Plurality and number

Singularis is the marking of the noun if it refers to an entity only. Often languages distinguish between singularis and non-singularis. The term used for these two forms are singular and plural. While singular is generally the unmarked form, plural is usually marked. Depending on the morphosyntactic properties of the language under investigation, plural can be expressed on various lexical items such as nouns [Lexicon – Section 3.1], verbs [Lexicon – Section 3.2], adjectives [Lexicon – Section 3.4], number words [Lexicon – Section 3.10.1], quantifiers [Lexicon – Section 3.10.2] or classifier constructions [Morphology – Section 5]. Since number can be encoded in various expressions, this section is linked to other sections discussing lexical, morphological, and syntactic aspects of the grammatical realization of plural and number. For the grammatical implementation of plurality and number, the grammar writer is referred to the Lexicon section on numerals and quantifiers [Lexicon – Section 3.10], the Morphology sections on verbal number markers [Morphology – Section 3.1.2] and nominal number inflection [Morphology – Section 4.1] and the Syntax section on numerals [Syntax – Section 4.3].