Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ    Attic   

Feminization of plurals?

From:Adnan Majid <dsamajid@...>
Date:Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 3:17
Hi everyone,

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on some parallels I see between
Arabic and Latin in the grammar of plurals. In Arabic for instance, the
'broken' plurals of object nouns - 'kutub' (books), 'wujuh' (faces), 'anfus'
(souls), etc. - are used as though they are grammatically feminine and
singular rather than plural. It recently struck me that the plurals of
neuter Latin nouns in the nominative/accusative case - 'nomina' (names),
'corda' (hearts), 'dona' (gifts), etc. - can be said to look fairly
'feminine singular' as well.

I was wondering whether anyone knew of other examples in natural languages
where the plurals of neuter/object nouns take on some sort of 'feminine
singular' persona, so to speak. I'm thinking of incorporating such a feature
into my Latin/Greek based conlang. Has anyone tried this before?

Thanks, and take care!

Adnan

Replies

Steven A. Williams <ignisglaciesque@...>
Edgard Bikelis <bikelis@...>
Lars Finsen <lars.finsen@...>