Editing Grammatical number (section)

===Greater plural===

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,<ref>{{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 }}</ref> the unlimited plural,<ref>{{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 }}</ref> and the superplural.<ref name="Zuckermann2020">{{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 }}</ref> For example, in [[Tswana language|Tswana]]:<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

*{{lang|tn|ntša}} - "dog" (singular)
*{{lang|tn|'''di'''ntša}} - "dogs" (plural)
*{{lang|tn|'''ma'''ntša}} - "a very large number of dogs" (greater plural)

The greater plural may also be a component of larger number systems. Nouns in [[Barngarla language|Barngarla]] have a four-way distinction of singular, dual, plural, and greater plural.<ref name="Zuckermann2020"/> The same four-way distinction is found in [[Mokilese language|Mokilese]] pronouns, where a former trial has evolved to become a plural, leaving the former plural with a greater plural meaning.<ref name="Corbettp34">{{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 }}</ref> A different four-way distinction of singular, paucal, plural, and greater plural can be found in some verbs of [[Havasupai–Hualapai language|Hualapai]].<ref name="Baerman2019">{{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 }}</ref> A more complex system is found in [[Mele-Fila language|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.<ref name="Corbettp35">{{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 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Mokilese pronouns
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Plural
! Greater<br>Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|mkj|ngoah/ngoahi}}
| {{lang|mkj|kama}}
| {{lang|mkj|kamai}}
| {{lang|mkj|kimi}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|mkj|kisa}}
| {{lang|mkj|kisai}}
| {{lang|mkj|kihs}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|mkj|koah/koawoa}}
| {{lang|mkj|kamwa}}
| {{lang|mkj|kamwai}}
| {{lang|mkj|kimwi}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|mkj|ih}}
| {{lang|mkj|ara/ira}}
| {{lang|mkj|arai/irai}}
| {{lang|mkj|ihr}}
|}

The exact meaning of and terminology for the greater plural differs between languages. In some languages like [[Miya language|Miya]], it represents a large number of something, and has been called the plural of abundance. In other languages like [[Kaytetye language|Kaytetye]], it can refer to all of something in existence, and has been called the global plural.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Corbettp35"/> Accordingly, in Kaytetye, the greater plural exists only in nouns and not pronouns.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> Oppositely, Mokilese has the greater plural in pronouns but not nouns.<ref name="Corbettp34"/><ref>{{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 }}</ref> [[Chamacoco language|Chamacoco]] has the greater plural only in first person inclusive pronouns, second person pronouns, and first person inclusive verb inflections.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> [[Tigre language|Tigre]] has the greater plural only in a single word, {{lang|tig|nälät}}, which means a large number of deer.<ref name="Corbettp35"/>