Dundulanyä: Difference between revisions
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<!-- ====Use of the plural==== | |||
Dundulanyä sometimes uses the singular in contexts where English uses the plural: | |||
* Nouns are always singular after numerals (except, optionally, ''rirä'' (two), which they can also be dual after), ''sora'' (some), ''grāṇa'' (any), ''NO'' (no), ''NOviṣam'' (no other), ''taili'' (many, much), ''didya'' (more), ''kaili'' (most), and ''ṣubha'' (few, little). | |||
** After ''yaiva'', the difference in the noun's number expresses a distinction much like the one between English "every" and "all": ''yaiva täte'' "every house", ''yaiva täti'' "all houses". | |||
* When referring to existence or availability of something, that something is always singular, e.g. ''dvārma širēmįs virā'' "there are chairs in the room". It may be plural if topicalized, but the overall meaning of the sentence changes - e.g. ''širēmeyi mæn dvārma virā'' "the chairs are in the room". | |||
* When referring to a single person, ''häɂli'' (hand), ''meśiḫe'' (eye), and ''p̃agu'' (ear), and often also ''junai'' (foot) (more rarely for ''nādah'' (leg) and ''m̃ukar̃e'' (arm)) are typically singular and not dual - e.g. ''nanāt miśeḫi meśūh'' "I see it with my eyes" (lit. "with my eye"). In fact, they might be translated as "a person's hands/eyes/ears", given that dual forms are often used to mean e.g. "both hands of two people" and the plural ones for e.g. "many people's hands". | |||
* ''junēlte'' (indoor slippers), ''rapūda'' ((thick) shoes), ''mähṣa'' (boots), and all types of shoes are also used in the singular to refer to a pair of them. The main exception is ''frāṇagi'' (straw rope sandals), which is a plurale tantum. | |||
Duals and plurals of given names have the meaning of an associative plural, i.e. ''Kālomīyayi'' "Kālomīye and people in/of her group".--> | |||
===Verbs (''darūmmai'')=== | ===Verbs (''darūmmai'')=== | ||