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Re: QUESTION: types of plurals, few/many

From:JS Bangs <jaspax@...>
Date:Thursday, June 20, 2002, 19:15
Karapcik, Mike sikyal:

> Single is obvious: one entity. > Small plural is generally used for groups of five or less. Also, if > referring to a group, it would be used to refer to a subgroup that has a > distinct (usually one fifth) minority, and is in some way distinguishable. > Large plural is used for six(ish) or more, and large or majority > groups within a larger definable group.
This is completely natural, and I *would* count on it lasting for a long time. Like another poster said, this is called "singular, paucal, plural," and while I don't know any specific examples I know that it does occur in natlangs. The lists of possible uses that you give is also well-though out and covers a good set of semantic possibilities. I'm slightly suspicious of the use of the paucal for perjorative things, but it's not impossible. More likely, I think, is that over time the plural might come to have a distributive or collective meaning, and eventually become lexicalized. E.g. originally you have "person, few-persons, many-persons," but over time "many-persons" would come to mean "people group, populus," which then might be given its own plural form. Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/ "If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time." --G.K. Chesterton