Grammatical number#Russian

Most languages of the world have formal means to express differences of number. One widespread distinction, found in English and many other languages, involves a simple two-way contrast between singular and plural number (car/cars, child/children, etc.). Discussion of other more elaborate systems of number appears below.

Grammatical number is a morphological category characterized by the expression of quantity through inflection or agreement. As an example, consider the English sentences below:

{{block indent |left=1.5 |text={{plainlist}}

• That apple on the table is fresh.
• Those two apples on the table are fresh.

{{endplainlist}}}}

The quantity of apples is marked on the noun—"apple" singular number (one item) vs. "apples" plural number (more than one item)—on the demonstrative, that/those, and on the verb, is/are. In the second sentence, all this information is redundant, since quantity is already indicated by the numeral two.

A language has grammatical number when its noun forms are subdivided into morphological classes according to the quantity they express, such that:

1. Every noun form belongs to a number class (they are partitioned into disjoint classes by number).
2. Noun modifiers (such as adjectives) and verbs may also have different forms for each number subclass and inflect to match the number of the nouns they modify or agree with (number is an agreement category).

This is partly true for English: every noun and pronoun form is singular or plural (a few, such as "fish", "cannon" and "you", can be either, according to context). Some modifiers of nouns—namely the demonstrative determiners—and finite verbs inflect to agree with the number of the noun forms they modify or have as subject: this car and these cars are correct, while *this cars and *these car are incorrect. However, adjectives do not inflect for and many verb forms do not distinguish between singular and plural ("She/They went", "She/They can go", "She/They had gone", "She/They will go").

Many languages distinguish between count nouns and mass nouns. Only count nouns can be freely used in the singular and in the plural. Mass nouns, like "milk", "gold", and "furniture", are normally invariant.{{cite journal |last=Nicolas |first=David |date=2008 |title=Mass Nouns and Plural Logic |url=http://d.a.nicolas.free.fr/pdf/Nicolas-Mass-nouns-and-plural-logic.pdf |journal=Linguistics and Philosophy |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=211–244 [213] |doi=10.1007/s10988-008-9033-2 |s2cid=13755223 |access-date=2024-01-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419230012/http://d.a.nicolas.free.fr/pdf/Nicolas-Mass-nouns-and-plural-logic.pdf |archive-date=2022-04-19 }} (In some cases, a normally mass noun X may be used as a count noun to collect several distinct kinds of X into an enumerable group; for example, a cheesemaker might speak of goat, sheep, and cow milk as milks.)

Not all languages have number as a grammatical category. In those that do not, quantity must be expressed either directly, with numerals, or indirectly, through optional quantifiers. However, many of these languages compensate{{clarify|date=February 2015}} for the lack of grammatical number with an extensive system of measure words.

Joseph Greenberg has proposed a number category hierarchy as a linguistic universal: "No language has a trial number unless it has a dual. No language has a dual unless it has a plural."{{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Joseph H. |author-link=Joseph Greenberg |editor-last=Greenberg |editor-first=Joseph H. |editor-link=Joseph Greenberg |year=1966 |orig-year=1963 |title=Universals of Language |chapter=Some Universals of Grammar with Particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=M.I.T Press |pages=73–113 [94] }} This hierarchy does not account for the paucal.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=39 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

Obligatory plural marking of all nouns is found throughout the languages of western and northern Eurasia and most parts of Africa. The rest of the world's languages present a heterogeneous picture. Optional plural marking is common in Southeast and East Asia and Australian languages, and complete lack of plural marking is particularly found in New Guinea and Australian languages. In addition to the areal correlations, there also seems to be at least one correlation with morphological typology: isolating languages appear to favor no or non-obligatory plural marking. This can be seen particularly in Africa, where optionality or absence of plural marking is found particularly in the isolating languages of West Africa.{{Citation | last = Good | first = JC | title = Kwa noun | publisher = Buffalo | url = http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jcgood/jcgood-KwaNoun.pdf}}{{Citation | chapter = 34 | title = Occurrence of Nominal Plurality | publisher = Wals | chapter-url = http://wals.info/chapter/34}}

{{Main |Plural}}

One of the simplest number distinctions a language can make is singular and plural. Singular denotes exactly one referent, while plural denotes more than one referent. For example, in English:{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=5–6 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

• dog (singular, one)
• dogs (plural, two or more)

To mark number, English has different singular and plural forms for nouns and verbs (in the third person): "my dog watches television" (singular) and "my dogs watch television" (plural). This is not universal: Wambaya marks number on nouns but not verbs,{{cite book |last=Nordlinger |first=Rachel |author-link=Rachel Nordlinger |year=1998 |title=A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 140 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=72–78, 157–158 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281594172 |access-date=2024-03-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310162854/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachel-Nordlinger/publication/281594172_A_Grammar_of_Wambaya/links/55ef7b5b08aedecb68fdb346/A-Grammar-of-Wambaya.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-10 |isbn=0-85883-481-2 }} and Onondaga marks number on verbs but not nouns.{{cite book |last=Chafe |first=Wallace L. |author-link=Wallace Chafe |year=1970 |title=A Semantically Based Sketch of Onondaga |series=Indiana University Publications in Anthropology and Linguistics, Memoir 25 of the International Journal of American Linguistics (Supplement to Vol. 36, No. 2) |location=Baltimore |publisher=Waverly Press |page=31 }} Latin has different singular and plural forms for nouns, verbs, and adjectives, in contrast to English where adjectives do not change for number.{{cite book |last=Wheelock |first=Frederic M. |author-link=Frederic M. Wheelock |others=Revised by Richard A. LaFleur |year=2011 |title=Wheelock's Latin |edition=7th |location=New York |publisher=Collins Reference |pages=2–4, 14–15 |isbn=978-0-06-199722-8 }} Tundra Nenets can mark singular and plural on nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and postpositions.{{cite book |last=Nikolaeva |first=Irina |author-link=Irina Nikolaeva (linguist) |year=2014 |title=A Grammar of Tundra Nenets |series=Mouton Grammar Library, vol. 65 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=9–10, 50, 57–59, 78–80, 151–154, 178–180, 188 |isbn=978-3-11-032064-0 }} However, the most common part of speech to show a number distinction is pronouns.{{cite book |last=Forchheimer |first=Paul |year=1953 |title=The Category of Person in Language |language=en, de |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=12–13 }}{{cite book |last=Daniel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Daniel (linguist) |editor-last1=Haspelmath |editor-first1=Martin |editor-link1=Martin Haspelmath |editor-last2=Dryer |editor-first2=Matthew S. |editor-link2=Matthew Dryer |editor-last3=Gil |editor-first3=David |editor-link3=David Gil (linguist) |editor-last4=Comrie |editor-first4=Bernard |editor-link4=Bernard Comrie |year=2005 |title=The World Atlas of Language Structures |chapter=Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns |chapter-url=https://wals.info/chapter/35 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=146–149 [146] |access-date=2024-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121142453/https://wals.info/chapter/35 |archive-date=2024-01-21 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3606197 |isbn=978-0-19-925591-7 }} An example of a personal pronoun system distinguishing singular and plural is that of Wayoró:{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=de Souza Nogueira |first=Antônia Fernanda |year=2019 |title={{lang|pt|Predicação na Língua Wayoro (Tupi): Propriedades de Finitude|cat=no}} |language=pt |url=https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-14082019-101006/publico/2019_AntoniaFernandaDeSouzaNogueira_VCorr.pdf |page=15 |publisher=University of São Paulo |access-date=2024-02-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619105256/https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-14082019-101006/publico/2019_AntoniaFernandaDeSouzaNogueira_VCorr.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-19 }}

{{Main |Dual (grammatical number)}}

Like the singular denotes exactly one item, the dual number denotes exactly two items. For example, in Camsá:{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=O’Brien |first=Colleen Alena |year=2018 |title=A Grammatical Description of Kamsá, a Language Isolate of Colombia |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0beccac0-d860-408b-8f8c-b2fff182e7ab/content |page=67 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |access-date=2023-03-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206064627/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0beccac0-d860-408b-8f8c-b2fff182e7ab/content |archive-date=2022-12-06 }}

• {{lang|kbh|kes̈}} - "dog" (singular)
• {{lang|kbh|kes̈at}} - "two dogs" (dual)
• {{lang|kbh|kes̈ëng}} - "dogs" (plural)

In languages with a singular/dual/plural paradigm, the exact meaning of plural depends on whether the dual is obligatory or facultative (optional).{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=42–44 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} In contrast to English and other singular/plural languages where plural means two or more, in languages with an obligatory dual, plural strictly means three or more. This is the case for Sanskrit,{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=43 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} North Mansi,{{cite book |last1=Bakró-Nagy |first1=Marianne |last2=Sipőcz |first2=Katalin |last3=Skribnik |first3=Elena |editor-last1=Bakró-Nagy |editor-first1=Marianne |editor-last2=Laakso |editor-first2=Johanna |editor-link2=Johanna Laakso |editor-last3=Skribnik |editor-first3=Elena |year=2022 |title=The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=537–564 [541–542] |chapter=North Mansi |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198767664.003.0029 |isbn=978-0-19-876766-4 }} and Alutiiq.{{cite book |author-last1=Counceller |author-first1= April {{lang|ems|Isiik|cat=no}} G. L. |author-last2=Chya |author-first2=Dehrich {{lang|ems|Isuwiq|cat=no}} |year=2023 |title=Kodiak Alutiiq Language Textbook |edition=1st |location=Kodiak, AK |publisher=Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository |pages=31–33, 35, 54, 67, 116–117, 153–157, 168–169, 193, 201 |url=https://alutiiqmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/KodiakAlutiiqLanguageTextbook_FINAL.pdf |access-date=2024-03-10 |archive-date=2024-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215163545/https://alutiiqmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/KodiakAlutiiqLanguageTextbook_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live |isbn=978-1-929650-25-5 }} In languages with a facultative dual, two of something can be referred to using either the dual or the plural, and so plural means two or more. This is the case for modern Arabic dialects,{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=44, 207 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} at least some Inuktitut dialects,{{cite journal |last1=Alorut |first1=Raigelee |last2=Johns |first2=Alana |date=2016 |title=The Use of the Dual in Some Inuit Dialects: The Importance of {{lang|naq|Tirliaq|cat=no}} |url=https://ajohns.artsci.utoronto.ca/AlorutJohnsDualApril.pdf |journal=Amerindia |volume=38, Questions de Sémantique Inuit / Topics in Inuit Semantics |pages=111–128 |access-date=2024-01-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121063037/https://ajohns.artsci.utoronto.ca/AlorutJohnsDualApril.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-21 }} and Yandruwandha.{{cite book |last=Breen |first=Gavan |author-link=Gavan Breen |year=2004 |title=Innamincka Talk: A Grammar of the Innamincka Dialect of Yandruwandha with Notes on Other Dialects |series=Pacific Linguistics 558 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=87, 113 |isbn=0-85883-547-9 }} In some languages, the dual is obligatory in certain cases but facultative in others. In Slovene, it is obligatory for pronouns but facultative for nouns.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=93–94 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} In Comanche, it is obligatory when referring to humans, facultative for other animate nouns, and rarely used for inanimate nouns.{{cite book |last=Charney |first=Jean Ormsbee |year=1993 |title=A Grammar of Comanche |series=Studies in the Anthropology of North American Indians |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |pages=49–50 |isbn=0-8032-1461-8 }}

There are also languages where use of the dual number is more restricted than singular and plural. In the possessive noun forms of Northern Sámi, the possessor can be in the dual number, but the noun possessed can only be singular or plural.{{cite book |last1=Kahn |first1=Lily |last2=Valijärvi |first2=Riitta-Liisa |year=2017 |title=North Sámi: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=71–94 |doi=10.4324/9781315733487 |isbn=978-1-315-73348-7 }} Pronouns are the only part of speech with a dual form in some Polynesian languages, including Samoan,{{cite book |last1=Mosel |first1=La'i Ulrike |author-link=Ulrike Mosel |last2=So'o |first2=Ainslie |year=1997 |title=Say it in Samoan |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series D-88 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=8, 28–32, 40, 69–71 |isbn=0-85883-459-6 }} Tuvaluan,{{cite book |last=Besnier |first=Niko |year=2000 |title=Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific |series=Descriptive Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=xxiv, 359, 382 |isbn=0-203-02712-4 }}{{efn|As a small possible exception, the Tuvaluan verb for 'to go' has a special form in the first person dual inclusive future imperative.{{cite book |last=Besnier |first=Niko |year=2000 |title=Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific |series=Descriptive Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=39 |isbn=0-203-02712-4 }}}} and Māori.{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Winifred |year=1993 |title=Maori |series=Descriptive Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=250, 252, 348–349, 362, 365 |isbn=0-203-40372-X }} In Maltese, the dual only exists for about 30 specific nouns, of which it is obligatory for only 8 (hour, day, week, month, year, once, hundred, and thousand). Words that can take a facultative dual in Maltese include egg, branch, tear, and wicker basket.{{cite journal |last=Fenech |first=Edward |date=1996 |title=Functions of the Dual Suffix in Maltese |url=https://linguistica.sns.it/RdL/8.1/Fenech.pdf |journal=Rivista di Linguistica |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=89–99 [94–95] |access-date=2024-01-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715211206/https://linguistica.sns.it/RdL/8.1/Fenech.pdf |archive-date=2020-07-15 }} In Mezquital Otomi, the dual can only be used by an adult male speaking to another adult male.{{cite journal |last=Palancar |first=Enrique L. |date=2013 |title=The Evolution of Number in Otomi |journal=Studies in Language |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=94–143 [124] |doi=10.1075/sl.37.1.03pal |s2cid=55795751 }}

Dual number existed in all nouns and adjectives of Proto-Indo-European around 4000 BCE, and was inherited in some form in many of its prehistoric, protohistoric, ancient, and medieval descendents. Only rarely has it persisted in Indo-European languages to the modern day. It survived in Proto-Germanic in the first and second person pronouns, where it was then inherited by Old English, Old High German, Old Low German, Early Old Swedish, Old Norwegian, Old Icelandic, and Gothic. It continued in Icelandic until the 1700s, some dialects of Faroese until at least the late 1800s, and some dialects of North Frisian through the 1900s.{{cite Q |Q131605459 |first=Don |last=Ringe |author-link=Donald Ringe |pages=4, 22, 31, 33, 35–42, 47–58, 233 |mode=cs1 }}{{cite book |last=Howe |first=Stephen |year=1996 |title=The Personal Pronouns in the Germanic Languages: A Study of Personal Pronoun Morphology and Change in the Germanic Languages from the First Records to the Present Day |series=Studia Linguistica Germanica 43 |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=127, 131–133, 135, 193–195, 242, 244–245, 256–258, 292–293, 315, 320–321, 341–342, 348–350 |isbn=3-11-014636-3}} From Proto-Greek it entered Ancient Greek,{{cite encyclopedia |last=Filos |first=Panagiotis |editor-last=Giannakis |editor-first=G. K. |year=2014 |encyclopedia=Brill Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics |title=Proto-Greek and Common Greek |volume=3, P-Z, Index |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |pages=180–181 |url=https://www.academia.edu/371919 |access-date=2023-12-11 |archive-date=2022-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408064850/https://www.academia.edu/37191974 |url-status=live |isbn=978-90-04-26111-2}}{{cite encyclopedia |last=Viti |first=Carlotta |editor-last=Giannakis |editor-first=G. K. |year=2014 |encyclopedia=Brill Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics |title=Dual |volume=1, A-F |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |pages=533–534 |isbn=978-90-04-26109-9}} and from Proto-Indo-Iranian it entered Sanskrit.{{cite book |last=Kümmel |first=Martin Joachim |editor-last=Olander |editor-first=Thomas |year=2022 |title=The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=253, 259–261 |chapter=Indo-Iranian |isbn=978-1-108-49979-8}} From Proto-Slavic, it still exists today in Slovene and the Sorbian languages.{{cite book |last=Slobodchikoff |first=Tatyana G. |year=2019 |title=The Evolution of the Slavic Dual: A Biolinguistic Perspective |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Lexington Books |pages=5–6 |isbn=978-1-4985-7925-4}} Indo-European languages that have long ago lost the dual still sometimes have residual traces of it, such as the English distinctions both vs. all, either vs. any, and neither vs. none. The Norwegian {{lang|no|både}}, cognate with English both, has further evolved to be able to refer to more than two items, as in {{lang|no|både epler, pærer, og druer}}, literally "both apples, pears, and grapes."{{cite book |last1=Strandskogen |first1=Åse-Berit |last2=Strandskogen |first2=Rolf |translator-last1=White |translator-first1=Barbara |year=1995 |orig-date=1986 |title=Norwegian: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=117 |isbn=0-415-10979-5 }}

The trial number denotes exactly three items. For example, in Awa:{{cite book |author-last1=Loving |author-first1=Richard |author-last2=Loving |author-first2=Aretta |editor-last=McKaughan |editor-first=Howard |year=1973 |title=The Languages of the Eastern Family of the East New Guinea Highland Stock |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_awb_morsyn-2/page/n1/mode/2up |series=Anthropological Studies in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea, vol. 1 |location=Seattle |publisher=University of Washington Press |chapter=A Preliminary Survey of Awa Noun Suffixes |pages=19–30 [20] |isbn=0-295-95132-X }}

• {{lang|awb|iya}} - "dog" (singular)
• {{lang|awb|iyatade}} - "two dogs" (dual)
• {{lang|awb|iyatado}} - "three dogs" (trial)
• {{lang|awb|iyamadi}} - "dogs" (plural)

It is rare for a language to mark the trial on nouns,{{cite web |url=https://grambank.clld.org/parameters/GB165#2/21.0/151.9 |title=Feature GB165: Is there productive morphological trial marking on nouns? |last=Skirgård |first=Hedvig |date=2023-04-19 |website=Grambank |version=1.0.3 |publisher=The Grambank Consortium |access-date=2024-03-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316083655/https://grambank.clld.org/parameters/GB165#2/21.0/151.9 |archive-date=2024-03-16 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.7844558 |quote=Trial marking is not common...absent[:] 2125...present[:] 8 }} and some sources even claim that trial marking on nouns does not exist.{{cite book |last1=Acquaviva |first1=Paolo |last2=Daniel |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in Grammar: Results and Perspectives |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=833–910 [868] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}{{cite book |last=Velupillai |first=Viveka |year=2012 |title=An Introduction to Linguistic Typology |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |page=161 |isbn=978-90-272-7350-5 }} However, it has been recorded for a few languages; besides Awa, Arabana,{{cite book |last=Hercus |first=Luise A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 128 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=64 |isbn=0-85883-425-1}}{{cite journal |last=Hercus |first=L. A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |date=1966 |title=Some Aspects of the Form and Use of the Trial Number in Victorian Languages and in Arabana |journal=Mankind |volume=6 |issue=8 |pages=335–337 |doi=10.1111/j.1835-9310.1966.tb00370.x |access-date=2023-12-04 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1966.tb00370.x}} Urama,{{cite book |author-last1=Brown |author-first1=Jason |author-last2=Muir |author-first2=Alex |author-last3=Craig |author-first3=Kimberley |author-last4=Anea |author-first4=Karika |year=2016 |title=A Short Grammar of Urama |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |series=Asia-Pacific Linguistics 32 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=25–27 |isbn=978-1-922185-22-8 |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107232500/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-07 }} and Angaataha have trial number.{{cite report |author-last1=Eko |author-first1=Robert |author-last2=Graham |author-first2=Mack |date=2014 |title=Tentative Grammar Description for the Angaataha Language Spoken in Morobe Province |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/68/79/30/68793084489869111853398100027121511296/Angaataha_Tentative_Grammar_Description_final.pdf |publisher=SIL International |page=9 |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-date=2023-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208134706/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/68/79/30/68793084489869111853398100027121511296/Angaataha_Tentative_Grammar_Description_final.pdf |url-status=live }} It is much more common for a language to have trial pronouns, the case for the Austronesian languages of Larike,{{cite journal |last1=Laidig |first1=Wyn D. |last2=Laidig |first2=Carol J. |date=1990 |title=Larike Pronouns: Duals and Trials in a Central Moluccan Language |series=A Special Issue on Western Austronesian Languages |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=87–109 [90] |doi=10.2307/3623187 |jstor=3623187 }}{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=21 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} Tolai,{{cite book |last=Mosel |first=Ulrike |author-link=Ulrike Mosel |year=1984 |title=Tolai Syntax and its Historical Development |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608413.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - no. 92 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=41, 93–94, 108 |isbn=0-85883-309-3 |access-date=2024-01-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240126061458/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608413.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-26 }} Raga,{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |editor-last1=Lynch |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Lynch (linguist) |editor-last2=Ross |editor-first2=Malcolm |editor-link2=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last3=Crowley |editor-first3=Terry |editor-link3=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2011 |orig-year=2002 |title=The Oceanic Languages |series=Routledge Language Family Series |chapter=Raga |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=626–637 [633] |isbn=978-0-203-82038-4}} and Wamesa.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Gasser |first=Emily Anne |year=2014 |title=Windesi Wamesa Morphophonology |url=https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ling_graduate |pages=192-193, 194n21, 249-250 |publisher=Yale University |access-date=2024-01-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108075941/https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ling_graduate |archive-date=2023-01-08 }} A minimal example is Nukna, which has only a single trial pronoun, {{lang|klt|nanggula}}, which can be either 2nd or 3rd person.{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Matthew A. |year=2015 |title=Nukna Grammar Sketch |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 61 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/08/75/150875318491925844995926613370844010827/Nukna_Grammar_Sketch_A5.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |pages=38–39 |access-date=2024-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208154404/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/08/75/150875318491925844995926613370844010827/Nukna_Grammar_Sketch_A5.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-08 |isbn=978-9980-0-3990-3 }} The trial may also be marked on verbs, such as in Lenakel.{{cite book |author-last=Lynch |author-first=John |author-link=John Lynch (linguist) |year=1978 |title=A Grammar of Lenakel |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146494/1/PL-B55.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 55 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=55–58 |access-date=2024-03-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013104723/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146494/1/PL-B55.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-13 |isbn=0-85883-166-X }}

