Re: USAGE: Count and mass nouns

Staving Nik Taylor:
>Philippe Caquant wrote:
> > So what about trial (is that the word ? I mean 3 items
> > together). Much more difficult to find examples,
> > except for the Holy Trinity, isn't it ? Yet there seem
> > to be some languages including that concept. Is it
> > justified ?
>
>Why not?  Dual doesn't *have* to be a paired set, nor is plural a
>natural set, so why should other numbers have to a natural set?
>
>ObConlang, in the first person, my Uatakassi has singular, dual
>(specifically inclusive), paucal, and plural.  For dual-exclusive, the
>paucal is also used.
Khangaþyagon has singular and plural.
Wavoragon, which is spoken by a semi-nomadic herdsman society, found it
necessary to distinguish between known and unknown quantities, and so
developed a multiple number for known quantities.
"The Smiths' Language" is spoken by the Iron People, descendents of the
Wavolar who regard the number two as sacred. They therefore added a dual
number.
"The Coastal Language" is spoken by descendants of the Iron People who
founded a port city at the mouth of one of Huna's major rivers. They came
to regard everything as having its own "natural quantity". A system of
genders evolved around this. In each gender one of the numbers was absorbed
into another. Objects that form natural pairs belong to the Corporeal
gender, in which the singular has been absorbed into the dual.

Pete

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