Editing Grammatical number (section)

===Quintal===

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<ref name="Verhaar1995"/> and Bislama.<ref name="Tryon1987"/> 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.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Bislama pronouns<ref>{{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 |pages=18–19, 50, 75 |isbn=0-85883-361-1}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan=2 |
! colspan=3 | <u>Standard</u>
! colspan=3 | <u>Rare</u>
! <u>Standard</u>
|-
! Singular
! Dual
! Trial
! Quadral
! Quintal
! style="width: 45px;" | ...
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|bi|mi}}
| {{lang|bi|mitufala}}
| {{lang|bi|mitrifala}}
| {{lang|bi|mifofala}}
| {{lang|bi|mifaefala}}
| ...
| {{lang|bi|mifala}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|bi|yumitufala}}
| {{lang|bi|yumitrifala}}
| {{lang|bi|yumifofala}}
| {{lang|bi|yumifaefala}}
| ...
| {{lang|bi|yumi}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|bi|yu}}
| {{lang|bi|yutufala}}
| {{lang|bi|yutrifala}}
| {{lang|bi|yufofala}}
| {{lang|bi|yufaefala}}
| ...
| {{lang|bi|yufala}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|bi|em}}
| {{lang|bi|tufala}}
| {{lang|bi|trifala}}
| {{lang|bi|fofala}}
| {{lang|bi|faefala}}
| ...
| {{lang|bi|olgeta}}
|}

Sign languages described as having a quintal in addition to the quadral include [[American Sign Language]],<ref name="Baker1980"/><ref name="Neidle2015"/> [[Argentine Sign Language]],<ref name="Caceres2017"/> [[British Sign Language]],<ref name="Sutton1999"/> [[German Sign Language]],<ref name="Illmer2019a"/><ref name="Illmer2019b"/> [[Levantine Arabic Sign Language]],<ref name="Versteegh2009"/> and [[Ugandan Sign Language]].<ref name="Lutalo2014"/>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Other authors have treated these concepts as perfectly equivalent, referring to pronoun numeral incorporation while still applying the terms quadral and quintal.<ref name="Lutalo2014"/><ref name="Cumberbatch2015"/>

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.<ref name="Lutalo2014"/> Some American Sign Language speakers have incorporated numerals up to nine into inclusive pronouns upon solicitation.<ref name="Jones2013">{{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 }}</ref> [[Israeli Sign Language]] theoretically has the grammatical ability to incorporate numerals up to ten into pronouns.<ref name="Meir2008">{{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}}</ref>