While the dual can be obligatory or facultative, according to Greville Corbett there are no known cases of an obligatory trial, so the trial might always be facultative. However, languages may have both a facultative dual and a facultative trial, like in Larike, or an obligatory dual and a facultative trial, like in Ngan'gi.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=22n15, 43–45 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

Most languages with a trial are in the Austronesian family, and most non-Austronesian languages with a trial are nearby in Oceania.{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=197 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}} The latter category includes the Austronesian-influenced English creole languages of Tok Pisin,{{cite book |last=Verhaar |first=John W. M. |year=1995 |title=Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin: An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication no. 26 |pages=19–20 |isbn=978-0-8248-1672-8}} Bislama,{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2004 |title=Bislama Reference Grammar |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |location=Honolulu |volume=31 |pages=26, 46–47 |jstor=20006778|isbn=978-0-8248-2880-6}} and Pijin.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Beimers |first=Gerry David |year=2008 |title=Pijin: A Grammar of Solomon Islands Pidgin |url=https://rune.une.edu.au/1959.11/2367 |pages=92, 236–237 |publisher=University of New England |access-date=2023-12-04}} In Australia, the trial can also be found in Aboriginal languages of many different language families.{{efn|This includes:

{{columns-list|gap=0em|

• Pama–Nyungan - Arabana{{cite book |last=Hercus |first=Luise A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 128 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=64–66, 91–92, 105, 109, 121–122, 124, 127 |isbn=0-85883-425-1}}
• Macro-Gunwinyguan - Anindilyakwa{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=van Egmond |first=Marie-Elaine |year=2012 |title=Enindhilyakwa Phonology, Morphosyntax and Genetic Position |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/8747 |page=85-86, 107-108, 138, 388 |publisher=University of Sydney |access-date=2024-01-04}}{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=22 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
• Iwaidjan - Amurdak{{cite book |last=Mailhammer |first=Robert |editor-last1=Hanna |editor-first1=Patrizia Noel Aziz |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=Laura Catharine |year=2022 |title=Linguistic Preferences |series=Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs, vol. 358 |location=Berlin |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |chapter=Amurdak Intersyllabic Phonotactics and Morphophonemic Alternations as Motivated by the Contact Law |pages=49–70 [58] |isbn=978-3-11-072146-1 }}
• Western Daly - Marrithiyel{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Green |first=Ian |year=1989 |title=Marrithiyel, A Language of the Daly River Region of the Northern Territory |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/10926 |pages=1, 74-75, 138-139 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2023-11-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224075849/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/10926/6/Green%20I%20Thesis%201989.pdf |archive-date=2022-12-24}}
• Southern Daly - Ngan'gi{{cite journal |last=Blythe |first=Joe |date=2013 |title=Preference Organization Driving Structuration: Evidence from Australian Aboriginal Interaction for Pragmatically Motivated Grammaticalization |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Lg_89_4_Blythe.pdf |journal=Language |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=883-919 [889-890, 895] |doi=10.1353/lan.2013.0057 |hdl=11343/43148 |s2cid=1574534 |access-date=2023-12-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204172821/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Lg_89_4_Blythe.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-04}}
• Wagaydyic - Wadjiginy{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Ford |first=Lysbeth Julie |year=1990 |title=The Phonology and Morphology of Bachamal (Wogait) |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/10815/8/Ford_L_Master_1990.pdf |page=95-98 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2023-11-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303061205/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/10815/8/Ford_L_Master_1990.pdf |archive-date=2020-03-03}}
• Worrorran - Worrorra{{cite book |last=Clendon |first=Mark |year=2014 |title=Worrorra: A Language of the North-West Kimberley Coast |location=Adelaide |publisher=University of Adelaide Press |pages=155–156, 210–214, 224–225, 235 |isbn=978-1-922064-59-2}}
• Possible language isolate - Giimbiyu{{cite book |last1=Bach |first1=Xavier |last2=Round |first2=Erich R. |editor-last=Bowern |editor-first=Claire |editor-link=Claire Bowern |year=2023 |chapter=Suppletion |title=The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=328-343 [331] |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0029 |isbn=978-0-19-882497-8 }}

}}}} In Indonesia, trial pronouns are common in the storytelling of Abun, a possible language isolate.{{cite book |last1=Berry |first1=Keith |last2=Berry |first2=Christine |year=1999 |title=A Description of Abun: A West Papuan Language of Irian Jaya |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series B - no. 115 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=44–45 |isbn=0-85883-482-0}} In the Solomon Islands, trial pronouns are used very frequently in Touo, either a Central Solomon language or a language isolate. As a result, bilingual speakers of Touo and Pijin will use trial pronouns a lot more commonly in Pijin than other speakers, for whom the trial is usually a lot less common than the dual.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Beimers |first=Gerry David |year=2008 |title=Pijin: A Grammar of Solomon Islands Pidgin |url=https://rune.une.edu.au/1959.11/2367 |pages=31 |publisher=University of New England |access-date=2023-12-04}} A very rare example of a spoken language with the trial (in both pronouns and verbs) outside of Oceania is Muklom Tangsa, spoken in northeast India.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Mulder |first=Mijke |year=2020 |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Muklom Tangsa |url=https://opal.latrobe.edu.au/ndownloader/files/24866600 |pages=156-158, 173-174, 262-265, 279, 282-284 |publisher=La Trobe University |access-date=2024-01-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122174953/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/figshare-production-eu-latrobe-storage9079-ap-southeast-2/24866600/Thesis.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIARRFKZQ25KW2DIYRU/20240122/ap-southeast-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240122T174952Z&X-Amz-Expires=10&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=41cf952ea3f02f46ec2794d850ac63428b4ffbd04c8b0b3a9c043d276fb72c70 |archive-date=2024-01-22}}

The paucal number represents 'a few', a small inexactly numbered group of items. For example, in Motuna:{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Onishi |first=Masayuki |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of Motuna (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea) |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/12476 |pages=11, 72–73 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2024-01-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211105936/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/12476/1/Onishi%20M%20Thesis%201994.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-11 }}

• {{lang|siw|mahkata}} - "dog" (singular)
• {{lang|siw|mahkatakaro}} - "two dogs" (dual)
• {{lang|siw|mahkatanaa}} - "a few dogs" (paucal)
• {{lang|siw|mahkatangung}} - "dogs" (plural)

Almost all languages with a paucal also have a dual.{{cite journal |author-last1=Corbett |author-first1=Greville G. |author-link1=Greville G Corbett |author-last2=Fedden |author-first2=Sebastian |author-last3=Finkel |author-first3=Raphael |author-link3=Raphael Finkel |date=2017 |title=Single Versus Concurrent Systems: Nominal Classification in Mian |url=https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=cs_facpub |journal=Linguistic Typology |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=209–260 [246] |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427075820/https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=cs_facpub |archive-date=2019-04-27 |doi=10.1515/lingty-2017-0006 }}{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=23 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} However, this is not universal. Nouns in Mocoví only have singular, paucal, and plural.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Grondona |first=Verónica María |year=1998 |title=A Grammar of Mocoví |url=https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese%3Agrondona-1998/grondona_1998_mocovi.pdf |pages=11, 51–62 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014014503/https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese%3Agrondona-1998/grondona_1998_mocovi.pdf |archive-date=2023-10-14 }} On the other hand, the pronouns in Mussau{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last1=Lynch |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Lynch (linguist) |editor-last2=Ross |editor-first2=Malcolm |editor-link2=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last3=Crowley |editor-first3=Terry |editor-link3=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2011 |orig-year=2002 |title=The Oceanic Languages |series=Routledge Language Family Series |chapter=Mussau |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=148–166 [152] |isbn=978-0-203-82038-4}}{{cite book |last1=Brownie |first1=John |last2=Brownie |first2=Marjo |year=2007 |title=Mussau Grammar Essentials |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 52 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/30/81/13308188451694821564901351327647219855/MussauGrammarEssentials.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |pages=30–35 |access-date=2024-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611092229/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/30/81/13308188451694821564901351327647219855/MussauGrammarEssentials.pdf |archive-date=2022-06-11 |isbn=978-9980-0-3223-2 }} and Lihir{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=25 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} have dual, trial, and paucal.

The lower bound of the paucal is usually defined by what other number categories exist in the language. In singular/paucal/plural paradigms, use of the paucal begins at two, but with the addition of the dual, the paucal begins at three. There is usually no exact upper bound on how many paucal refers to, and its approximate range depends on both language and context.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=22–23 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} It has been recorded as going up to about 5 in Warndarrang,{{cite book |last=Heath |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Heath |year=1980 |title=Basic Materials in Warndarang: Grammar, Texts and Dictionary |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/159464817.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 72 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=22–23 |isbn=0-85883-219-4 |access-date=2024-01-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130223011/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/159464817.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-30 }} about 6 in Baiso, 10 in Arabic,{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [317] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }}{{cite journal |last=Jaradat |first=Abdulazeez |date=2023 |title=When a Dual Marker Acts as a Paucal Marker: The Case of the Dual -e:n in Northern Rural Jordanian Arabic |journal=Languages |volume=8 |issue=3 |article-number=183 |pages=3, 12 |doi=10.3390/languages8030183 |doi-access=free }} and about 10 or 15 in Murrinh-patha. In Manam, the primary factor for using the paucal is not a specific number range, but the referents forming a single group; although the paucal is most common between 3 and 5, it has been used with more than 20.{{cite book |last=Lichtenberk |first=Frantisek |year=1983 |title=A Grammar of Manam |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b58a6fb6-1de4-44aa-9d9b-dd873b736f16/content |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 18 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |page=109 |isbn=0-8248-0764-2 |access-date=2024-01-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131055218/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b58a6fb6-1de4-44aa-9d9b-dd873b736f16/content |archive-date=2024-01-31 }} In Paamese, a major factor is relative group size compared to the plural, such that even though the paucal generally means 12 or fewer, a group of 2,000 people may be referred to in the paucal when contrasted with a group of 100,000 referred to in the plural.{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=1982 |title=The Paamese language of Vanuatu |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608403.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 87 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=1, 81 |isbn=0-85883-279-8 |doi=10.15144/PL-B87 |access-date=2024-01-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721133749/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608403.pdf |archive-date=2021-07-21 }}

Much like the dual, it is crosslinguistically variable which words and parts of speech may be marked with the paucal. Baiso has the paucal only for nouns and not pronouns, whereas Yimas has the paucal only for pronouns and not nouns.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=92 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} In Meryam Mir, the paucal is mostly marked on the verbs.{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Piper |first=Nick |year=1989 |title=A Sketch Grammar of Meryam Mir |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110341/2/b17380704-Piper_N.pdf |pages=2, 81–83, 88, 99, 104–105, 123, 125–128, 136, 138–139 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2024-02-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214182625/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110341/2/b17380704-Piper_N.pdf |archive-date=2023-02-14 }}{{cite conference |last=Jones |first=Stephen |editor-last1=Butt |editor-first1=Miriam |editor-link1=Miriam Butt |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Tracy Holloway |title=Number in Meryam Mir |conference=Lexical Functional Grammar (LGF) '15 Conference |series=CSLI Publications |pages=103–123 |year=2015 |location=Tokyo, Japan |url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/20/papers/lfg15jones.pdf |access-date=2024-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726195029/https://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/20/papers/lfg15jones.pdf |archive-date=2021-07-26 }} Avar has the paucal for only about 90 specific nouns, including brush, spade, snake, and daughter-in-law (the only kin term that can take the paucal in Avar).{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=96–98 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} Takivatan Bunun has a paucal only in its distal demonstratives used in reference to people.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=De Busser |first=Rik L.J. |year=2009 |title=Towards a Grammar of Takivatan Bunun: Selected Topics |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:11378/datastreams/CONTENT/content |pages=454, 458–459 |publisher=La Trobe University |access-date=2024-02-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201064520/https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:11378/datastreams/CONTENT/content |archive-date=2024-02-01 }}

It is common for former trials to evolve in meaning to become paucals, and many Austronesian languages have paucal markers that are etymologically derived from the numeral three, indicating the old usage.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=21, 25, 267–268 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=199–203, 297 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}} It is less common for duals to evolve into paucals,{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=25n20 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} but this has been observed in some dialects of Arabic.{{cite book |last=Brustad |first=Kristen E. |year=2000 |title=The Syntax of Spoken Arabic: A Comparative Study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian, and Kuwaiti Dialects |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Georgetown University Press |pages=45–46 |isbn=0-87840-789-8 }}{{cite journal |last=Jaradat |first=Abdulazeez |date=2023 |title=When a Dual Marker Acts as a Paucal Marker: The Case of the Dual -e:n in Northern Rural Jordanian Arabic |journal=Languages |volume=8 |issue=3 |article-number=183 |doi=10.3390/languages8030183 |doi-access=free }} Paucals that are etymologically trials are sometimes incorrectly described as being trials.{{efn|Sometimes this takes the form of neglecting to analyze the possible uses of the trial/paucal, but other times it takes the form of a published grammar describing a language as having a trial but then describing that "trial" as functioning like a paucal.{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=199–200 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}} Examples of the latter include works on Ambai{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Silzer |first=Peter James |year=1983 |title=Ambai: An Austronesian Language of Irian Jaya, Indonesia |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110277/2/b11579870-SILZER,%20P.J..pdf |page=120 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2023-08-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518162617/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110277/2/b11579870-SILZER,%20P.J..pdf |archive-date=2023-05-18 }} and Sakao.{{cite book |last=Guy |first=J.B.M. |year=1974 |title=A Grammar of the Northern Dialect of Sakao |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608384.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - no. 33 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=8, 28–29, 42 |access-date=2024-02-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202060608/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608384.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |isbn=0-858-83-104-X |doi=10.15144/PL-B33 }}}} For example, trial pronouns were once described as being found in all the Kiwaian languages,{{cite journal |last=Capell |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Capell |date=1962 |title=Oceanic Linguistics Today |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2739878 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=371–428 [374] |doi=10.1086/200305 |jstor=2739878 |s2cid=144609787 }}{{cite book |last=Wurm |first=S. A. |author-link=Stephen Wurm |editor-last=Franklin |editor-first=Karl |year=1973 |chapter=The Kiwaian Language Family |title=The Linguistic Situation in the Gulf District and Adjacent Areas, Papua New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 26 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=217–260 [227] |isbn=0-85883-100-7 }} but it is now recognized that many actually have a paucal instead.{{efn|While the closely related Kiwaian languages of Kope{{cite book |last1=Schulz |first1=Hanna |last2=Petterson |first2=Robert |year=2022 |title=Studies in Kope |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 64 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |pages=20–21, 23, 30, 50, 56–57, 59–63, 66, 69 |access-date=2024-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202011714/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |id={{Listed Invalid ISBN|9980-4639-2}} }} and Urama{{cite book |author-last1=Brown |author-first1=Jason |author-last2=Muir |author-first2=Alex |author-last3=Craig |author-first3=Kimberley |author-last4=Anea |author-first4=Karika |year=2016 |title=A Short Grammar of Urama |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |series=Asia-Pacific Linguistics 32 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=20, 25–27 |isbn=978-1-922185-22-8 |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107232500/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-07 }} still reportedly have a trial, Bamu, Waboda,{{cite book |last1=Schulz |first1=Hanna |last2=Petterson |first2=Robert |year=2022 |title=Studies in Kope |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 64 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |page=60 |access-date=2024-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202011714/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |id={{Listed Invalid ISBN|9980-4639-2}} }} and Kerewo{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Di Rosa |first=Dario |year=2018 |title=Frustrated Modernity: Kerewo Histories and Historical Consciousness, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162631283.pdf |page=viii |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2024-02-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202035337/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162631283.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 }} all have a paucal.}} Linguist Michael Cysouw has suggested that most languages reported to have trials in fact have mislabelled paucals, and that true trials are very rare. On the other hand, Luise Hercus stated in her published grammar of Arabana that the language's trial (which can be marked on nouns) is a true trial which cannot act as a paucal.{{cite book |last=Hercus |first=Luise A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 128 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=64 |isbn=0-85883-425-1}} Similar things have been said about trial pronouns in Larike{{cite journal |last1=Laidig |first1=Wyn D. |last2=Laidig |first2=Carol J. |date=1990 |title=Larike Pronouns: Duals and Trials in a Central Moluccan Language |series=A Special Issue on Western Austronesian Languages |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=87–109 [92] |doi=10.2307/3623187|jstor=3623187 }} and Anejom̃.{{cite book |last=Lynch |first=John |author-link=John Lynch (linguist) |year=2000 |title=A Grammar of Anejom̃ |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146679/1/PL-507.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics 507 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=36n1 |access-date=2024-02-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202063457/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146679/1/PL-507.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |isbn=0-85883-484-7 |doi=10.15144/PL-507 }}

