Editing Grammatical number (section)

===Distributive plural===

The distributive plural denotes multiple entities that are separated and distinct, either in physical space, through time, or by type.<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=111–117 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> For example, in [[Dagaare language|Dagaare]]:<ref name="Grimm2021">{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref>

*{{lang|dga|baa}} - "dog" (singular)
*{{lang|dga|baa'''re'''}} - "dogs" (plural)
*{{lang|dga|baa'''rɛɛ'''}} - "dogs in different locations" (distributive plural)

In Dagaare, the distributive plural may indicate either referents in different locations or referents of different types.<ref name="Grimm2021"/> By contrast, in [[Quileute language|Quileute]], it only means referents in different locations, and in [[Mohawk language|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.<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=112–113 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> It is also possible to have distributive pronouns, such as those found in [[Yir-Yoront language|Yir-Yoront]], which distinguish between "you and I" and "you and I, acting separately".<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Yir-Yoront pronouns (nominative)
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Dual<br>(Distributive)
! Plural
! Plural<br>(Distributive)
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|yyr|ngoyo}}
| {{lang|yyr|ngelen}}
| {{lang|yyr|ngel-ngelen}}
| {{lang|yyr|ngethn}}
| {{lang|yyr|ngel-ngethn}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|yyr|ngele}}
| {{lang|yyr|ngel-ngele}}
| {{lang|yyr|ngopol}}
| {{lang|yyr|ngol-ngopol}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|yyr|nhorto}}
| {{lang|yyr|nhopol}}
| {{lang|yyr|nhol-nhopol}}
| {{lang|yyr|nhepl}}
| {{lang|yyr|nhel-nhepl}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|yyr|nholo}}
| {{lang|yyr|pula}}
| {{lang|yyr|pul-pula}}
| {{lang|yyr|pilin}}
| {{lang|yyr|pil-pilin}}
|}

However, it is most common to mark the distributive on verbs.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> This may distribute the action across various individuals, such as in the [[Guarani language|Paraguayan Guaraní]] constructions: {{lang|gn|ha’ekuéra opo’i ita’i}}, "they dropped a pebble"; {{lang|gn|ha’ekuéra opo’i'''po’i''' ita’i}}, "they each dropped a pebble".<ref>{{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 }}</ref> It may also distribute the action across time, such as in the [[Kumak language|Nêlêmwa]] words {{lang|nee|taxe}}, to throw, and {{lang|nee|t'''ar'''axe}}, to throw (repeatedly).<ref>{{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 }}</ref> Some [[ǂʼAmkoe language|ǂʼAmkoe]] verbs offer multiple senses of the distributive for one verb: {{lang|huc|qǁʼao|italic=yes}}, to stab; {{lang|huc|'''kí'''qǁʼao'''tcu'''|italic=yes}}, to stab (repeatedly); {{lang|huc|'''kí'''qǁʼao'''qǁo'''|italic=yes}}, to stab (several things at different locations).<ref>{{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 }}</ref> The distributive plural may be a part of even larger paradigms: in [[Urarina language|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

While some linguists have treated the distributive as a category of grammatical number,<ref>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 }}
</ref> others have rejected this.<ref>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  }}
</ref> 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,<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=113–114, 116, 120 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> such as the Dagaare {{lang|dga|salema}}, gold, and {{lang|dga|salem'''ɛɛ'''}}, "gold in different locations".<ref name="Grimm2021"/><ref>{{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 }}</ref> This can be described as a nondistributive versus distributive distinction, with neither being singular or plural.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> 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 (linguistics)|agreement]], but distributivity does not.<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=114–116, 120 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>