Editing Grammatical number (section)

====Singular-dual====

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.<ref name="Corbett2000p121"/> For example, in the nouns of [[Kalaw Lagaw Ya]]:<ref name="Comrie1981">{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

*{{lang|mwp|ùmay}} - "dog(s)" (one or two)
*{{lang|mwp|ùmay'''l'''}} - "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.<ref name="Comrie1981"/>

While Kalaw Lagaw Ya has the singular-dual in all nouns, [[Pame languages|Central Pame]] has it specifically in inanimate nouns, such as {{lang|pbs|'''č'''ihàgŋ}}, spoon(s) (one or two), and {{lang|pbs|'''š'''ihàgŋ}}, spoons (plural, three or more). Pame animate nouns largely have a full three-way distinction: {{lang|pbs|'''n'''adò}}, dog (singular); {{lang|pbs|'''n'''adò'''i'''}}, two dogs (dual); and {{lang|pbs|'''l'''adò'''t'''}}, dogs (plural).<ref>{{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 }}</ref> 

The singular-dual may also be found in verbs: [[Hopi language|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<ref name="Corbett2000p169">{{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 }}</ref> or a Frankendual.<ref name="Harbour2020p60">{{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 }}</ref> However, Hopi nouns still overtly distinguish singular, dual, and plural. [[Idi language|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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> A more complex example comes from [[Koasati language|Koasati]], where besides plural, some verbs have singular and dual, some verbs just have singular, and some verbs just have singular-dual:<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Some Koasati verbs
|-
! Verb
! Singular
! Dual
! Plural
|-
! "to sit"
| {{lang|cku|cokkó:lin}}
| {{lang|cku|cikkí:kan}}
| {{lang|cku|í:san}}
|-
! "to run"
| {{lang|cku|walí:kan}}
| colspan=2 | {{lang|cku|tóɬkan}}
|-
! "to die"
| colspan=2 | {{lang|cku|íllin}}
| {{lang|cku|hápkan}}
|}