Russian has what has variably been called paucal numerals,{{cite book |last=Pesetsky |first=David |author-link=David Pesetsky |year=2013 |title=Russian Case Morphology and the Syntactic Categories |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 66 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |page=1 |isbn=978-0-262-01972-9 }} the count form,{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=270 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}{{efn|The term "count form" has also been used to describe similar constructions in Mongondow, Lolak, and Ponosakan. In these languages, pronouns take on a unique form when following a numeral. Mongondow and Lolak also have singular, dual, trial, and plural pronoun forms, while Ponosakan lacks a trial. This means in Mongondow and Lolak, the count form is for a specific given number larger than three, and in Ponosakan it is for a number larger than two. Unlike Russian nouns, the use of these forms does not end above a certain number.{{cite journal |last=Lobel |first=Jason William |date=2011 |title=Pronominal Number in Mongondow-Gorontalo |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=543–550 |doi=10.1353/ol.2011.0029|doi-access=free }}}} the adnumerative,{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2012 |title=Features |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=209–210 |isbn=978-1-107-02623-0 }} or the genitive of quantification.{{cite journal |last=Franks |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Franks |date=1994 |title=Parametric Properties of Numeral Phrases in Slavic |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00992929 |journal=Natural Language & Linguistic Theory |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=597–674 |doi=10.1007/BF00992929 |s2cid=170548920 }} When a noun in the nominative case has a numeral added to quantify it, the noun becomes genitive singular with 2, 3, or 4, but genitive plural with 5 or above.{{efn|This also occurs to nouns in the accusative case, but only if they are inanimate, and it furthermore also occurs with the numerals half, one-and-a-half, sometimes a quarter, and any higher compound numerals ending in 2, 3, or 4.{{cite book |last=Pesetsky |first=David |author-link=David Pesetsky |year=2013 |title=Russian Case Morphology and the Syntactic Categories |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 66 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |pages=1, 133n2, 136n1 |isbn=978-0-262-01972-9 }} A very small number of nouns may take on a slightly different form where stress is changed to a different syllable; these nouns include {{lang|ru|час}} (hour), {{lang|ru|шар}} (ball), and {{lang|ru|след}} (footprint). Linguists have debated whether the form is actually genitive, or whether it is simply identical in form to the genitive in almost all cases but actually constituting a separate noun case or paucal conjugation.{{cite journal |last1=Stepanov |first1=Arthur |last2=Stateva |first2=Penka |date=2018 |title=Countability, Agreement and the Loss of the Dual in Russian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |journal=Journal of Linguistics |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=779–821 [781–782] |doi=10.1017/S0022226718000130 |access-date=2024-02-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503151036/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-03 }}}} Many linguists have described these as paucal constructions.See:

• {{cite book |last1=Bailyn |first1=John F. |last2=Nevins |first2=Andrew |editor-last1=Bachrach |editor-first1=Asaf |editor-last2=Nevins |editor-first2=Andrew |year=2008 |title=Inflectional Identity |chapter=Russian Genitive Plurals are Impostors |series=Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=237–270 [263–268] |isbn=978-0-19-921925-4 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Franks |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Franks |date=1994 |title=Parametric Properties of Numeral Phrases in Slavic |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00992929 |journal=Natural Language & Linguistic Theory |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=597–674 |doi=10.1007/BF00992929 |s2cid=170548920 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Madariaga |first1=Nerea |last2=Igartua |first2=Iván |date=2017 |title=Idiosyncratic (Dis)agreement Patterns: The Structure and Diachrony of Russian Paucal Subjects |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00806765.2017.1390922 |journal=Scando-Slavica |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=99–132 |doi=10.1080/00806765.2017.1390922 |s2cid=149279486 }}
• {{cite book |last=Pesetsky |first=David |author-link=David Pesetsky |year=2013 |title=Russian Case Morphology and the Syntactic Categories |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 66 |location= Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-01972-9 }}

However, some have disagreed on the grounds that a Russian noun cannot be declined to stand by itself and mean anywhere between 2 and 4.See:

• {{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=22n18 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Stepanov |first1=Arthur |last2=Stateva |first2=Penka |date=2018 |title=Countability, Agreement and the Loss of the Dual in Russian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |journal=Journal of Linguistics |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=779–821 [781–782] |doi=10.1017/S0022226718000130 |access-date=2024-02-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503151036/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-03 }}

Similar constructions can be found in other Slavic languages, including Polish,{{cite journal |last=Lyskawa |first=Paulina |date=2020 |title=The Structure of Polish Numerically-Quantified Expressions |url=https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5279/ |journal=Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=art. 31, 1-37 |doi=10.5334/gjgl.880 |doi-access=free |access-date=2024-02-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925025543/https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5279/ |archive-date=2023-09-25 }} Serbo-Croatian,{{cite book |last=Despić |first=Miloje |editor-last=Podobryaev |editor-first=Alexander |year=2013 |title=Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The Second MIT Meeting 2011 |chapter=A Note on Paucal, Agreement and Case |series=Michigan Slavic Materials, 58 |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=Michigan Slavic Publications |pages=57–71 |isbn=978-0-936534-09-1 }} and Slovene. Because Slovene also has a regular dual, there is a four-way distinction of nouns being singular with 1, dual with 2, plural with 3 or 4, and genitive plural with 5 or more.{{cite book |last=Derbyshire |first=William W. |year=1993 |title=A Basic Reference Grammar of Slovene |location=Columbus, OH |publisher=Slavica Publishers |page=57 |isbn=0-89357-236-5 }}

The greater paucal number is a larger paucal category, for an inexactly numbered group that is larger in size than a smaller paucal. It can be found in the pronouns of the Austronesian language of Sursurunga, which exhibit a five-way distinction described as singular, dual, paucal, greater paucal, and plural. The Sursurunga paucal is used for smaller groups, usually of about three or four, or for nuclear families of any size. The Sursurunga greater paucal is used for groups of four or more (and must be used instead of the plural for a group of two or more dyads). There is thus some overlap between the two groups; a family of four can be referred to in Sursurunga by either of the paucals.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=26–29 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} This distinction is found both in Sursurunga's personal pronouns and in two different sets of possessive pronouns, one for edible things and one for non-edible things.{{cite book |last=Hutchisson |first=Don (compiler) |editor-last=Benroi |editor-first=Samson |editor-last2=Hutchisson |editor-first2=Sharon |year=2018 |title={{lang|sgz|Sálán má Worwor Talas uri tan Kuir Wor Sursurunga|cat=no}} (The Meanings and Explanations of Sursurunga Words) |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/88/19/158819228519561049250925126870358697031/Full_Sursurunga_Dictionary.pdf |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics |pages=19–20, 23 |access-date=2024-02-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406093035/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/88/19/158819228519561049250925126870358697031/Full_Sursurunga_Dictionary.pdf |archive-date=2020-04-06 |isbn=978-9980-0-4287-3 }}

The quadral number denotes exactly four items. Apparent examples of its use are almost entirely confined to pronouns, and specifically those in the languages of Oceania or in sign languages. It has been contested whether the quadral truly exists in natural language; some linguists have rejected it as an extant category,See:

• {{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=26–30 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
• {{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=200–203 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}
• {{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185-229 [187, 191, 205, 223n38] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Lynch |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Lynch (linguist) |editor-last2=Ross |editor-first2=Malcolm |editor-link2=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last3=Crowley |editor-first3=Terry |editor-link3=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2011 |orig-year=2002 |title=The Oceanic Languages |series=Routledge Language Family Series |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=35 |isbn=978-0-203-82038-4}}

while others have accepted it.See:

• {{cite book |last1=Bender |first1=Byron W. |author-link1=Byron W. Bender |last2=Capelle |first2=Alfred |last3=Pagotto |first3=Louise |year=2016 |title=Marshallese Reference Grammar |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=PALI Language Texts: Micronesia |pages=172–174 |isbn=978-0-8248-5993-0 |jstor=j.ctvsrh2m}}
• {{cite book |last=Blust |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Blust |year=2013 |orig-year=2009 |edition=2nd |title=The Austronesian Languages |series=Pacific Linguistics 602 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=67, 318–319, 332 |isbn=978-0-85883-602-0}}
• {{cite book |last1=Kimmelman |first1=Vadim |last2=Burkova |first2=Svetlana |last3=Filimonova |first3=Elizaveta |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in Russian Sign Language |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=805–832 [809–811] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}
• {{cite book |last=Verhaar |first=John W. M. |year=1995 |title=Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin: An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication no. 26 |pages=19–20 |isbn=978-0-8248-1672-8}}

Some languages that have previously been described as having a quadral, like Sursurunga, have since been reanalyzed as having a paucal instead.{{cite book |last=Hutchisson |first=Don |editor-last=Wiesemann |editor-first=Ursula |year=1986 |chapter=Sursurunga Pronouns and the Special Uses of Quadral Number |title=Pronominal Systems |location=Tübingen, Germany |publisher=Gunter Narr |series=Continuum: Schriftenreihe zur Linguistik, bd. 5 |pages=1–20 |isbn=3-87808-335-1}}

Like trial forms, quadral forms of pronouns have been said to be attested in the Melanesian pidgins of Tok Pisin,{{cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |author-link=David Crystal |year=2000 |title=Language Death |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=58 |isbn=978-0-521-01271-3}} Bislama,{{cite book |last=Tryon |first=Darrell T. |author-link=Darrell Tryon |year=1987 |title=Bislama: An Introduction to the National Language of Vanuatu |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series D - no. 72 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=19 |isbn=0-85883-361-1 |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/263015/1/PL-D72.pdf |access-date=29 April 2024}} and Pijin.{{cite book |last=Jourdan |first=Christine |editor-last1=Burridge |editor-first1=Kate |editor-link1=Kate Burridge |editor-last2=Kortmann |editor-first2=Bernd |year=2008 |chapter=Solomon Islands Pijin: Morphology and Syntax |title=Varieties of English |volume=3, The Pacific and Australasia |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=467–487 [474] |isbn=978-3-11-019637-5}} However, while these are grammatically possible, they are rare, and plural forms are almost always used in their place.

Many different sign languages have been explicitly described as having quadral pronoun forms.{{efn|This includes:

{{columns-list|gap=0em|colwidth=20em|

• American Sign Language{{cite book |last1=Baker-Shenk |first1=Charlotte |last2=Cokely |first2=Dennis |year=1991 |orig-year=1980 |title=American Sign Language: A Teacher's Resource Text on Grammar and Culture |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Gallaudet University Press |pages=213–214, 370 |isbn=0-930323-84-X}}{{cite book |last1=Neidle |first1=Carol |last2=Nash |first2=Joan Cottle Poole |editor-last1=Jepsen |editor-first1=Julie Bakken |editor-last2=De Clerck |editor-first2=Goedele |editor-last3=Lutalo-Kiingi |editor-first3=Sam |editor-last4=McGregor |editor-first4=William B. |editor-link4=William B. McGregor |year=2015 |chapter=American Sign Language |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=31–70 [46] |isbn=978-1-61451-796-2}}
• Argentine Sign Language{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Caceres |first=Roman |year=2017 |title=Lexical Categories in {{lang|es|Lengua de Señas Argentina|cat=no}} |url=https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104 |pages=123–124, 212 |publisher=University of North Dakota |access-date=2024-01-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424124627/https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104&context=theses |archive-date=2023-04-24 }}
• Brazilian Sign Language{{cite book |last1=Almeida-Silva |first1=Anderson |last2=Taveira da Cruz |first2=Ronald |last3=Martins-Paraguassu |first3=Nize |editor-last=Quadros |editor-first=Ronice Müller de |year=2020 |chapter=Evidence for Determiners (Articles) in Brazilian Sign Language: An Analysis of the Syntactic-Semantic Evidence Found in Nominals |title=Brazilian Sign Language Studies |series=Sign Languages and Deaf Communities, vol. 11 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=155–175 [162] |isbn=978-1-5015-1640-5}}
• British Sign Language{{cite book |last1=Sutton-Spence |first1=Rachel |last2=Woll |first2=Bencie |author-link2=Bencie Woll |year=1999 |title=The Linguistics of British Sign Language: An Introduction |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=42–43 |isbn=978-0-521-63142-6}}
• Czech Sign Language{{cite journal |last1=Macurová |first1=Alena |last2=Bímová |first2=Petra |date=2001 |title=Poznáváme Český Znakový Jazyk II. (Slovesa a Jejich Typy) |url=http://dspace.specpeda.cz/bitstream/handle/0/670/285-304.pdf |journal=Speciální Pedagogika |language=cs |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=285–296 [286] |access-date=2023-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120091219/http://dspace.specpeda.cz/bitstream/handle/0/670/285-304.pdf |archive-date=2022-01-20}}
• German Sign Language{{cite conference |last=Illmer |first=Britta |title=The Trial Caught in the Middle. An Analysis of the Trial in DGS as a Phenomenon Between Dual and Paucal |conference=13th Conference of Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR13) |pages=251–252 |year=2019 |location=Hamburg, Germany |url=https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/conferencehandbook.pdf#page=253 |access-date=2024-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125202213/https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/conferencehandbook.pdf#page=253 |archive-date=2024-01-25 }}{{cite AV media |last=Illmer |first=Britta |date=September 27, 2019 |title=The Trial Caught in the Middle. An Analysis of the Trial in DGS as a Phenomenon Between Dual and Paucal |type=Video presentation |language=gsg, en |url=https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/tislr13signopsisbrittaillmer.mp4 |access-date=2024-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125173747/https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/tislr13signopsisbrittaillmer.mp4 |archive-date=2024-01-25 |format=MP4 |location=Hamburg, Germany |publisher=13th Conference of Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR13), University of Hamburg }}
• Hong Kong Sign Language{{cite thesis |degree=MPhil |last=Lam |first=Wai-sze |year=2003 |title=Verb Agreement in Hong Kong Sign Language |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48540099.pdf |page=208 |publisher=Chinese University of Hong Kong |access-date=2023-08-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190320015142/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48540099.pdf |archive-date=2019-03-20}}
• Jamaican Sign Language{{cite book |last=Cumberbatch |first=Keren |editor-last1=Jepsen |editor-first1=Julie Bakken |editor-last2=De Clerck |editor-first2=Goedele |editor-last3=Lutalo-Kiingi |editor-first3=Sam |editor-last4=McGregor |editor-first4=William B. |editor-link4=William B. McGregor |year=2015 |chapter=Jamaican Sign Language |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=511–527 [517] |isbn=978-1-61451-796-2}}
• Konchri Sain{{cite book |last=Cumberbatch |first=Keren |editor-last1=Jepsen |editor-first1=Julie Bakken |editor-last2=De Clerck |editor-first2=Goedele |editor-last3=Lutalo-Kiingi |editor-first3=Sam |editor-last4=McGregor |editor-first4=William B. |editor-link4=William B. McGregor |year=2015 |chapter=Konchri Sain |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=553–565 [559] |isbn=978-1-61451-796-2}}
• Levantine Arabic Sign Language{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Hendriks |first1=Bernadet |last2=Zeshan |first2=Ulrike |author-link2=Ulrike Zeshan |editor-last1=Versteegh |editor-first1=Kees |editor-link1=Kees Versteegh |editor-last2=Eid |editor-first2=Mushira |editor-last3=Elgibali |editor-first3=Alaa |editor-last4=Woidich |editor-first4=Manfred |editor-last5=Zaborski |editor-first5=Andrzej |year=2009 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language And Linguistics |title=Sign Languages |volume=4, Q-Z |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=Brill |pages=222–235 [228] |isbn=978-90-04-14476-7}}
• New Zealand Sign Language{{cite book |last=McKee |first=Rachel |year=2015 |title=New Zealand Sign Language: A Reference Grammar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbexCQAAQBAJ&pg=PP48 |location=Wellington, New Zealand |publisher=Bridget Williams Books |at=p. [13] of Chapter 2 (no page numbers) |isbn=978-1-927277-30-0}}
• Russian Sign Language{{cite book |last1=Kimmelman |first1=Vadim |last2=Burkova |first2=Svetlana |last3=Filimonova |first3=Elizaveta |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in Russian Sign Language |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=805–832 [809–811] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}
• Ugandan Sign Language{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Lutalo-Kiingi |first=Sam |year=2014 |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Morphosyntactic Constructions in Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL) |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/20544623.pdf |pages=197–199 |publisher=University of Central Lancashire |access-date=2023-07-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731103151/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/20544623.pdf |archive-date=2023-07-31}}

}}}}{{efn|Other sign languages have been described as having pronouns for exactly four referents without being explicitly described as having a quadral. This includes Auslan, Danish Sign Language,{{cite book |last=McBurney |first=Susan Lloyd |editor-last1=Meier |editor-first1=Richard P. |editor-last2=Cormier |editor-first2=Kearsy |editor-last3=Quinto-Pozos |editor-first3=David |year=2002 |chapter=Pronominal Reference in Signed and Spoken Language: Are Grammatical Categories Modality-Dependent? |title=Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=329–369 [340] |isbn=0-521-80385-3}} and Icelandic Sign Language.{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Þorvaldsdóttir |first=Kristín Lena |year=2011 |title={{lang|is|Sagnir í Íslenska Táknmálinu: Formleg Einkenni og Málfræðilegar Formdeildir|cat=no}} |language=is |url=https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/9997/4/Sagnir%20i%20%20%20%20%20%20taknm%c3%a1lum_MA%20ritgerd_KL%c3%9e%202011.pdf |page=13 |publisher=University of Iceland |access-date=2024-01-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103052532/https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/9997/4/Sagnir%20i%20%20%20%20%20%20taknm%C3%A1lum_MA%20ritgerd_KL%C3%9E%202011.pdf |archive-date=2023-01-03}}}} Estonian Sign Language has even been described as having the quadral for nouns.{{cite journal |last=Miljan |first=Merilin |date=2003 |title=Number in Estonian Sign Language |url=https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/Trames-3-2003-203-223_20230313133502.pdf |journal=TRAMES |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=203–223 [206–209] |doi=10.3176/tr.2003.3.04 |s2cid=146721613 |access-date=2023-07-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731084205/https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/Trames-3-2003-203-223_20230313133502.pdf |archive-date=2023-07-31}}

Marshallese has been said to have the quadral as a regular feature in its pronoun system.{{cite book |last=Bender |first=Byron W. |author-link=Byron W. Bender |year=1969 |title=Spoken Marshallese: An Intensive Language Course with Grammatical Notes and Glossary |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |series=PALI Language Texts: Micronesia |pages=5, 8–9 |isbn=0-87022-070-5}}{{cite book |last1=Bender |first1=Byron W. |author-link1=Byron W. Bender |last2=Capelle |first2=Alfred |last3=Pagotto |first3=Louise |year=2016 |title=Marshallese Reference Grammar |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=PALI Language Texts: Micronesia |pages=172–174 |isbn=978-0-8248-5993-0 |jstor=j.ctvsrh2m}} While the apparent Marshallese quadral can mean exactly four, it also has an alternate rhetorical use in speeches to larger groups in order to impart a sense of individual intimacy. According to Greville Corbett, this means it is better classified as a paucal.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=26–30 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} However, there is not consensus that this alternate use means Marshallese does not truly have a quadral; the final 2016 reference grammar of Marshallese by Byron W. Bender, a linguist with expertise in the language, still refers to it as having a quadral. Besides singular, dual, trial, and quadral or paucal, Marshallese additionally has two different plural forms, one for five or more and one for two or more (referred to as multiple and plural absolute respectively), creating a partially overlapping six-way number distinction.{{cite journal |last1=Cowper |first1=Elizabeth |author-link1=Elizabeth Cowper |last2=Hall |first2=Daniel Currie |date=2022 |title=Morphosemantic Features in Universal Grammar: What We Can Learn from Marshallese Pronouns and Demonstratives |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/122/article/864682/pdf |journal=The Canadian Journal of Linguistics |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=242–266 [245–246] |doi=10.1017/cnj.2022.25 |access-date=2024-01-26 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last=Capell |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Capell |date=1962 |title=Oceanic Linguistics Today |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2739878 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=371–428 [385] |doi=10.1086/200305 |jstor=2739878 |s2cid=144609787 }} Kove has been recorded as having a similar pronoun system as Marshallese, with one addition: the plural (2+) is split between two categories, one for members of the same family and one for members of different families, creating a seven-way distinction.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Sato |first=Hiroko |year=2013 |title=Grammar of Kove: An Austronesian Language of the West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/45198c76-a0aa-4b9c-ae00-6656ea75bfed/content |pages=113–115 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |access-date=2024-03-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319191554/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/45198c76-a0aa-4b9c-ae00-6656ea75bfed/content |archive-date=2024-03-19 }}

