extent in that you talk about a
"ten-foot pole" rather than a *"ten-feet pole".

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>