A few other languages have also been claimed to have quadral pronouns. Robert Blust and others have said they exist in some of the Austronesian Kenyah languages, specifically the highland Lepoʼ Sawa dialect spoken in Long Anap.{{cite book |last=Blust |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Blust |year=2013 |orig-year=2009 |edition=2nd |title=The Austronesian Languages |series=Pacific Linguistics 602 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=67, 318–319 |isbn=978-0-85883-602-0}}{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Alexander D. |date=2017 |title=Reconstructing Proto Kenyah Pronouns and the Development of a True Five Number System |url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1880536c-4922-4669-a999-62f363b6b56d/content#page=57 |journal=Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |volume=JSEALS Special Publication No. 1, Issues in Austronesian Historical Linguistics |pages=48–66 |access-date=2023-08-05 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805125809/https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1880536c-4922-4669-a999-62f363b6b56d/content |archive-date=2023-08-05 }}{{cite journal |last=Soriente |first=Antonia |date=2018 |title=Deixis in Borneo: Kenyah and Punan |url=https://www.ethnorema.it/wp-content/uploads/14-03-Soriente.pdf |journal=Ethnorêma |volume=14 |pages=1–34 [25] |doi=10.23814/ethn.14.18.sor |access-date=2024-01-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311024950/https://www.ethnorema.it/wp-content/uploads/14-03-Soriente.pdf |archive-date=2023-03-11 }} There seems to be no other published sources of info on this dialect's pronouns, and an investigation into the lowland Lebo’ Vo’ dialect has revealed a paucal instead of a quadral. A quadral claim has also been made for the animate demonstrative pronouns in Nauruan.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Hughes |first=Kevin |year=2020 |title=The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Nauruan: Towards a Definitive Classification of an Understudied Micronesian Language |url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4653&context=gc_etds |page=261 |publisher=City University of New York |access-date=2024-01-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502140936/https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4653&context=gc_etds |archive-date=2023-05-02 }} Outside the Austronesian family, Abun storytelling reportedly frequently contains quadral pronouns in addition to trial ones. Perhaps the only known spoken language outside Oceania to have a claimed quadral is Apinayé of Brazil, recorded as having a third person pronominal prefix meaning "they four", although this has been little researched or described.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Callow |first=John Campbell |year=1962 |title=The Apinayé Language: Phonology and Grammar |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29420/1/10731576.pdf |page=115n3 |publisher=University of London |access-date=2023-11-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615133017/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29420/1/10731576.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-15}}{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=197n5 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}

In some Austronesian languages with a singular/dual/trial/plural pronoun system, the plural forms are etymologically related to the number four. This has led to suggestions or assertions that historically a true quadral did exist, but it has since morphed into a plural form.{{efn|This has been claimed for Tolai,{{cite book |last=Krifka |first=Manfred |author-link=Manfred Krifka |editor-last1=Brandt |editor-first1=Patrick |editor-last2=Fuss |editor-first2=Eric |year=2006 |chapter=A Note on the Pronoun System and the Predicate Marker in Tok Pisin |title=Form, Structure, and Grammar: A Festschrift Presented to Günther Grewendorf on Occasion of His 60th Birthday |series=Studia Grammatica 63 |location=Berlin |publisher=Akademie Verlag |pages=79–91 [80] |isbn=978-3-05-004224-4}} Konomala, Patpatar, Kandas, Siar,{{cite book |last=Ross |first=M. D. |author-link=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |year=1988 |title=Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 98 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=101, 334, 344 |isbn=0-85883-367-0}} Tabar, Label, Gao, Kwamera,{{cite book |last=Capell |first=A. |author-link=Arthur Capell |editor-last=Sebeok |editor-first=Thomas A. |editor-link=Thomas Sebeok |year=1971 |chapter=The Austronesian Languages of Australian New Guinea |title=Current Trends in Linguistics |volume=8, Linguistics in Oceania. Bk. 1, Indigenous Languages |location=The Hague |publisher=Mouton |pages=240–340 [260–262] |lccn=64-3663 |oclc=8682227}} Ma'ya, Matbat,{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Kamholz |first=David Christopher |year=2014 |title=Austronesians in Papua: Diversification and Change in South Halmahera–West New Guinea |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt6nj8g0b3/qt6nj8g0b3.pdf |page=120 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=2023-08-05 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426161839/https://escholarship.org/content/qt6nj8g0b3/qt6nj8g0b3.pdf |archive-date=2022-04-26 }} Larike,{{cite journal |last1=Laidig |first1=Wyn D. |last2=Laidig |first2=Carol J. |date=1990 |title=Larike Pronouns: Duals and Trials in a Central Moluccan Language |series=A Special Issue on Western Austronesian Languages |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=87–109 [99] |doi=10.2307/3623187|jstor=3623187 }} Wamesa,{{cite book |last=Capell |first=A. |author-link=Arthur Capell |editor-last=Wurm |editor-first=S. A. |editor-link=Stephen Wurm |year=1976 |chapter=General Picture of Austronesian Languages, New Guinea Area |title=New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study |volume=2, Austronesian Languages |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 39 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=5–52 [44] |isbn=0-85883-155-4}} Ambai, Loniu,{{cite book |last=Hamel |first=Patricia J. |year=1994 |title=A Grammar and Lexicon of Loniu, Papua New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 103 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=52 |isbn=0-85883-410-3 }} Badeng, and Paluai.{{cite book |last=Schokkin |first=Dineke |year=2020 |title=A Grammar of Paluai: The Language of Baluan Island, Papua New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics vol. 663 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |page=120 |isbn=978-3-11-067513-9}} Some of these languages may be more accurately described as having a singular/dual/paucal/plural system, where the paucal markers are etymologically related to the word for three and the plural markers are related to the word for four.}} It has thus been hypothesized that the quadral existed in Proto-Oceanic and Proto-Southern Vanuatu.{{cite conference |last=Kikusawa |first=Marco |title=On the Development of Number Systems in Oceanic Pronouns |conference=6th International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics (COOL6) |pages=1–38 |year=2006 |location=Port Vila, Vanuatu |url=https://www.academia.edu/6062716 |access-date=24 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124080210/https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/32987772/Kikusawa__R._2007._On_the_development_of_number_systems_in_Oceanic_pronouns-libre.pdf?1393928927=&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B+filename%3DOn_the_Development_of_Number_Systems_in.pdf&Expires=1700813402&Signature=SD6lXl9OtiD-pe4KeooMEaSQrI6XRIyGdcMAKOv0xjGkwd0iKWDUcDwaHbla61LjhTcVwmXMSLXIa-hj1QwXcE79AIq7LihxpBS4Y~piYWiqHVxD4gWjaHgykr47kr4O7LfcTVFVcqzOtDshklAuPBxyR~6wirFWn3R6H-eYv-xAbyc7ZDULYhRa2esk~6rnnKPS-2cIXufD1KabW-uemp72oy3ce2QV5u6wNPRPTjSNi86PuFUCnFiLoa2B1wIkTjtHdEIqQ3F1LN83y~YMG2CgwJKhx~mRoujcyTBJcp314WQLcgHKpNP6HfgkyLKST0u1zD~uTv9bUO06nnJt~A__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA |archive-date=24 November 2023}}

The quintal number denotes exactly five items. Apparent examples of its use can mostly only be found in pronouns of sign languages. Like the quadral, its existence has been contested, and only some classifications accept it.

Like trial and quadral forms, rare quintal forms of pronouns have been said to be attested in Tok Pisin and Bislama. These languages insert numerals to represent exact numbers of referents. For example, in Bislama, the numerals {{lang|bi|tu}} (two) and {{lang|bi|tri}} (three) are contained within the second person pronouns {{lang|bi|yutufala}} (dual) and {{lang|bi|yutrifala}} (trial). These forms theoretically have no specific limit, but in practicality usually stop at three.

Sign languages described as having a quintal in addition to the quadral include American Sign Language, Argentine Sign Language, British Sign Language, German Sign Language, Levantine Arabic Sign Language, and Ugandan Sign Language.

The validity has been debated of categorizing sign language pronouns as having a quadral or a quintal. Linguist Susan McBurney has contended that American Sign Language has a true dual, but that the trial, quadral, and quintal should instead be classified as numeral incorporation rather than grammatical number. This is motivated by the dual marker handshape being distinct from the handshape for the numeral two, in contrast to higher number markers; the ability to also incorporate these numerals into other words, including those for times and amounts; and the use of markers higher than the dual not being obligatory, with replacement by the plural being acceptable. There was not enough data available to McBurney to argue whether or not these reasons equally applied to other sign languages.{{cite book |last=McBurney |first=Susan Lloyd |editor-last1=Meier |editor-first1=Richard P. |editor-last2=Cormier |editor-first2=Kearsy |editor-last3=Quinto-Pozos |editor-first3=David |year=2002 |chapter=Pronominal Reference in Signed and Spoken Language: Are Grammatical Categories Modality-Dependent? |title=Modality and Structure in Signed and Spoken Languages |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=329-369 [335-338, 339n15, 354] |isbn=0-521-80385-3}} Linguist Raquel Veiga Busto has argued they do not equally apply to Catalan Sign Language, and has applied the terms quadral and quintal to the language's pronouns for convenience without taking an official stance as to whether they are grammatical number or numeral incorporation.{{cite book |last=Busto |first=Raquel Veiga |year=2023 |title=Person and Number: An Empirical Study of Catalan Sign Language Pronouns |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |series=Sign Languages and Deaf Communities, vol. 18 |pages=157n53, 162–165, 211 |isbn=978-3-11-099966-2}} A third model is to categorize the apparent trial/quadral/quintal forms as "cardinal plurals", or forms of the grammatical plural number where the number of people is specified.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Cormier |first=Kearsy Annette |year=2002 |title=Grammaticization of Indexic Signs: How American Sign Language Expresses Numerosity |pages=69–70, 161 |publisher=University of Texas at Austin}} Other authors have treated these concepts as perfectly equivalent, referring to pronoun numeral incorporation while still applying the terms quadral and quintal.

There are also cases of sign language pronouns indicating specific numbers of referents above five. Ugandan Sign Language has a rare pronoun form for exactly six people. Some American Sign Language speakers have incorporated numerals up to nine into inclusive pronouns upon solicitation.{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Jones |first=Vanessa L. |year=2013 |title=Numeral Incorporation In American Sign Language |url=https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2552&context=theses |pages=53, 130 |publisher=University of North Dakota |access-date=2023-08-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424124529/https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2552&context=theses |archive-date=2023-04-24 }} Israeli Sign Language theoretically has the grammatical ability to incorporate numerals up to ten into pronouns.{{cite book |last1=Meir |first1=Irit |author-link1=Irit Meir |last2=Sandler |first2=Wendy |author-link2=Wendy Sandler |year=2008 |title=A Language in Space: The Story of Israeli Sign Language |location=New York |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates |pages=68–69 |isbn=978-0-8058-6265-2}}

Greater plural is a number larger than and beyond plural. In various forms across different languages, it has also been called the global plural, the remote plural, the plural of abundance,{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=30–35 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} the unlimited plural,{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Cobbinah |first=Alexander Yao |year=2013 |title=Nominal Classification and Verbal Nouns in Baïnounk Gubëeher |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17370/1/Cobbinah_3519.pdf |pages=110–112, 125-126, 133, 270, 272–273, 287–292, 303–306 |publisher=SOAS University of London |access-date=2024-03-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211235756/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17370/1/Cobbinah_3519.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-11 }} and the superplural.{{cite book |last=Zuckermann |first=Ghil'ad |author-link=Ghil'ad Zuckermann |year=2020 |title=Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=227–228 |isbn=978-0-19-981277-6 }} For example, in Tswana:{{cite book |last=Cole |first=Desmond T. |year=1955 |title=An Introduction to Tswana Grammar |location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |pages=82, 87 |isbn=0-582-61709-X }}

• {{lang|tn|ntša}} - "dog" (singular)
• {{lang|tn|dintša}} - "dogs" (plural)
• {{lang|tn|mantša}} - "a very large number of dogs" (greater plural)

The greater plural may also be a component of larger number systems. Nouns in Barngarla have a four-way distinction of singular, dual, plural, and greater plural. The same four-way distinction is found in Mokilese pronouns, where a former trial has evolved to become a plural, leaving the former plural with a greater plural meaning.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=34 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} A different four-way distinction of singular, paucal, plural, and greater plural can be found in some verbs of Hualapai.{{cite book |last=Baerman |first=Matthew |editor-last1=Baerman |editor-first1= Matthew |editor-last2=Bond |editor-first2=Oliver |editor-last3=Hippisley |editor-first3= Andrew |year=2019 |title=Morphological Perspectives: Papers in Honour of Greville G. Corbett |chapter=Feature Duality |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |pages=124–137 [127–134] |isbn=978-1-4744-4602-0 }} A more complex system is found in Mele-Fila: pronouns distinguish singular, dual, plural, and greater plural, but articles attached to nouns distinguish singular, paucal, and plural. The result is that for full sentences, there is a combined five-way distinction of singular, dual, paucal, plural, and greater plural. Singular and plural have straightforward number agreements, whereas dual has dual pronouns but paucal articles, paucal has plural pronouns but paucal articles, and greater plural has greater plural pronouns but plural articles.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=35 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

The exact meaning of and terminology for the greater plural differs between languages. In some languages like Miya, it represents a large number of something, and has been called the plural of abundance. In other languages like Kaytetye, it can refer to all of something in existence, and has been called the global plural.{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185–229 [199] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }}

Like some other grammatical numbers, languages also vary as to which cases the greater plural may be used in. The greater plural is more common in nouns than in pronouns. Accordingly, in Kaytetye, the greater plural exists only in nouns and not pronouns.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=33 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} Oppositely, Mokilese has the greater plural in pronouns but not nouns.{{cite book |last=Harrison |first=Sheldon P. |others=With the assistance of Salich Y. Albert |year=2019 |orig-year=1976 |title=Mokilese Reference Grammar |series=Pali Language Texts: Micronesia |location=Honolulu |publisher=University Press of Hawaii |pages=66, 70, 76–77, 79–80, 82–83, 98, 352 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv9zck9g |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2707/b1bbff60ee5e90d962ef0c61890da1448297.pdf |access-date=2024-02-23 |archive-date=2023-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122221745/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2707/b1bbff60ee5e90d962ef0c61890da1448297.pdf |url-status=live |isbn=978-0-8248-8163-4 |s2cid=204129425 }} Chamacoco has the greater plural only in first person inclusive pronouns, second person pronouns, and first person inclusive verb inflections.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Ciucci |first=Luca |year=2013 |title=Inflectional Morphology in the Zamucoan Languages |url=https://ricerca.sns.it/bitstream/11384/86024/1/Ciucci_Luca.pdf |pages=31, 34, 77, 80–81, 130–131, 140 |publisher=Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa |access-date=2024-02-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223091925/https://ricerca.sns.it/bitstream/11384/86024/1/Ciucci_Luca.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-23 }} Tigre has the greater plural only in a single word, {{lang|tig|nälät}}, which means a large number of deer.

Greatest plural is a number larger than and beyond greater plural. It has also been called the "even greater plural". For example, in Warekena:{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=37–38 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185–229 [202] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }}{{cite book |last=Aikhenvald |first=Alexandra Y. |author-link=Alexandra Aikhenvald |year=2015 |title=The Art of Grammar: A Practical Guide |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=112–113 |isbn=978-0-19-968321-5 }}

• {{lang|gae|ʧinu}} - "dog" (singular)
• {{lang|gae|ʧinune}} - "dogs" (plural)
• {{lang|gae|ʧinunawi}} - "very many dogs" (greater plural)
• {{lang|gae|ʧinunenawi}} - "very many dogs indeed, so many one cannot count them" (greatest plural)

A similar system is found in Banyun, where the greater plural represents unlimitedness, and the greatest plural represents "a higher degree of unlimitedness".

Linguist Daniel Harbour has represented the paucal, greater paucal, plural, greater plural, and greatest plural as collectively definable by "cuts" that divide the range of possible numbers into different sections. One low cut defines paucal and plural, and one high cut defines plural and greater plural. Two low cuts define paucal, greater paucal, and plural; one low cut and one high cut define paucal, plural, and greater plural; and two high cuts define plural, greater plural, and greatest plural.{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185–229 [186, 196–202] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }} There does not appear to be any language with three such cuts, and so no language with three paucal categories and an "even greater paucal".{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185–229 [205] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }}{{cite book |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |editor-last1=Matushansky |editor-first1=Ora |editor-last2=Marantz |editor-first2=Alec |editor-link2=Alec Marantz |year=2013 |title=Distributed Morphology Today: Morphemes for Morris Halle |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=MIT Press |chapter="Not Plus" Isn't "Not There": Bivalence in Person, Number, and Gender |page=135–150 [149n3] |isbn=978-0-262-01967-5 }}

Because they are inexactly defined, the existence of multiple plural categories may blur the line between paucal and plural.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=32 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185–229 [201, 201n13, 214] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }} For example, Mele-Fila is said to have a paucal, plural, and greater plural. However, the transition between plural and greater plural occurs around 15 to 20. This puts the Mele-Fila "plural" in range of some larger "paucals" described in other languages. Thus the distinction is muddied between a system of paucal, plural, greater plural, and a system of paucal, greater paucal, plural. Other examples can be found in the related languages of Northern Gumuz and Daatsʼiin. Northern Gumuz is said to mark the plural and greater plural on verbs,{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Ahland |first=Colleen Anne |year=2012 |title=A Grammar of Northern and Southern Gumuz |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |pages=211, 213–216 |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=2024-03-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504225327/https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-04 }} and Daatsʼiin is said to mark "three degrees of plurality" (plural, greater plural, and greatest plural) on verbs.{{cite book |last=Ahland |first=Colleen |editor-last1=Payne |editor-first1=Doris L. |editor-link1=Doris L. Payne |editor-last2=Pacchiarotti |editor-first2=Sara |editor-last3=Bosire |editor-first3=Mokaya |year=2016 |title=Diversity in African Languages: Selected Papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/199433458.pdf#page=427 |series=Contemporary African Linguistics 1 |location=Berlin |publisher=Language Science Press |chapter=Daatsʼíin, A Newly Identified Undocumented Language of Western Ethiopia: A Preliminary Examination |pages=417–449 [427–428]|access-date=2024-03-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307161804/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/199433458.pdf#page=427 |archive-date=2024-03-07 |isbn=978-3-946234-70-8 |doi=10.17169/langsci.b121.493 }} In both languages though, the "plural" is often actually a paucal, understood to mean about two to four. However, in neither language is this always the case. The Northern Gumuz paucal/plural may sometimes refer to "much greater than four".{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Ahland |first=Colleen Anne |year=2012 |title=A Grammar of Northern and Southern Gumuz |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |pages=215 |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=2024-03-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504225327/https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-04 }}

{{Main |Singulative number}}

In some languages, the default form of a noun is not singular, but rather general, which does not specify number and could mean one or more than one. Singular and plural forms are marked from the general form. The general is used when the specific number is deemed irrelevant or unimportant. In this system, the singular is often called the singulative, to distinguish it as derived from a different form. Similarly, the plural derived from the general has been called the plurative.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=9–13, 17, 17n11 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} For example, in Pular:{{cite book |last1=Caudill |first1=Herb |last2=Diallo |first2=Ousmane Besseko |year=2000 |title={{lang|fuf|Miɗo Waawi Pular!|cat=no}} Learner's Guide to Pular (Fuuta Jallon) |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/manual-pulaar/page/n35/mode/2up |location=Conakry, Guinea |publisher=Peace Corps |page=25 }}

• {{lang|fuf|bare}} - "dog(s)" (general, any number)
• {{lang|fuf|bareeru}} - "dog" (singulative)
• {{lang|fuf|bareeji}} - "dogs" (plurative)

However, some languages only have a two-way difference between general and plurative, like in Japanese:

Of the sources below, Corbett (2000) explains the number distinction with the examples spelled {{lang|ja-latn|inu}} and {{lang|ja-latn|inu-tati}}; Takebayashi (1996) spells each part individually as {{lang|ja-latn|inu}} ({{lang|ja|犬}}) and {{lang|ja-latn|-tachi}} ({{lang|ja|たち}}); Takano (1992) uses the romanized and unhyphenated {{lang|ja-latn|inutachi}}; and 研作 & 聡子 (2019) is an example of {{lang|ja|犬たち}} in use.

• {{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=13–14 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Takebayashi |editor-first=Shigeru |year=2003 |orig-year=1996 |title=textsPocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_2900198607488/page/n143/mode/2up |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=127, 369 |isbn=978-0-19-860748-9 }}
• {{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Takano |first=Hisako |year=1992 |title=Syntactic and Semantic Natures of Japanese Common Nouns |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/59188911.pdf |page=71 |publisher=Michigan State University |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330061627/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/59188911.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-30 }}
• {{cite book |last1={{lang|ja|研作|cat=no}} |first1={{lang|ja|吉田|cat=no}} |last2={{lang|ja|聡子|cat=no}} |first2={{lang|ja|春日|cat=no}} |year=2019 |title={{lang|ja|起きてから寝るまでイヌ英語表現|cat=no}} |language=ja, en |location=Tokyo |publisher={{lang|ja|アルク|cat=no}} |isbn=978-4-7574-3170-6 }}

• {{lang|ja-latn|inu}} ({{lang|ja|犬}}) - "dog(s)" (general)
• {{lang|ja-latn|inutachi}} ({{lang|ja|犬たち}}) - "dogs" (plurative)

Less common is a two-way distinction between general and singulative. No language has this as its default number contrast, although some languages have specific nouns with this distinction.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=16–17 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} For example, in Sidama:{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Kawachi |first=Kazuhiro |year=2007 |title=A Grammar of Sidaama (Sidamo), a Cushitic Language of Ethiopia |url=https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~dryer/KawachiSidaama.pdf |page=345 |publisher=University at Buffalo |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608141913/https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~dryer/KawachiSidaama.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-08 }}

• {{lang|sid|goto}} - "hyena(s)" (general)
• {{lang|sid|gotiiččo}} - "hyena" (singulative)

In some languages like Afar, few nouns have a three-way contrast of general/singulative/plurative, but nouns with two-way contrasts of general/singulative and general/plurative are both common.{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=E.M. |last2=Hayward |first2=R.J. |author-link2=Richard Hayward (linguist) |year=1985 |title=An Afar-English-French Dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English) |url=https://archive.org/details/afarenglishfrenc0000park/page/16/mode/2up |location=London |publisher=University of London |page=16 |isbn=0-7286-0124-9 }}

There are also languages which regularly employ different number systems with a dual, trial, paucal, or greater plural in addition to a general:

Additional other systems can be seen in some languages only for specific nouns:

• In Burushaski, for nouns that have the same form in the singular and the plural, the plural marker signifies a greater plural:{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Yoshioka |first=Noboru |year=2012 |title=A Reference Grammar of Eastern Burushaski |url=https://archive.org/details/a-reference-grammar-of-eastern-burushaski-by-yoshioka-noboru/page/40/mode/2up |page=40 |publisher=Tokyo University of Foreign Studies }}
• {{lang|bsk|čhúmo}} - "fish" (general)
• {{lang|bsk|čhúmomuc}} - "a quite large number of fish" (greater plural)
• In addition to general, singulative, and paucal, some nouns in Hamer have an additional distinction that has been analyzed either as a greater plural{{cite book |last=Lydall |first=Jean |editor-last=Bender |editor-first=M. Lionel |editor-link=Lionel Bender |year=1976 |title=The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia |series=Committee on Ethiopian Studies, Occasional Papers Series, Monograph No. 5 |chapter=Hamer |location=East Lansing, MI |publisher=African Studies Center, Michigan State University |pages=393–438 [407–409] }} or a collective plural.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Petrollino |first=Sara |year=2016 |title=A Grammar of Hamar: A South Omotic Language of Ethiopia |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/44090 |pages=77–80, 82–85, 87–90 |publisher=Leiden University |access-date=2024-03-30 }} It seems to unambiguously be a greater plural in specific cases, such as:{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Petrollino |first=Sara |year=2016 |title=A Grammar of Hamar: A South Omotic Language of Ethiopia |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/44090 |page=80 |publisher=Leiden University |access-date=2024-03-30 }}
• {{lang|amf|hámar}} - "Hamer person/people" (general)
• {{lang|amf|hamartâ}} (m) / {{lang|amf|hamartóno}} (f) - "Hamer person" (singulative)
• {{lang|amf|hámarra}} - "a few Hamer people" (paucal)
• {{lang|amf|hámarro}} - "all Hamer people" (greater plural)
• Some dialects of Arabic have a few nouns that exhibit a five-way distinction of general, singulative, dual, plurative, and greater plural. In Damascus Arabic:
• {{lang|apc-latn|dəbbān}} - "fly/flies" (general)
• {{lang|apc-latn|dəbbāne}} - "fly" (singulative)
• {{lang|apc-latn|dəbbāntēn}} - "two flies" (dual)
• {{lang|apc-latn|dəbbānāt}} - "flies" (plurative)
• {{lang|apc-latn|dababīn}} - "many flies" (greater plural)

Minimal, unit augmented, and augmented are a different set of number categories for pronouns in languages that grammatically treat a first person dual inclusive pronoun identically to singular pronouns, and a first person trial inclusive pronoun identically to dual pronouns. It is a relative paradigm that replaces the absolute paradigm of singular, dual, trial, and plural for languages where absolute classification is ill-fitting.

For example, under a singular/dual/trial/plural analysis, the pronouns in Ilocano{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=87–89 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}{{cite journal |last=Thomas |first=David |date=1955 |title=Three Analyses of the Ilocano Pronoun System |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1955.11659556?download=true |journal=WORD |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=204–208 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1955.11659556 |access-date=2024-01-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102163123/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1955.11659556?download=true |archive-date=2024-01-02}} and Bininj Kunwok{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Evans (linguist) |year=2003 |title=Bininj Gun-wok: A Pan-Dialectal Grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune |series=Pacific Linguistics 541 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=261 |isbn=0-85883-530-4}} are:

"Singular" does not exist for first person inclusive, which is by definition at least two people. In Ilocano, the "dual" only exists for first person inclusive, and likewise for the "trial" in Bininj Kunwok. Such categorization has been called "inelegant." It can also poorly reflect the grammatical structure: using the suffix {{lang|gup|-woneng}}, Bininj Kunwok treats the first person inclusive "trial" identically to the "duals" in other persons, even though it refers to three people.

The alternate analysis is thus:

The 'minimal' number is the smallest possible group for each category. For 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, this is one, and for 1st inclusive, this is two. Unit augmented is one more than minimal. For 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, this is two, and for 1st inclusive, this is three. Augmented is an equivalent to plural. In a minimal/augmented system, augmented means more than one for 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, and means more than two for 1st inclusive. In a minimal/unit augmented/augmented system, augmented means more than two for 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, and means more than three for 1st inclusive.

Besides Ilocano, languages considered to have a minimal/augmented pronoun system include Tagalog,{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=261 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}{{cite journal |last=de Schepper |first=Kees |date=2012 |title=Against a Minimal–Augmented Analysis of Number |url=https://www.jbe-platform.com/docserver/fulltext/avt.29.11sch.pdf |journal=Linguistics in the Netherlands |volume=29 |pages=134–146 [142] |doi=10.1075/avt.29.11sch |hdl=2066/101786 |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104070017/https://www.jbe-platform.com/docserver/fulltext/avt.29.11sch.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-04 }} Maranao,{{Cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Daniel |editor-last1=Billings |editor-first1=Loren |editor-last2=Goudswaard |editor-first2=Nelleke |year=2010 |title={{lang|ilp|Piakandatu Ami|cat=no}}: Dr. Howard P. McKaughan |chapter=The Grammar of Clitics in Maranao |location=Manila |publisher=Linguistic Society of the Philippines and SIL Philippines |pages=179-204 [180, 180n2] |chapter-url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/07/70/130770395534694674649839873268234450496/20_Kaufman_McKaughan2010.pdf |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511053358/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/07/70/130770395534694674649839873268234450496/20_Kaufman_McKaughan2010.pdf |archive-date=2019-05-11 |isbn=978-971-780-026-4}} Maskelynes,{{cite book |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |year=2016 |title=Impossible Persons |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 74 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |page=148 |isbn=978-0-262-52929-7 }} and Ho-Chunk.{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185-229 [192, 203, 214] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }} The three-way distinction with the addition of unit augmented is mostly found in Australian Aboriginal languages, more specifically non-Pama-Nyungan languages.{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=232–236 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}{{efn|Besides Bininj Kunwok, this includes Rembarrnga, Ndjébbana,{{cite journal |last=McKay |first=Graham R. |date=1978 |title=Pronominal Person and Number Categories in Rembarrnga and Djeebbana |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=27–37 |doi=10.2307/3622826 |jstor=3622826}} Guniyandi, Nyigina,{{cite journal |last=McGregor |first=William B. |author-link=William B. McGregor |date=1989 |title=Greenberg on the First Person Inclusive Dual: Evidence from Some Australian Languages |journal=Studies in Language |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=437–451 |doi=10.1075/sl.13.2.10mcg}} Mangarrayi,{{cite journal |last=Moskal |first=Beata |date=2018 |title=Excluding Exclusively the Exclusive: Suppletion Patterns in Clusivity |url=https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5098/ |journal=Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=art. 130, 1-34 [17] |doi=10.5334/gjgl.362 |doi-access=free |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724180550/https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5098/ |archive-date=2023-07-24 }} Nunggubuyu,{{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |author-link=Robert M. W. Dixon |year=1980 |title=The Languages of Australia |series=Cambridge Language Surveys |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=352–353 |isbn=978-0-521-22329-4 }}{{cite book |last=Heath |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Heath |year=1984 |title=Functional Grammar of Nunggubuyu |series=AIAS new series no. 53 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies |pages=241–243 |isbn=0-85575-157-6}} Warrwa,{{cite book |last=McGregor |first=William |author-link=William B. McGregor |year=1994 |title=Warrwa |series=Languages of the World/Materials 89 |location=München |publisher=Lincom Europa |page=20 |isbn=3-929075-51-2 }} Burarra,{{cite book |last1=Glasgow |first1=Kathleen |last2=Capell |first2=A. |author-link2=Arthur Capell |last3=McKay |first3=G. R. |last4=Kennedy |first4=Rod |last5=Trefry |first5=D. |year=1984 |chapter=Burrara Word Classes |title=Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 16 |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series A - No. 68 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australia National University |pages=1-54 [1, 15-17, 26-27] |doi=10.15144/PL-A68.1 }} Gaagudju,{{cite book |last=Harvey |first=Mark |year=2002 |title=A Grammar of Gaagudju |series=Mouton Grammar Library 24 |location=Berlin |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |page=268 |isbn=3-11-017248-8 }} Malak-Malak,{{cite book |last1=Gaby |first1=Alice |last2=Shoulson |first2=Oliver |editor-last=Bowern |editor-first=Claire |editor-link=Claire Bowern |year=2023 |chapter=Pronouns |title=The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=268-277 [269] |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0024 |isbn=978-0-19-882497-8 }} and Dalabon.{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Nicholas |author-link1=Nicholas Evans (linguist) |last2=Marley |first2=Alexandra |editor-last=Bowern |editor-first=Claire |editor-link=Claire Bowern |year=2023 |chapter=The Gunwinyguan languages |title=The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=781-795 [790-791] |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0067 |isbn=978-0-19-882497-8 }} It is also found in the Pama-Nyungan languages of Gurindji{{cite book |last1=Meakins |first1=Felicity |author-link1=Felicity Meakins |last2=McConvell |first2=Patrick |year=2021 |title=A Grammar of Gurindji: As Spoken by Violet Wadrill, Ronnie Wavehill, Dandy Danbayarri, Biddy Wavehill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Long Johnny Kijngayarri, Banjo Ryan, Pincher Nyurrmiari and Blanche Bulngari |series=Mouton Grammar Library, vol. 91 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=6, 41, 135, 139–141, 325–326 |isbn=978-3-11-074688-4 }} and Bilinarra.{{cite book |last1=Meakins |first1=Felicity |author-link1=Felicity Meakins |last2=Nordlinger |first2=Rachel |author-link2=Rachel Nordlinger |year=2014 |title=A Grammar of Bilinarra: An Australian Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory |series=Pacific Linguistics, vol. 640 |location=Boston |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=216–217 |doi=10.1515/9781614512745 |isbn=978-1-61451-274-5 }}}} Among the very few languages outside Australia it applies to is the Austronesian language Äiwoo{{cite journal |last=Næss |first=Åshild |date=2018 |title=Plural-Marking Strategies in Äiwoo |url=https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/67758/Plural_N%25C3%25A6ss_2018.pdf |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=31–62 |doi=10.1353/ol.2018.0001 |hdl=10852/67758 |s2cid=150127508 |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103151417/https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/67758/Plural_N%25C3%25A6ss_2018.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-03 }} and the Trans–New Guinea language of Kunimaipa.{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Peter W. |last2=Moskal |first2=Beata |last3=Xu |first3=Ting |last4=Kang |first4=Jungmin |last5=Bobaljik |first5=Jonathan David |author-link5=Jonathan Bobaljik |date=2019 |title=Case and Number Suppletion in Pronouns |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/bobaljik/files/smith2019_article_caseandnumbersuppletioninprono.pdf |journal=Natural Language and Linguistic Theory |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=1029–1101 [1091n121] |doi=10.1007/s11049-018-9425-0 |s2cid=254866643 |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209001613/https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/bobaljik/files/smith2019_article_caseandnumbersuppletioninprono.pdf |archive-date=2021-12-09 }}

Minimal and augmented may also combine with paucal to create a three-way pronoun system of minimal, paucal, and augmented/plural. This is reportedly the case with Kayapo.{{cite web |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2006 |title=Numerus: Der Morphologische Gebrauch Semantischer Atome |series=Queen Mary's Occasional Papers Advancing Linguistics (OPAL) #5 |language=de |publisher=Queen Mary University of London |url=https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/media/sllf-new/department-of-linguistics/05-QMOPAL-Harbour.pdf |page=2 |access-date=2024-01-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330201235/https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/media/sllf-new/department-of-linguistics/05-QMOPAL-Harbour.pdf |archive-date=2023-03-30 }}{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185–229 [214] |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }} A four-way system of minimal, unit augmented, paucal, and plural is theoretically possible, but has never been observed in any natural language.

Composed numbers are number categories built from multiple number markers combined. They are "a rare phenomenon."{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=36 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

In Breton:

• {{lang|br|lagad}} - "eye" (singular)
• {{lang|br|daoulagad}} - "two eyes" (dual)
• {{lang|br|lagadoù}} - "eyes" (plural)
• {{lang|br|daoulagadoù}} - "pairs of eyes" (composed, dual + plural)

Breton only has the dual for nouns that naturally come in pairs, mostly body parts and items of clothing. The composed dual and plural indicates multiple sets of two each, whereas the regular plural represents multiple items without them conceptualized as coming in pairs.{{cite book |last=Acquaviva |first=Paolo |year=2008 |title=Lexical Plurals: A Morphosemantic Approach |series=Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=238, 247, 251–252 |isbn=978-0-19-953421-0 }} There is at least one attestation in Ancient Egyptian, from an inscription dating to the reign of Merneptah, of the exact same grammatical construction with the word "hand" (to mean multiple pairs of hands).{{cite book |last=Matić |first=Uroš |year=2019 |title=Body and Frames of War in New Kingdom Egypt: Violent Treatment of Enemies and Prisoners |series=Philippika - Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen / Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures 134 |location=Wiesbaden, Germany |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |page=282n450 |isbn=978-3-447-19925-4 }}

A similar category can be found in some nouns of Classical Arabic, where it has been called the "dual of the plural". However, its meaning is the reverse of the Breton construction. Rather than multiple sets of two each, it indicates two sets of multiple each. Thus there is {{lang|ar-latn|rumḥun}}, spear (singular); {{lang|ar-latn|rumḥani}}, two spears (dual); {{lang|ar-latn|rimāḥun}}, spears (plural); and {{lang|ar-latn|rimāḥāni}}, two groups of spears (dual of the plural).{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [322–323] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n321/mode/2up }}{{cite journal |last=Kunitzsch |first=Paul |date=1978 |title=Der Sternhimmel in den "Dichterischen Vergleichen der Andalus-Araber" |language=de |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=238–251 [245] |jstor=43381949 }} The Arabic dual of the plural more specifically implies a minimum of six items, or two groups of three each.

In Breton and Classical Arabic,{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [319–322] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }}{{cite book |last=Mathieu |first=Eric |editor-last1=Aguilar-Guevara |editor-first1=Ana |editor-last2=Le Bruyn |editor-first2=Bert |editor-last3=Zwarts |editor-first3=Joost |year=2014 |title=Weak Referentiality |series=Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, vol. 219 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |chapter=Many a Plural |volume=219 |pages=157–182 [172, 177] |isbn=978-90-272-6938-6 |doi=10.1075/la.219.07mat }} as well as in Somali{{cite book |last=Lecarme |first=Jacqueline |editor-last=Boucher |editor-first=Paul |year=2002 |title=Many Morphologies |location=Somerville, MA |publisher=Cascadilla Press |chapter=Gender “Polarity”: Theoretical Aspects of Somali Nominal Morphology |pages=109–141 [110, 121–122] |chapter-url=https://arcadia.sba.uniroma3.it/bitstream/2307/2759/1/Gender%20%27Polarity%27%20-%20Theoretical%20Aspects%20of%20Somali%20Nominal%20Morphology.pdf |access-date=2024-04-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403192819/https://arcadia.sba.uniroma3.it/bitstream/2307/2759/1/Gender%20%27Polarity%27%20-%20Theoretical%20Aspects%20of%20Somali%20Nominal%20Morphology.pdf |archive-date=2024-04-03 |isbn=978-1-57473-125-5 }} and Maasai,{{cite book |last=Hieda |first=Osamu |editor-last=Hieda |editor-first=Osamu |year=2014 |title=Recent Advances in Nilotic Linguistics |series=Studies in Nilotic Linguistics, vol. 8 |url=https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/11619 |location=Fuchu, Tokyo |publisher=Research Institute for Languages and Culture of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies |chapter=Number in Nilotic: A Hypothetical Consideration from Historical Perspective |pages=15–32 [22, 22n11] |access-date=2024-04-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403030423/https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/11619/files/B156_SNL-8_Recent%20Advances%20in%20Nilotic%20Linguistics_web_1.pdf |archive-date=2024-04-03 |isbn=978-4-86337-156-9 }} some nouns may compose the plural with itself, to mean multiple different groups. This has been called the "plural of the plural", the plural plural, or the double plural. An Arabic example is {{lang|ar-latn|kalb}}, dog (singular); {{lang|ar-latn|aklub}}, dogs (plural); and {{lang|ar-latn|akālib}}, groups of dogs (double plural).{{cite journal |last=Ziadeh |first=Farhat J. |date=1986 |title=Prosody and the Initial Formation of Classical Arabic |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=333–338 [336] |doi=10.2307/601598 |jstor=601598 }} The Arabic double plural implies a minimum of nine items, or three groups of three each. Some Classical Arabic nouns may even compose the plural with itself yet again, to create the "plural plural plural" or triple plural, such as {{lang|ar-latn|firqat}}, sect (singular); {{lang|ar-latn|firaq}}, sects (plural); {{lang|ar-latn|ʔafrāq}}, groups of sects (double plural); and {{lang|ar-latn|ʔafārīq}}, groups of groups of sects (triple plural). The triple plural implies a minimum of 27 items.{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [321–322] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }} According to the 15th century linguist and polymath Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, the Arabic word for male camel, {{lang|ar-latn|jamalun}}, may be cumulatively pluralized up to six times: {{lang|ar-latn|ʔajmulun}} (plural), {{lang|ar-latn|ʔajmālun}} (double plural), {{lang|ar-latn|jāmilun}} (triple plural), {{lang|ar-latn|jimālun}} (quadruple plural), {{lang|ar-latn|jimālatun}} (quintuple plural), and {{lang|ar-latn|jimālātun}} (sextuple plural).{{cite journal |last=Schub |first=Michael B. |date=1982 |title=A Note on a Sextuple Plural in Arabic and More on Plurals of Paucity and Abundance |journal=Al-'Arabiyya |volume=15 |issue=1/2 |pages=153–155 [154] |jstor=43192546}}{{efn|Since the dual was a regular feature of Classical Arabic, a dual also exists for all of these examples: {{lang|ar-latn|kalbāni}} for two dogs,{{cite book |last=Abu-Chacra |first=Faruk |year=2007 |edition=1st |title=Arabic: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=72, 82 |doi=10.4324/9780203088814 |isbn=978-0-203-08881-4 }} {{lang|ar-latn|firqatāni}} for two sects,{{cite book |last=Marlow |first=L. |year=2016 |title=Counsel for Kings: Wisdom and Politics in Tenth-Century Iran |volume=1, The Naṣīḥat al-mulūk of Pseudo-Māwardī: Contexts and Themes |series=Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=85 |isbn=978-0-7486-9691-8 }} and {{lang|ar-latn|jamalāni}} for two camels.{{cite journal |last=Cheerangote |first=Saidalavi |date=2018 |title=Contact-Induced Elements in Arabi-Malayalam |url=http://www.languageinindia.com/may2018/saidalaviarabimalayalamcontactinduced2.pdf |journal=Language in India |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=333–341 [335] |access-date=2024-04-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724095027/http://www.languageinindia.com/may2018/saidalaviarabimalayalamcontactinduced2.pdf |archive-date=2020-07-24 }} A more modern source lists {{lang|ar-latn|jimālun}} as the regular plural of {{lang|ar-latn|jamalun}} (instead of the quadruple plural), from which is formed an additional dual of the plural, {{lang|ar-latn|jimālāni}}, meaning two herds of male camels.{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [322] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }}}}

Some number categories, formed from the combination of other existing categories, have only been attested as occurring secondarily alongside other grammatical number systems within a language. These have been called conflated numbers.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=121–124 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

A few languages have specific parts of speech that distinguish between two number categories: one or two, and more than two. The former category can be thought of as a single conflated singular-dual number. For example, in the nouns of Kalaw Lagaw Ya:{{cite journal |last=Comrie |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Comrie |date=1981 |title=Ergativity and Grammatical Relations in Kalaw Lagaw Ya (Saibai Dialect) |journal=Australian Journal of Linguistics |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–42 [6–7] |doi=10.1080/07268608108599265 }}{{cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=Rod |date=2015 |title={{lang|mwp|Ngalmun Lagaw Yangukudu|cat=no|italic=no}}: The Language of Our Homeland |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281704475 |journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum - Culture |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=325–452 [362, 379, 382–383] |issn=1440-4788 |access-date=2024-03-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309110919/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rod-Mitchell-2/publication/281704475_Ngalmun_Lagaw_Yangukudu_The_language_of_our_homeland/links/62b6ad2289e4f1160c999024/Ngalmun-Lagaw-Yangukudu-The-language-of-our-homeland.pdf |archive-date= 2024-03-09}}

• {{lang|mwp|ùmay}} - "dog(s)" (one or two)
• {{lang|mwp|ùmayl}} - "dogs" (plural, three or more)

The pronouns and verbs of Kalaw Lagaw Ya distinguish singular, dual, and plural, leaving no ambiguity between one and two in full sentences.

While Kalaw Lagaw Ya has the singular-dual in all nouns, Central Pame has it specifically in inanimate nouns, such as {{lang|pbs|čihàgŋ}}, spoon(s) (one or two), and {{lang|pbs|šihàgŋ}}, spoons (plural, three or more). Pame animate nouns largely have a full three-way distinction: {{lang|pbs|nadò}}, dog (singular); {{lang|pbs|nadòi}}, two dogs (dual); and {{lang|pbs|ladòt}}, dogs (plural).{{cite journal |author-last1=Gibson |author-first1=Lorna |author-last2=Bartholomew |author-first2=Doris |author-link2=Doris Bartholomew |date=1979 |title=Pame Noun Inflection |url=http://www.balsas-nahuatl.org/mixtec/Christian_articles/Otomanguean/Gibson_Bartholomew.pdf |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=309–322 [311] |doi=10.1086/465613 |access-date=2024-03-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310185818/http://www.balsas-nahuatl.org/mixtec/Christian_articles/Otomanguean/Gibson_Bartholomew.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-10 }}

The singular-dual may also be found in verbs: Hopi verbs distinguish singular-dual and plural (3+), while Hopi pronouns distinguish singular and plural (2+). The dual can be represented with a plural pronoun combined with a singular-dual verb. This phenomenon has been called a constructed number{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=169 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} or a Frankendual.{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2020 |title=Frankenduals: Their Typology, Structure, and Significance |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/04_96.1Harbour.pdf |journal=Language |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=60–93 [60] |doi=10.1353/lan.2020.0002 |access-date=2024-03-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311174251/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/04_96.1Harbour.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-11 }} However, Hopi nouns still overtly distinguish singular, dual, and plural. Idi goes even further by having no specific dual markers of any kind for any part of speech, with the only way to represent dual being combining a singular-dual verb with a plural noun.{{cite conference |last=Schokkin |first=Dineke |title=The Multifaceted Expression of Number on the Idi Verb |conference=11th International Austronesian and Papuan Languages and Linguistics Conference (APLL11) |page=[54] (unnumbered) |year=2019 |location=Leidan, Netherlands |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/binaries/content/assets/geesteswetenschappen/lucl/apll11/apll11-booklet-of-abstracts-2019-03-01.pdf#page=56 |access-date=2024-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312061343/https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/binaries/content/assets/geesteswetenschappen/lucl/apll11/apll11-booklet-of-abstracts-2019-03-01.pdf#page=56 |archive-date=2024-03-12 }} A more complex example comes from Koasati, where besides plural, some verbs have singular and dual, some verbs just have singular, and some verbs just have singular-dual:{{cite book |last=Kimball |first=Geoffrey D. |others=With the assistance of Bel Abbey, Nora Abbey, Martha John, Ed John, and Ruth Poncho |year=1991 |title=Koasati Grammar |series=Studies in the Anthropology of North American Indians |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |page=323 |isbn=0-8032-2725-6 }}

In the Tucanoan language of Tuyuca, inanimate classifiers (which attach to nouns) distinguish one to three versus more than three:{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=123 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}{{cite book |last=Barnes |first=Janet |editor-last=Payne |editor-first=Doris L. |editor-link=Doris L. Payne |year=1990 |title=Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American Languages |chapter=Classifiers in Tuyuca |location=Austin, TX |publisher=University of Texas Press |pages=273–292 [274–275, 283] |isbn=978-0-292-72364-1 }}

• {{lang|tue|hoópóro}} - "banana(s)" (one to three)
• {{lang|tue|hoópóri}} - "bananas" (plural, four or more)

The related Tucanoan language of Wanano also has some nouns that function this way.{{cite journal |last=Waltz |first=Nathan E. |date=2002 |title=Innovations in Wanano (Eastern Tucanoan) When Compared to Piratapuyo |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=157–215 [189–190] |doi=10.1086/466485 |jstor=1265637 }}{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Stenzel |first=Kristine Sue |year=2004 |title=A Reference Grammar of Wanano |url=https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese:stenzel-2004/stenzel_2004_wanano.pdf |pages=185–190 |publisher=University of Colorado |access-date=2024-03-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208130840/https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese:stenzel-2004/stenzel_2004_wanano.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-08 }}

The same number distinction is also seen in the verb for "climb" in Miriwoong, an Australian language.

In Piratapuyo, closely related to Wanano, some nouns with inanimate classifiers distinguish between one and four versus more than four:{{cite book |last=Waltz |first=Nathan E. |editor-last1=Jones |editor-first1=Paula Simmons |editor-last2=Waltz |editor-first2=Carolyn |year=2012 |title={{lang|es|Diccionario Bilingüe|cat=no}}: Piratapuyo-{{lang|es|Español, Español|cat=no}}-Piratapuyo |language=es |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/21/32/05/21320596936256302259008409377610888646/pirdic1ed2012.pdf |location=Bogotá |publisher=Editorial Fundación para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Marginados |pages=141, 146 |access-date=2024-03-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313144838/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/21/32/05/21320596936256302259008409377610888646/pirdic1ed2012.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-13 |isbn=978-958-46-1598-5 }}{{cite journal |last=Balykova |first=Kristina |date=2021 |title=Quantificação e Individuação em Wa'ikhana |language=pt |url=https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/liames/article/view/8661280/26570 |journal=Liames: {{lang|pt|Línguas Indígenas Americanas|cat=no}} |volume=21 |pages=1–21 [16] |access-date=2024-03-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808100206/https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/liames/article/download/8661280/26570/99371 |archive-date=2022-08-08 |doi=10.20396/liames.v21i00.8661280 |doi-access=free }}

• {{lang|pir|pika}} - "finger(s)" (one to four)
• {{lang|pir|pikari}} - "fingers" (plural, five or more)

Zuni, similarly to Hopi, shows a singular-dual versus plural distinction in its verbs, and a plural noun with a nonplural verb indicates dual. However, the opposite combination, a nonplural noun with a plural verb, is also possible, and can be variably interpreted as one, two, or a few. Zuni nouns have thus been described as having a "singular-paucal" versus plural distinction.{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=Willard |date=1966 |title=Inflectional Class and Taxonomic Structure in Zuni |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=217–227 [217, 217n3] |doi=10.1086/464906 |jstor=1263461 }}{{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2020 |title=Frankenduals: Their Typology, Structure, and Significance |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/04_96.1Harbour.pdf |journal=Language |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=60–93 [87–89] |doi=10.1353/lan.2020.0002 |access-date=2024-03-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311174251/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/04_96.1Harbour.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-11 }}

Some nouns in Navajo have also been described as working this way, such as:{{cite journal |last=Witherspoon |first=Gary J. |author-link=Gary Witherspoon |date=1971 |title=Navajo Categories of Objects at Rest |journal=American Anthropologist |series=N.s. |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=110–127 [112] |doi=10.1525/aa.1971.73.1.02a00090 |jstor=671816 }}

• {{lang|nv|kǫ}} - "fire(s)" (one or several)
• {{lang|nv|daakǫ}} - "fires" (many)

Similarly, although Larike pronouns exhibit singular, dual, trial, and plural, they can only be used for human referents. For nonhuman referents, there are only two possible numbers, which are marked on the verb: a plural, and a "singular" that can be used to mean anywhere from one to a few.

The nondual{{efn|Variously spelled as either nondualSee:

• {{cite journal |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Evans (linguist) |date=2014 |title=Positional Verbs in Nen |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/14019/1/Evans%20Positional%20Verbs%20in%20Nen%202014.pdf |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=225–255 [228n†, 229, 229n10, 231–237, 233n17, 235n20] |doi=10.1353/ol.2014.0019 |hdl=1885/14019 |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724191507/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/14019/1/Evans%20Positional%20Verbs%20in%20Nen%202014.pdf |archive-date=2023-07-24 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2020 |title=Frankenduals: Their Typology, Structure, and Significance |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/04_96.1Harbour.pdf |journal=Language |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=60–93 [60n1] |doi=10.1353/lan.2020.0002 |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311174251/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/04_96.1Harbour.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-11 }}
• {{cite book |last=Siegel |first=Jeff |year=2023 |title=A Grammar of Nama: A Papuan Language of Southern New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics, vol. 668 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=122–125, 127–128, 133–134, 137, 139, 141–146, 148, 150–152, 155, 217, 238, 264, 295, 302–304, 302n51, 313–314, 316, 318 |isbn=978-3-11-107701-7 }}

or non-dual.See:

• {{cite book |author-last1=McDonald |author-first1=M. |author-last2=Wurm |author-first2=S. A. |author-link2=Stephen Wurm |year=1979 |title=Basic Materials in Waŋkumara (Gaḷali): Grammar, Sentences and Vocabulary |url=http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 65 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=18–19 |isbn=0-85883-202-X |access-date=2024-04-11 |archive-date=2020-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110025746/http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }}
• {{cite book |last=Siegl |first=Florian |year= |title=Materials on Forest Enets, an Indigenous Language of Northern Siberia |series=Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia / Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, 267 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Société Finno-Ougrienne |page=280 |isbn=978-952-5667-46-2 }}
• {{cite book |last=Sutton |first=Logan |editor-last1=Berez |editor-first1=Andrea L. |editor-link1=Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker |editor-last2=Mulder |editor-first2=Jean |editor-link2=Jean Mulder |editor-last3=Rosenblum |editor-first3=Daisy |year=2010 |title=Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |series=Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 2 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |pages=57–89 [68] |chapter=Noun Class and Number in Kiowa-Tanoan: Comparative-Historical Research and Respecting Speakers' Rights in Fieldwork |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315192418/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |archive-date=2024-03-15 |isbn=978-0-8248-3530-9 }}}} number means any number except two. For example, in Wangkumara:{{cite book |author-last1=McDonald |author-first1=M. |author-last2=Wurm |author-first2=S. A. |author-link2=Stephen Wurm |year=1979 |title=Basic Materials in Waŋkumara (Gaḷali): Grammar, Sentences and Vocabulary |url=http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 65 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=16–19, 22, 24, 28, 67 |isbn=0-85883-202-X |access-date=2024-04-11 |archive-date=2020-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110025746/http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }}

• {{lang|xwk|d̯it̯i}} - "dog(s)" (nondual, one or three or more than three)
• {{lang|xwk|d̯it̯ibula}} - "two dogs" (dual)

Wangkumara does not normally mark number directly on nouns. Instead, it distinguishes singular, dual, and plural using adnominal pronouns, plural-indicating adjectives like 'many', or marking on other adjectives. The exception is that nouns take the dual enclitic when referring to two. Thus for nouns alone, the only distinction is dual and nondual.

A more complex system can be found in the Tanoan languages of Kiowa and Jemez. These languages have what is called an inverse number system. Although the languages distinguish between singular, dual, and plural, any given noun only has a single possible number marker. What number is implicit in an unmarked noun depends on its class. In Kiowa, by default, Class I nouns are singular-dual, Class II nouns are plural (two or more), Class III nouns are dual, and Class IV nouns are mass nouns with no number. The inverse number marker changes the noun to whatever number(s) the unmarked noun isn't, such as changing Class III nouns from dual to nondual.{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=Logan |editor-last1=Berez |editor-first1=Andrea L. |editor-link1=Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker |editor-last2=Mulder |editor-first2=Jean |editor-link2=Jean Mulder |editor-last3=Rosenblum |editor-first3=Daisy |year=2010 |title=Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |series=Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 2 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |pages=57–89 [60] |chapter=Noun Class and Number in Kiowa-Tanoan: Comparative-Historical Research and Respecting Speakers' Rights in Fieldwork |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315192418/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |archive-date=2024-03-15 |isbn=978-0-8248-3530-9 }} In Jemez, Class III nouns are the opposite: they are inherently nondual, and get marked for dual.{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=Logan |editor-last1=Berez |editor-first1=Andrea L. |editor-link1=Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker |editor-last2=Mulder |editor-first2=Jean |editor-link2=Jean Mulder |editor-last3=Rosenblum |editor-first3=Daisy |year=2010 |title=Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |series=Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 2 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |pages=57–89 [67–68] |chapter=Noun Class and Number in Kiowa-Tanoan: Comparative-Historical Research and Respecting Speakers' Rights in Fieldwork |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315192418/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |archive-date=2024-03-15 |isbn=978-0-8248-3530-9 }}

The nondual versus dual distinction may also be found in verbs. Timbisha has verbs with several different possible number distinctions, including nondual ones.{{cite journal |last=McLaughlin |first=John E. |date=2018 |title=Expanding to the Edges: Central Numic Dual Number |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1830&context=english_facpub |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=359–381 [370–371] |doi=10.1086/697587 |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502044421/https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1830&context=english_facpub |archive-date=2022-05-02 }} A more minor example is Forest Enets, which has the nondual only in its intransitive third person imperative verbs.{{cite book |last=Siegl |first=Florian |year= |title=Materials on Forest Enets, an Indigenous Language of Northern Siberia |series=Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia / Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, 267 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Société Finno-Ougrienne |page=280 |isbn=978-952-5667-46-2 }}

The nondual violates a proposed universal of conflated systems, namely that they will always encompass every value except plural.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=123–124 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} Regardless, the nondual has still been referred to as a conflation of number values.{{cite book |last=Siegel |first=Jeff |year=2023 |title=A Grammar of Nama: A Papuan Language of Southern New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics, vol. 668 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |page=302 |isbn=978-3-11-107701-7 }}

A small number of languages have no grammatical number at all, even in pronouns. A well known example is Pirahã. Acehnese comes close, but appears to have a singular/plural distinction only in the first person pronouns.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=50–51, 64–65 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

Distributives and collectives are two related categories whose inclusion in grammatical number has been contested. Both describe how members of a group are viewed, rather than how many members are in that group.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=117–118 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

The distributive plural denotes multiple entities that are separated and distinct, either in physical space, through time, or by type.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=111–117 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} For example, in Dagaare:{{cite book |last=Grimm |first=Scott |editor-last1=Hofherr |editor-first1=Patricia Cabredo |editor-last2=Doetjes |editor-first2=Jenny |year=2021 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Grammatical Number |series=Oxford Handbooks in Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Inverse Number in Dagaare |pages=445–462 [450] |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198795858.013.21 |isbn=978-0-19-879585-8 }}{{cite book |last1=Ali |first1=Mark |last2=Grimm |first2=Scott |last3=Bodomo |first3=Adams |author-link3=Adams Bodomo |year=2021 |title=A Dictionary and Grammatical Sketch of Dagaare |series=African Language Grammars and Dictionaries 4 |location=Berlin |publisher=Language Science Press |pages=v, 52 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.4501694 |isbn=978-3-96110-306-5 }}

• {{lang|dga|baa}} - "dog" (singular)
• {{lang|dga|baare}} - "dogs" (plural)
• {{lang|dga|baarɛɛ}} - "dogs in different locations" (distributive plural)

In Dagaare, the distributive plural may indicate either referents in different locations or referents of different types. By contrast, in Quileute, it only means referents in different locations, and in Mohawk, it only means referents of different types. Thus in Mohawk there is {{lang|moh|ierakewáhtha’}}, towel, and {{lang|moh|ierakewahtha’shòn:’a}}, various products for wiping like towels, napkins, and so on.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=112–113 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} It is also possible to have distributive pronouns, such as those found in Yir-Yoront, which distinguish between "you and I" and "you and I, acting separately".{{cite book |last=Alpher |first=Barry |year=1991 |title=Yir-Yoront Lexicon: Sketch and Dictionary of an Australian Language |series=Trends in Linguistics Documentation 6 |location=Berlin |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |pages=37–40 |isbn=3-11-012682-6 }}

However, it is most common to mark the distributive on verbs.{{cite book |last=Mithun |first=Marianne |author-link=Marianne Mithun |year=2006 |orig-year=1999 |title=The Languages of Native North America |series=Cambridge Language Surveys |edition=3rd |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=88–89 |isbn=978-0-521-23228-9 }} This may distribute the action across various individuals, such as in the Paraguayan Guaraní constructions: {{lang|gn|ha’ekuéra opo’i ita’i}}, "they dropped a pebble"; {{lang|gn|ha’ekuéra opo’ipo’i ita’i}}, "they each dropped a pebble".{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Hamidzadeh |first=Khashayar |year=2013 |title=Reduplication in Paraguayan Guaraní: A Descriptive Account |url=https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/a7255446-a228-40c3-bbd0-e1cd77a19fe2/content |page=91 |publisher=University of Manitoba |access-date=2024-03-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321000452/https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/a7255446-a228-40c3-bbd0-e1cd77a19fe2/content |archive-date=2024-03-21 }} It may also distribute the action across time, such as in the Nêlêmwa words {{lang|nee|taxe}}, to throw, and {{lang|nee|taraxe}}, to throw (repeatedly).{{cite book |last=Bril |first=Isabelle |author-link=Isabelle Bril |editor-last1=Storch |editor-first1=Anne |editor-link1=Anne Storch |editor-last2=Dimmendaal |editor-first2=Gerrit J. |editor-link2=Gerrit Dimmendaal |year=2014 |title=Number – Constructions and Semantics: Case Studies from Africa, Amazonia, India and Oceania |series=Studies in Language Companion Series, vol. 151 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |chapter=Number and Numeration in Nêlêmwa and Zuanga (New Caledonia): Ontologies, Definiteness and Pragmatics |pages=167–198 [184–185] |isbn=978-90-272-7063-4 }} Some ǂʼAmkoe verbs offer multiple senses of the distributive for one verb: {{lang|huc|qǁʼao|italic=yes}}, to stab; {{lang|huc|kíqǁʼaotcu|italic=yes}}, to stab (repeatedly); {{lang|huc|kíqǁʼaoqǁo|italic=yes}}, to stab (several things at different locations).{{cite journal |last=Collins |first=Chris |date=2001 |title=Aspects of Plurality in ǂHoan |journal=Language |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=456–476 [465–470] |doi=10.1353/lan.2001.0141 |jstor=3086940 }} The distributive plural may be a part of even larger paradigms: in Urarina, intransitive verbs describing a positional state (such as "it is lying on its side") distinguish between singular, dual, paucal, plural (4+), and distributive plural.{{cite book |last1=Krasnoukhova |first1=Olga |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in the Languages of South America |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=609–670 [648] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}

While some linguists have treated the distributive as a category of grammatical number,See:

• {{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Frowein |first=Friedel Martin |year=2011 |title=A Grammar of Siar, an Oceanic Language of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea |url=https://opal.latrobe.edu.au/ndownloader/files/38778330 |pages=18, 124, 140, 140n49 |publisher=La Trobe University |access-date=2024-03-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321050241/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/figshare-production-eu-latrobe-storage9079-ap-southeast-2/38778330/34054_SOURCE01_3_A.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIARRFKZQ25KW2DIYRU/20240321/ap-southeast-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240321T050239Z&X-Amz-Expires=10&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=26f85e3d7f28a236934d1bbb96397fe48e4e74957ef565cb6b01c7f17e816c58 |archive-date=2024-03-21 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Krasnoukhova |first1=Olga |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in the Languages of South America |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=609–670 [648] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}
• {{cite book |author-last1=Young |author-first1=Robert W. |author-link1=Robert W. Young |author-last2=Morgan |author-first2=William |author-link2=William Morgan (Navajo scholar) |year=1972 |orig-year=1943 |title=The Navaho Language: The Elements of Navaho Grammar with a Dictionary in Two Parts Containing Basic Vocabularies of Navaho and English |location=Salt Lake City, UT |publisher=Deseret Book Company |page=2 }}

others have rejected this.See:

• {{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=114–117, 120 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
• {{cite book |last=Hofherr |first=Patricia Cabredo |editor-last1=Hofherr |editor-first1=Patricia Cabredo |editor-last2=Doetjes |editor-first2=Jenny |year=2021 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Grammatical Number |series=Oxford Handbooks in Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Nominal Number Morphology |pages=135–163 [139–142] |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198795858.013.7 |isbn=978-0-19-879585-8 }}
• {{cite book |last=Levy |first=Paulette |editor-last1=Dixon |editor-first1=R. M. W. |editor-link1=Robert M. W. Dixon |editor-last2=Aikhenvald |editor-first2=Alexandra Y. |editor-link2=Alexandra Aikhenvald |year=2006 |orig-year=2004 |title=Adjective Classes: A Cross-Linguistic Typology |series=Explorations in Linguistic Typology 1 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Adjectives in Papantla Totonac |pages=147–176 [152] |isbn=978-0-19-920346-8 }}

A few things make its categorization as a grammatical number potentially problematic. Several languages allow the distributive to be added to mass nouns that are normally not considered to have number,{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=113–114, 116, 120 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }} such as the Dagaare {{lang|dga|salema}}, gold, and {{lang|dga|salemɛɛ}}, "gold in different locations".{{cite book |last1=Ali |first1=Mark |last2=Grimm |first2=Scott |last3=Bodomo |first3=Adams |author-link3=Adams Bodomo |year=2021 |title=A Dictionary and Grammatical Sketch of Dagaare |series=African Language Grammars and Dictionaries 4 |location=Berlin |publisher=Language Science Press |pages=v, 263 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.4501694 |isbn=978-3-96110-306-5 }} This can be described as a nondistributive versus distributive distinction, with neither being singular or plural.{{cite journal |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |date=1998 |title=The Semantics of Collectives and Distributives in Papago |journal=Natural Language Semantics |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=245–270 [248–249] |doi=10.1023/A:1008289808782 |jstor=23752366 }} Several languages also allow separate plural and distributive markers to be added to a word at the same time. Additionally, grammatical number frequently requires agreement, but distributivity does not.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=114–116, 120 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

The collective plural denotes multiple entities that are considered together as a unit. It is often conceptualized as the opposite of the distributive. For example, in Tunica:See:

• {{cite book |last=Haas |first=Mary R. |author-link=Mary Haas |title=Tunica Grammar |type=Unpublished manuscript |pages=282–285 |url=https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/text%3A350118 }}
• {{cite book |last=Haas |first=Mary R. |author-link=Mary Haas |editor-last=Osgood |editor-first=Cornelius |year=1967 |orig-year=1946 |title=Linguistic Structures of Native America |series=Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology no. 6 |url=https://archive.org/details/linguisticstruct0000osgo/mode/2up |location=New York |publisher=Johnson Reprint Company |chapter=A Grammatical Sketch of Tunica |pages=337–366 [344, 359] }}
• {{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Harvey |first=Megan Anna |year=2023 |title=Documenting Reawakening Languages: A Case Study of Tunica |url=https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/669841/azu_etd_20895_sip1_m.pdf |pages=50, 114–115, 556–557 |publisher=University of Arizona |access-date=2024-03-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324023413/https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/669841/azu_etd_20895_sip1_m.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-24 }}
• {{cite journal |author-last1=Heaton |author-first1=Raina |author-last2=Anderson |author-first2=Patricia |date=2017 |title=When Animals Become Humans: Grammatical Gender in Tunica |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=341–363 [342, 345–351] |doi=10.1086/689832 }}

• {{lang|tun|sa}} - "dog" (singular)
• {{lang|tun|sa{{`}}unima}} - "two dogs" (dual)
• {{lang|tun|sasinima}} - "dogs" (plural)
• {{lang|tun|sahchi}} - "pack of dogs" (collective plural)

The collective may be limited to just a small subset of nouns, like in Kujireray, where it can only be used with certain insects and small objects: {{lang|bqj|enipora}}, fly; {{lang|bqj|sinipora}}, flies; and {{lang|bqj|banipora}}, swarm of flies.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Watson |first=Rachel |year=2015 |title=Kujireray: Morphosyntax, Noun Classification and Verbal Nouns |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22829/1/Watson_4244.pdf |pages=242–244 |publisher=SOAS University of London |access-date=2024-03-24 |archive-date=2021-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208023629/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22829/1/Watson_4244.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }} Just like the distributive, the collective can also change the meaning of verbs, as in Panyjima: {{lang|pnw|karri}}, to stand, and {{lang|pnw|karrinyayi}}, to stand together.{{cite journal |last=Dench |first=Alan |date=1987 |title=Kinship and Collective Activity in the Ngayarda Languages of Australia |journal=Language in Society |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=321–339 [324] |doi=10.1017/S0047404500012410 |jstor=4167857 }} In Vaeakau-Taumako, the collective is indicated through different articles: {{lang|piv|te tai}}, the person; {{lang|piv|ngha tai}}, the people; and {{lang|piv|a tai}}, the group of people.{{cite book |author-last1=Næss |author-first1=Åshild |author-last2=Hovdhaugen |author-first2=Even |author-link2=Even Hovdhaugen |year=2011 |title=A Grammar of Vaeakau-Taumako |series=Mouton Grammar Library 52 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=18, 36, 52, 165–172, 349 |isbn=978-3-11-023827-3 }}

The collective presents similar issues as the distributive in its potential classification as grammatical number, including the fact that some languages allow both collective and plural markers on the same words. Adding a collective to a plural word does not change the number of referents, only how those referents are conceptualized.{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=117–120 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}

Basque declension has four grammatical numbers: indefinite, definite singular, definite plural, and definite close plural:

• The indefinite is used after the question words {{lang|eu|Zer?}} ("What?"), {{lang|eu|Zein?}} ("Which?") and {{lang|eu|Zenbat?}} ("How much? / How many?"), after indefinite numerals, such as {{lang|eu|zenbait}} ("some"), {{lang|eu|hainbat}} ("several"), {{lang|eu|honenbeste / horrenbeste / hainbeste}} ("so many / so much"), {{lang|eu|bezainbeste}} ("as much as / as many as"), and before {{lang|eu|asko}}, {{lang|eu|anitz}} (this one can go before nouns), {{lang|eu|ugari}}, {{lang|eu|pilo bat}}, {{lang|eu|mordo bat}}, after {{lang|eu|makina bat}} ("much, many, a lot, lots of, plenty of..."), before {{lang|eu|gutxi}} ("a few, little") and {{lang|eu|batzuk}} ("some"), and the numbers, if they do not refer to a defined amount: {{lang|eu|Zer etxe eraberritu duzu?}} ("What house[s] have you renewed?"), {{lang|eu|Zer etxe eraberritu dituzu?}} ("What houses have you renewed?"). {{lang|eu|Zein etxetan bizi zinen?}} ("In what house[s] were you living?"). {{lang|eu|Zenbat etxe dituzu?}} ("How many houses have you got?"). {{lang|eu|Lapurrak hainbat etxetan sartu dira}} ("The thieves have broken into a number of houses"). {{lang|eu|Lapurra hainbeste etxetan sartu da!}} ("The thief has broken into so many houses!").

A noun followed by an adjective or a demonstrative is in the absolutive case, and the last word in the phrase is declined:

{{lang|eu|Etxea}} ("The house / House"). {{lang|eu|Etxe bat}} ("A house"). {{lang|eu|Etxe handi bat}} ("A big house"). {{lang|eu|Etxe handi batean}} ("In a big house"). {{lang|eu|Etxe handi hori}} ("That big house"). {{lang|eu|Etxe zuri handi horretan}} ("In that big white house").

If the amount is known, the plural grammatical numbers are used: {{lang|eu|Lapurrak bi etxetan sartu dira}} ("The thieves have broken in two houses" [indefinite: the houses are unknown to the speakers]). {{lang|eu|Lapurrak bizpahiru etxetan sartu dira}} ("The thieves have broken in two or three houses" [indefinite: the speakers does not know the exact amount of houses]). {{lang|eu|Lapurrak bi etxeetan sartu dira}} ("The thieves have broken in both houses" [definite plural: both are known to the speakers]). {{lang|eu|Lapurrak bi etxeotan sartu dira}} ("The thieves have broken in these two houses" [definite close plural: both are being shown by the speaker]).

The indefinite is also used in some idioms and set phrases: {{lang|eu|Egun on!}} ("Good day! / Good morning!"), {{lang|eu|On egin!}} ("Bon appetit!"), {{lang|eu|Etxez etxe}} ("From house to house"), {{lang|eu|Mezatara joan}} ("Go to the mass"), {{lang|eu|Etxe bila ibili}} ("To look for a house"), and as the root for compound words ({{lang|eu|etxe-galgarri}}, {{lang|eu|etxekalte}}, "Person or thing which brings loss to a home") or derivative words ({{lang|eu|etxeratu}}, "To go home / To send home"; {{lang|eu|etxekoi}}, "fond of home"; {{lang|eu|etxegile}}, "housebuilder").

• The definite singular is used to designate a person or thing known or to present: {{lang|eu|Zer da eraikin hori? Nire etxea da.}} ("What is that building? It is my home"). {{lang|eu|Etxea nirea da}} ("The house is mine").
• The definite plural designates people or things known or present: {{lang|eu|Zer dira eraikin horiek? Nire etxeak dira.}} ("What are those buildings? They are my houses"). {{lang|eu|Etxeak nireak dira}} ("The houses are mine").
• The definite close plural refers to people or things which are in the vicinity of the speakers: {{lang|eu|Zer dira eraikinok? Nire etxeak dira.}} ("What are those buildings? They are my houses"). {{lang|eu|Etxeok nireak dira}} ("These houses are mine").

It is also used to include oneself in the group referred to: {{lang|eu|Nafarrak festazaleak dira}} ("The Navarrese like celebrations": the speaker is not a Navarrese). {{lang|eu|Nafarrok festazaleak gara}} ("We Navarrese like celebrations": the speaker is a Navarrese).

Verbs have four singular persons and three plural ones, as follows:

Singular:

• First person (the speaker): {{lang|eu|Euskalduna naiz}} ("I am Basque"). {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi dut}} ("I have written the text").
• Informal second person (the person the speaker is addressing to, i.e., an inferior, an animal, a child, a monologue with oneself): {{lang|eu|Euskalduna haiz}} ("Thou art Basque"). In some tenses, there are different verbs for a man or a woman: {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi duk}} ("Thou hast written the text [said to a man, a boy]", {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi dun}} ("Thou hast written the text [said to a woman, a girl]").
• Formal second person (the person the speaker is addressing to: a superior, somebody older, one's parents), the most frequent one: {{lang|eu|Euskalduna zara}} ("You [singular] are Basque"). {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi duzu}} ("You [sing.] have written the text").
• Third person (neither the speaker nor the listener): {{lang|eu|Handia da}} ("He / She / It is big"). {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi du}} ("He / She / It has written the text").

Plural:

• First person (the speaker and somebody else at least): {{lang|eu|Euskaldunak gara}} ("We are Basque"). {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi dugu}} ("We have written the text").
• Second person (the addressees): {{lang|eu|Euskaldunak zarete}} ("You [plural] are Basque [said to a group, either informally or formally]"). {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi duzue}} ("You [pl.] have written the text").
• Third person (more than one person outside the conversation): {{lang|eu|Handiak dira}} ("They are big"). {{lang|eu|Testua idatzi dute}} ("They have written the text").

{{Main |English plural}}

English is typical of most world languages, in distinguishing only between singular and plural number. Singular corresponds to exactly one (or minus one), while plural applies to all other cases, including more and less than one or even 1.0.{{Cite journal |last=Hauser |first=Mark |date=2009-09-01 |title=The Origin of the Mind |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/origin-of-the-mind/ |journal=Scientific American |volume=301 |issue=3 |pages=44–51 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0909-44 |pmid=19708527 |bibcode=2009SciAm.301c..44H }} The plural form of a noun is usually created by adding the suffix -(e)s. The pronouns have irregular plurals, as in "I" versus "we", because they are ancient and frequently used words going back to when English had a well developed system of declension. English verbs distinguish singular from plural number in the third person present tense ("He goes" versus "They go"). Old English also contained dual grammatical numbers; Modern English retains a few residual terms reflective of dual number (such as both and neither, as opposed to all and none respectively), but they are generally considered to no longer constitute a separate grammatical number.

{{Further |Finnish grammar#Plurals}}

The Finnish language has a plural form of almost every noun case (except the comitative, which is formally only plural).

• {{lang|fi|talo}} – house
• {{lang|fi|talot}} – houses
• {{lang|fi|taloissa}} – in the houses

However, when a number is used, or a word signifying a number (monta- many), the singular version of the partitive case is used.

• {{lang|fi|kolme taloa}} – three houses

and where no specific number is mentioned, the plural version of the partitive case is used

• {{lang|fi|taloja}}

and in the possessive (genitive)

• {{lang|fi|talon ovi}} (the house's door)
• {{lang|fi|talojen ovet}} (the houses' doors)

In modern Romance languages, nouns, adjectives and articles are declined according to number (singular or plural only). Verbs are conjugated for number as well as person. French treats zero as using the singular number, not the plural.

In its written form, French declines nouns for number (singular or plural). In speech, however, the majority of nouns (and adjectives) are not declined for number. The typical plural suffix, {{lang|fr|-s}} or {{lang|fr|-es}}, is silent, no longer indicating a change in pronunciation. Spoken number marking on the noun appears when liaison occurs.

• Some plurals do differ from the singular in pronunciation; for example, masculine singulars in {{lang|fr|-al}} {{IPA|[al]}} sometimes form masculine plurals in {{lang|fr|-aux}} {{IPA|[o]}}.
• Proper nouns are not pluralized, even in writing. ({{lang|fr|Les voitures}}, but {{lang|fr|Les Peugeot 404}})

Normally, the article or determiner is the primary spoken indicator of number.

In Modern Hebrew, a Semitic language, most nouns have only singular and plural forms, such as {{lang|he|ספר}} {{IPA |/ˈsefeʁ/}} "book" and {{lang|he|ספרים}} {{IPA|/sfaˈʁim/}} "books", but some have distinct dual forms using a distinct dual suffix (largely nouns pertaining to numbers or time, such as {{lang|he|אלפיים}} {{IPA|/alˈpajim/}} "two thousand" and {{lang|he|שבועיים}} {{IPA|/ʃvuˈajim/}} "two weeks"), some use this dual suffix for their regular plurals (largely body parts that tend to come in pairs, such as {{lang|he|עיניים}} {{IPA|/eiˈnajim/}} "eyes", as well as some that do not, such as {{lang|he|שיניים}} {{IPA|/ʃiˈnajim/}} "teeth"), and some are inherently dual (such as {{lang|he|מכנסיים}} {{IPA |/mixnaˈsajim/}} "pants" and {{lang|he|אופניים}} {{IPA|/ofaˈnajim/}} "bicycle"). Adjectives, verbs, and pronouns agree with their subjects' or antecedents' numbers, but only have a two-way distinction between singular and plural; dual nouns entail plural adjectives, verbs, and pronouns.

The Mortlockese language of the Mortlock Islands uses a base 10 counting system. Pronouns, nouns and demonstratives are used exclusively in the singular and plural forms through the use of classifiers, suffixes and prefixes.{{Cite book |last=Ward |first=William Theophilus Thomas |year=1955 |title=A preliminary survey of the economic and social life of the Mortlock Islands people, Eastern Carolines, Trust Territory of Micronesia}} There are no other dual or trial grammatical forms in the Mortlockese language.{{cite book |last=Odango |first=Emerson Lopez |title=Afféú Fangani 'Join Together': A Morphophonemic Analysis of Possessive Suffix Paradigms and A Discourse-Based Ethnography of the Elicitation Session in Pakin Lukunosh Mortlockese |publisher=University of Hawaii at Manoa Dissertation |url=http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/Dissertation_ODANGO-FINAL.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/Dissertation_ODANGO-FINAL.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |date=May 2015}} Different forms that can be used in the language include first person singular and plural words, second person singular words like {{lang|mrl|umwi}}, second person plural words like {{lang|mrl|aumi}} used to refer to an outside group, and third person plural words.{{cite web |author=University of Hawaii at Manoa Hamilton |title=Narrative and identity construction in the Pacific Islands |website=reader.eblib.com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu |publisher=Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015. |url=http://reader.eblib.com.eres.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/(S(bfec0qwyennsyhjjyoy3lxhr))/Reader.aspx?p=2040187&o=376&u=0GOyKO0ekzLvKJLaSEvKuw%3d%3d&t=1486402464&h=5B6C7F87B4062AECBD899D5821D51EF7A00B310D&s=53250598&ut=1139&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n&cms=-1&sd=2#}}

{{main|Russian declension#Numerals}}

Modern Russian has a singular vs plural number system, but the declension of noun phrases containing numeral expressions follows complex rules. For example, {{lang|ru|У меня (есть) одна книга/три книги/пять книг}} ("I have one book-nom. sing./three book-gen. sing./five book-gen. plur."). See Dual number: Slavic languages for a discussion of number phrases in Russian and other Slavic languages.

The numeral "one" also has a plural form used with pluralia tantum, as in {{lang|ru|одни часы}}, "one clock".{{cite book |last=Lunt |first=Horace G. |author-link=Horace Lunt |year=1982 |orig-year=1958 |title=Fundamentals of Russian: First Russian Course |location=Columbus, OH |publisher=Slavica |page=204 |isbn=0-89357-097-4 }} The same form is used with countable nouns in meaning "only": {{lang|ru|Кругом одни идиоты}} "There are only idiots around".

Swedish inflects nouns in singular and plural. The plural of the noun is usually obtained by adding a suffix, according to the noun's declension. The suffixes are as follows: {{lang|sv|-or}} in the 1st declension (e.g. {{lang|sv|flicka}} – {{lang|sv|flickor}}), {{lang|sv|-ar}} in the 2nd (e.g. {{lang|sv|bil}} – {{lang|sv|bilar}}), {{lang|sv|-er}} in the 3rd (e.g. {{lang|sv|katt}} – {{lang|sv|katter}}), {{lang|sv|-n}} in the 4th (e.g. {{lang|sv|äpple}} – {{lang|sv|äpplen}}) and no inflectional suffix is added for the nouns in the 5th declension (e.g. {{lang|sv|bord}} – {{lang|sv|bord}}). Verbs in Swedish do not distinguish singular from plural number, but adjectives do.

Auxiliary languages often have fairly simple systems of grammatical number. In one of the most common schemes (found, for example, in Interlingua and Ido), nouns and pronouns distinguish between singular and plural, but not other numbers, and adjectives and verbs do not display any number agreement. In Esperanto, however, adjectives must agree in both number and case with the nouns that they qualify.

Láadan uses a singular-paucal-superplural breakdown, with paucal indicating between two and five items inclusive.

Synthetic languages typically distinguish grammatical number by inflection. (Analytic languages, such as Chinese, often do not mark grammatical number.)

Some languages have no marker for the plural in certain cases, e.g. Swedish {{lang|sv|hus}} – "house, houses" (but {{lang|sv|huset}} – "the house", {{lang|sv|husen}} – "the houses").

In most languages, the singular is formally unmarked, whereas the plural is marked in some way. Other languages, most notably the Bantu languages, mark both the singular and the plural, for instance Swahili (see example below). The third logical possibility, found in only a few languages such as Welsh and Sinhala, is an unmarked plural contrasting with marked singular. Below are some examples of number affixes for nouns (where the inflecting morphemes are underlined):

• Affixation (by adding or removing prefixes, suffixes, infixes, or circumfixes):
• Estonian: {{lang|et|puu}} "tree, wood" (singular) – {{lang|et|puud}} "the trees, woods" (nominative plural), or {{lang|et|kolm puud}} "three trees" (partitive singular)
• Finnish: {{lang|fi|lehmä}} "cow, the cow" (singular) – {{lang|fi|lehmät}} "the cows" (nominative plural)
• Turkish: {{lang|tr|dağ}} "the mountain" (singular) – {{lang|tr|dağlar}} "mountains" (plural)
• Slovene: {{lang|sl|lípa}} "linden" (singular) – {{lang|sl|lípi}} "linden" (dual) – {{lang|sl|lípe}} "linden" (plural)
• Sanskrit: {{lang|sa|पुरुषस्}} {{lang|sa-Latn|puruṣas}} "man" (singular) – {{lang|sa|पुरुषौ}} {{lang|sa-Latn|puruṣau}} "two men" (dual) – {{lang|sa|पुरुषास्}} {{lang|sa-Latn|puruṣās}} "men" (plural)
• Sinhala: {{lang|si|මලක්}} {{lang|si-Latn|malak}} "flower" (singular) – {{lang|sa|මල්}} {{lang|si-Latn|mal}} "flowers" (plural)
• Swahili: {{lang|sw|mtoto}} "child" (singular) – {{lang|sw|watoto}} "children" (plural)
• Ganda: {{lang|lg|omusajja}} "man" (singular) – {{lang|lg|abasajja}} "men" (plural)
• Georgian: {{lang|ka|კაცი}} {{lang|ka-Latn|k'aci}} "man" (singular) – {{lang|ka|კაცები}} {{lang|ka-Latn|k'acebi}} "men" (where -i is the nominative case marker)
• Welsh: {{lang|cy|plant}} "children" (collective) – {{lang|cy|plentyn}} "child" (singulative) {{small|Care should be taken with Welsh not to confuse singulative/collective with singular/plural, see Colloquial Welsh nouns.}}
• Barngarla: {{lang|bjb|wárraidya}} "emu" (singular) – {{lang|bjb|wárraidyalbili}} "two emus" (dual) – {{lang|bjb|wárraidyarri}} "emus" (plural) – {{lang|bjb|wárraidyailyarranha}} "a lot of emus" (greater plural)
• Simulfix (through various kinds of internal sound alternations):
• Arabic: {{lang|ar|كِتَاب }} {{lang|ar-Latn|kitāb}} "book" (singular) – {{lang|ar|كُتُب}} {{lang|ar-Latn|kutub}} "books" (plural)
• Welsh: {{lang|cy|adar}} "birds" (collective) - {{lang|cy|deryn}} "bird" (singulative). The {{lang|cy|-yn}} suffix which adds an extra syllable to the root word ({{lang|cy|adar}}) causes the initial (and semantically empty) syllable to be dropped. The suffix also causes the same vowel affection as seen in the affixation type above and the apophony type below, changing the root vowel {{lang|cy|a}} to {{lang|cy|e}}. The same process can be seen in the pair {{lang|cy|hosan}} "sock" and {{lang|cy|sanau}} "socks" where the plural suffix {{lang|cy|-au}} causes the initial syllable ({{lang|cy|ho-}}) to be dropped.
• Apophony (alternating between different vowels):
• Dinka: {{lang|din|kat}} "frame" – {{lang|din|kɛt}} "frames"
• English: foot – feet
• German: {{lang|de|Mutter}} "mother" – {{lang|de|Mütter}} "mothers"
• Welsh: {{lang|cy|bachgen}} "boy" – {{lang|cy|bechgyn}} "boys" {{small|(See affection)}}
• Reduplication (through doubling):
• Indonesian: {{lang|id|orang}} "person" (singular) – {{lang|id|orang-orang}} "people" (plural); BUT {{lang|id|dua orang}} "two people" and {{lang|id|banyak orang}} "many people" (reduplication is not done when the context is clear and when the plurality is not emphasized)
• Pipil: {{lang|ppl|kumit}} "pot" (singular) – {{lang|ppl|kuj-kumit}} "pots" (plural); similar to Indonesian, reduplication is omitted when plurality is marked elsewhere or not emphasized.
• Somali: {{lang|so|buug}} "book" (singular) – {{lang|so|buug-ag}} "books" (plural)
• Suppletion (the use of the one word as the inflected form of another word):
• Serbo-Croatian: {{lang|sh|čov(j)ek}} "man" (singular) – {{lang|sh|ljudi}} "men, folks" (plural){{cite book |last1=Vrabec |first1=Željko |year=2022 |title=Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=26 |doi=10.4324/9781003154525-3 |isbn=978-1-003-15452-5 |s2cid=241612802 }}
• English: person (singular) - people (plural) (used colloquially. In formal and careful speech persons is still used as the plural of person while people also has its own plural in peoples.)
• Tonality (by changing a drag tone to a push tone)
• Limburgish: {{lang|li|daãg}} "day" (singular) – {{lang|li|daàg}} "days" (plural)
• Ancient Greek: {{lang|grc|γλῶσσα}} {{lang|grc-Latn|glôssa}} "tongue" (singular) – {{lang|grc|γλώσσα}} {{lang|grc-Latn|glǒssa}} "two tongues" (dual)

Elements marking number may appear on nouns and pronouns in dependent-marking languages or on verbs and adjectives in head-marking languages.

In the English sentence above, the plural suffix -s is added to the noun cowboy. In the equivalent in Western Apache, a head-marking language, a plural affix {{lang|apw|da-}} is added to the verb {{lang|apw|yiłch'ígó'aah}} "he is teaching him", resulting in {{lang|apw|yiłch'ídagó'aah}} "he is teaching them" while noun {{lang|apw|idilohí}} "cowboy" is unmarked for number.

Plurality is sometimes marked by a specialized number particle (or number word). This is frequent in Australian and Austronesian languages. An example from Tagalog is the word {{lang|tl|mga}} [mɐˈŋa]: compare {{lang|tl|bahay}} "house" with {{lang|tl|mga bahay}} "houses". In Kapampangan, certain nouns optionally denote plurality by secondary stress: {{lang|pam|ing laláki}} "man" and {{lang|pam|ing babái}} "woman" become {{lang|pam|ding láláki}} "men" and {{lang|pam|ding bábái}} "women".

In Sanskrit and some other languages, number and case are fused categories and there is concord for number between a noun and its predicator. Some languages however (for example, Assamese) lack this feature.

Languages that show number inflection for a large enough corpus of nouns or allow them to combine directly with singular and plural numerals can be described as non-classifier languages. On the other hand, there are languages that obligatorily require a counter word or the so-called classifier for all nouns. For example, the category of number in Assamese is fused with the category of classifier, which always carries a definite/indefinite reading. The singularity or plurality of the noun is determined by the addition of the classifier suffix either to the noun or to the numeral. Number system in Assamese is either realized as numeral or as nominal inflection, but not both. Numerals [ek] 'one' and [dui] 'two', can be realized as both free morpheme and clitics. When used with classifiers, these two numerals are cliticised to the classifiers.

Pingelapese is a Micronesian language spoken on the Pingelap atoll and on two of the eastern Caroline Islands, called the high island of Pohnpei. In Pingelapese, the meaning, use, or shape of an object can be expressed through the use of numerical classifiers. These classifiers combine a noun and a number that together can give more details about the object. There are at least five sets of numerical classifiers in Pingelapese. Each classifier has a numeral part and a classifier part that corresponds to the noun it is describing. The classifier follows the noun in a phrase. There is a separate set of numerical classifiers that is used when the object is not specified. Examples of this is the names of the days of the week.{{Cite book |last=Hattori |first=Ryoko |year=2012 |title=Preverbal Particles in Pingelapese |publisher=Ann Arbor |pages=38–41 |isbn=978-126781721-1}}

In many languages, such as English, number is obligatorily expressed in every grammatical context. Some limit number expression to certain classes of nouns, such as animates or referentially prominent nouns (as with proximate forms in most Algonquian languages, opposed to referentially less prominent obviative forms). In others, such as Chinese and Japanese, number marking is not consistently applied to most nouns unless a distinction is needed or already present.

A very common situation is for plural number to not be marked if there is any other overt indication of number, as for example in Hungarian: {{lang|hu|virág}} "flower"; {{lang|hu|virágok}} "flowers"; {{lang|hu|hat virág}} "six flowers".

Many languages, such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Malay (including Indonesian), particularly spoken in Southeast and East Asia, have optional number marking. In such cases, an unmarked noun is neither singular nor plural, but rather ambiguous as to number. This is called transnumeral or sometimes general number, abbreviated {{sc|trn}}. In many such languages, number tends to be marked for definite and highly animate referents, most notably first-person pronouns.

==Number agreement==

{{Main|Grammatical conjugation}}

In many languages, verbs are conjugated according to number. Using French as an example, one says {{lang|fr|je vois}} (I see), but {{lang|fr|nous voyons}} (we see). The verb {{lang|fr|voir}} (to see) changes from {{lang|fr|vois}} in the first person singular to {{lang|fr|voyons}} in the plural. In everyday English, this often happens in the third person (she sees, they see), but not in other grammatical persons, except with the verb to be.

In English, and in Indo-European languages in general, the verb is singular or plural to match whether the subject of the sentence is singular or plural. Oppositely, in Xavante, transitive verbs match the number of the object.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=De Oliveira |first=Rosana Costa |year=2007 |title={{lang|pt|Morfologia e Sintaxe da Língua Xavante|cat=no}} |language=pt |url=https://livros01.livrosgratis.com.br/cp050936.pdf |page=75 |publisher=Federal University of Rio de Janeiro |access-date=2024-03-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326004742/https://livros01.livrosgratis.com.br/cp050936.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-26 }} In West Greenlandic, the verb is marked for the number of both the subject and the object.{{cite book |last1=Kahn |first1=Lily |last2=Valijärvi |first2=Riitta-Liisa |year=2022 |title=West Greenlandic: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=142–143, 147–148 |doi=10.4324/9781315160863 |isbn=978-1-315-16086-3 }}

Adjectives often agree with the number of the noun they modify. For example, in French, one says {{lang|fr|un grand arbre}} {{IPA|[œ̃ ɡʁɑ̃t aʁbʁ]}} "a tall tree", but {{lang|fr|deux grands arbres}} {{IPA|[dø ɡʁɑ̃ zaʁbʁ]}} "two tall trees". The singular adjective {{lang|fr|grand}} becomes {{lang|fr|grands}} in the plural, unlike English "tall", which remains unchanged.

Determiners may agree with number. In English, the demonstratives "this", "that" change to "these", "those" in the plural, and the indefinite article "a", "an" is either omitted or changes to "some". In French and German, the definite articles have gender distinctions in the singular but not the plural. In Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, both definite and indefinite articles are inflected for gender and number, e.g. Portuguese {{lang|pt|o, a}} "the" (singular, masc./fem.), {{lang|pt|os, as}} "the" (plural, masc./fem.); {{lang|pt|um, uma}} "a(n)" (singular, masc./fem.), {{lang|pt|uns, umas}} "some" (plural, masc./fem.), {{lang|pt|dois, duas}} "two" (plural, masc./fem.).

In the Finnish sentence {{lang|fi|Yöt ovat pimeitä}} "Nights are dark", each word referring to the plural noun {{lang|fi|yöt}} "nights" ("night" = {{lang|fi|yö}}) is pluralized (night-{{small|PL}} is-{{small|PL}} dark-{{small|PL}}-partitive).

{{See also|Synesis|Plurale tantum}}

Sometimes, grammatical number will not represent the actual quantity, a form-meaning mismatch. For example, in Ancient Greek neuter plurals took a singular verb.[https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/6417.learning-ancient-greek "Learn Ancient Greek: 11_Unit 2 Agreement Infinitives Questions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507182200/https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/6417.learning-ancient-greek |date=2018-05-07 }}, video tutorial by Leonard Muellner and Belisi Gillespie at Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University, published January 25, 2018; retrieved May 30, 2018 The plural form of a pronoun may also be applied to a single individual as a sign of importance, respect or generality, as in the pluralis majestatis, the T–V distinction, and the generic "you", found in many languages, or, in English, when using the singular "they" for gender-neutrality.

In Arabic, the plural of a non-human noun (one that refers to an animal or to an inanimate entity regardless of whether the noun is grammatically masculine or feminine in the singular) is treated as feminine singular—this is called the inanimate plural. For example:

{{block indent |left=1.5 |text={{plainlist}}

• {{lang|ar|رجل جميل}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|rajul jamīl}}) 'beautiful/handsome man': {{lang|ar-Latn|rajul}} (man) is masculine singular, so it takes the masculine singular adjective {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīl}}.
• {{lang|ar|بيت جميل}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|bayt jamīl}}) 'beautiful house': {{lang|ar-Latn|bayt}} (house) is masculine singular, so it takes the masculine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīl}}.
• {{lang|ar|كلب جميل}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|kalb jamīl}}) 'beautiful dog': {{lang|ar-Latn|kalb}} (dog) is masculine singular, so it takes the masculine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīl}}.
• {{lang|ar|بنت جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|bint jamīlah}}) 'beautiful girl': {{lang|ar-Latn|bint}} is feminine singular, so it takes the feminine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
• {{lang|ar|سيارة جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārah jamīlah}}) 'beautiful car': {{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārah}} is feminine singular, so it takes the feminine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
• {{lang|ar|رجال جميلون}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|rijāl jamīlūn}}) 'beautiful/handsome men': {{lang|ar-Latn|rijāl}} (men) is masculine plural, so it takes the masculine plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlūn}}.
• {{lang|ar|بنات جميلات}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|banāt jamīlāt}}) 'beautiful girls': {{lang|ar-Latn|banāt}} is feminine plural, so it takes the feminine plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlāt}}.

{{endplainlist}}}}

but

{{block indent |left=1.5 |text={{plainlist}}

• {{lang|ar|بيوت جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|buyūt jamīlah}}) 'beautiful houses': {{lang|ar-Latn|buyūt}} (houses) is non-human plural, and so takes the inanimate plural (feminine singular) {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
• {{lang|ar|سيارات جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārāt jamīlah}}) 'beautiful cars': {{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārāt}} is non-human plural, and so takes the inanimate plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
• {{lang|ar|كلاب جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|kilāb jamīlah}}) 'beautiful dogs': {{lang|ar-Latn|kilāb}} is non-human plural, and so takes the inanimate plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.

{{endplainlist}}}}

{{Main |Collective noun}}

A collective noun is a word that designates a group of objects or beings regarded as a whole, such as "flock", "team", or "corporation". Although many languages treat collective nouns as singular, in others they may be interpreted as plural. In British English, phrases such as the committee are meeting are common (the so-called agreement in sensu "in meaning"; with the meaning of a noun, rather than with its form, see constructio ad sensum). The use of this type of construction varies with dialect and level of formality.

In some cases, the number marking on a verb with a collective subject may express the degree of collectivity of action:

• The committee are discussing the matter (the individual members are discussing the matter), but the committee has decided on the matter (the committee has acted as an indivisible body).
• The crowd is tearing down the fences (a crowd is doing something as a unit), but the crowd are cheering wildly (many individual members of the crowd are doing the same thing independently of each other).

All languages are able to specify the quantity of referents. They may do so by lexical means with words such as English a few, some, one, two, five hundred. However, not every language has a grammatical category of number. Grammatical number is expressed by morphological or syntactic means. That is, it is indicated by certain grammatical elements, such as through affixes or number words. Grammatical number may be thought of as the indication of semantic number through grammar.

Languages that express quantity only by lexical means lack a grammatical category of number. For instance, in Khmer, neither nouns nor verbs carry any grammatical information concerning number: such information can only be conveyed by lexical items such as {{lang|km-Latn|khlah}} 'some', {{lang|km-Latn|pii-bey}} 'a few', and so on.{{Citation |title=Khmer |publisher=UCLA Language Materials project |contribution=Linguistic sketch |type=article |url=http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=75 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211185103/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=75 |access-date=2005-11-28 |archive-date=2006-02-11}}.

• Count noun
• Elohim
• Generic antecedent
• Grammatical agreement
• Grammatical conjugation
• Grammatical person
• Inflection
• Measure word
• Names of numbers in English
• Noun class
• Plurale tantum
• Romance plurals

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|35em}}

• {{cite book |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |isbn=978-3-11-062271-3 }}
• {{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Corbett |first=G G |author-link=Greville G Corbett |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Keith |editor-link=Keith Brown (linguist) |year=2006 |orig-year=1994 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics |title=Number |volume=8 |edition=2nd |location=Boston |publisher=Elsevier |pages=724–731 |isbn=978-0-08-044364-5 }}
• {{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}
• {{cite journal |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2014 |title=Paucity, Abundance, and the Theory of Number |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |journal=Linguistic Society of America |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=185–229 |doi=10.1353/lan.2014.0003 |s2cid=120276362 |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705191935/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/185-229.pdf |archive-date=2016-07-05 }}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Hofherr |editor-first1=Patricia Cabredo |editor-last2=Doetjes |editor-first2=Jenny |year=2021 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Grammatical Number |series=Oxford Handbooks in Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-879585-8 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Laycock |first=H |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Keith |editor-link=Keith Brown (linguist) |year=2006 |orig-year=1994 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics |title=Mass Nouns, Count Nouns, and Non-count Nouns: Philosophical Aspects |volume=7 |edition=2nd |location=Boston |publisher=Elsevier |pages=534–538 |isbn=978-0-08-044363-8 }}
• {{cite book |last=Laycock |first=Henry |year=2006 |title=Words without Objects: Semantics, Ontology, and Logic for Non-Singularity |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-928171-8 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Nicolas |first=David |date=2008 |title=Mass Nouns and Plural Logic |url=http://d.a.nicolas.free.fr/pdf/Nicolas-Mass-nouns-and-plural-logic.pdf |journal=Linguistics and Philosophy |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=211–244 |doi=10.1007/s10988-008-9033-2 |s2cid=13755223 |access-date=2024-01-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419230012/http://d.a.nicolas.free.fr/pdf/Nicolas-Mass-nouns-and-plural-logic.pdf |archive-date=2022-04-19 }}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/features/morphosyntactic/number/ Number - Surrey Morphology Group]

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