Editing Grammatical number (section)

==Types of number==
===Singular and plural===
{{Main |Plural}}

One of the simplest number distinctions a language can make is singular and plural. Singular denotes exactly one referent, while plural denotes more than one referent. For example, in English:<ref name="Corbett2000p5">{{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=5–6 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>

*''dog'' (singular, one)
*''dog'''s''''' (plural, two or more)

To mark number, English has different singular and plural forms for nouns and verbs (in the third person): "my dog watch'''es''' television" (singular) and "my dog'''s''' watch television" (plural).<ref name="Corbett2000p5"/> This is not universal: [[Wambaya language|Wambaya]] marks number on nouns but not verbs,<ref>{{cite book |last=Nordlinger |first=Rachel |author-link=Rachel Nordlinger |year=1998 |title=A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 140 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=72–78, 157–158 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281594172 |access-date=2024-03-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310162854/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachel-Nordlinger/publication/281594172_A_Grammar_of_Wambaya/links/55ef7b5b08aedecb68fdb346/A-Grammar-of-Wambaya.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-10 |isbn=0-85883-481-2 }}</ref> and [[Onondaga language|Onondaga]] marks number on verbs but not nouns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chafe |first=Wallace L. |author-link=Wallace Chafe |year=1970 |title=A Semantically Based Sketch of Onondaga |series=Indiana University Publications in Anthropology and Linguistics, Memoir 25 of the International Journal of American Linguistics (Supplement to Vol. 36, No. 2) |location=Baltimore |publisher=Waverly Press |page=31 }}</ref> [[Latin]] has different singular and plural forms for nouns, verbs, ''and'' adjectives, in contrast to English where adjectives do not change for number.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wheelock |first=Frederic M. |author-link=Frederic M. Wheelock |others=Revised by Richard A. LaFleur |year=2011 |title=Wheelock's Latin |edition=7th |location=New York |publisher=Collins Reference |pages=2–4, 14–15 |isbn=978-0-06-199722-8 }}</ref> [[Tundra Nenets language|Tundra Nenets]] can mark singular and plural on nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and [[Preposition and postposition|postpositions]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nikolaeva |first=Irina |author-link=Irina Nikolaeva (linguist) |year=2014 |title=A Grammar of Tundra Nenets |series=Mouton Grammar Library, vol. 65 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=9–10, 50, 57–59, 78–80, 151–154, 178–180, 188 |isbn=978-3-11-032064-0 }}</ref> However, the most common part of speech to show a number distinction is pronouns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forchheimer |first=Paul |year=1953 |title=The Category of Person in Language |language=en, de |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=12–13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Daniel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Daniel (linguist) |editor-last1=Haspelmath |editor-first1=Martin |editor-link1=Martin Haspelmath |editor-last2=Dryer |editor-first2=Matthew S. |editor-link2=Matthew Dryer |editor-last3=Gil |editor-first3=David |editor-link3=David Gil (linguist) |editor-last4=Comrie |editor-first4=Bernard |editor-link4=Bernard Comrie |year=2005 |title=The World Atlas of Language Structures |chapter=Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns |chapter-url=https://wals.info/chapter/35 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=146–149 [146] |access-date=2024-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121142453/https://wals.info/chapter/35 |archive-date=2024-01-21 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3606197 |isbn=978-0-19-925591-7 }}</ref> An example of a personal pronoun system distinguishing singular and plural is that of [[Wayoró language|Wayoró]]:<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=de Souza Nogueira |first=Antônia Fernanda |year=2019 |title={{lang|pt|Predicação na Língua Wayoro (Tupi): Propriedades de Finitude|cat=no}} |language=pt |url=https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-14082019-101006/publico/2019_AntoniaFernandaDeSouzaNogueira_VCorr.pdf |page=15 |publisher=University of São Paulo |access-date=2024-02-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619105256/https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-14082019-101006/publico/2019_AntoniaFernandaDeSouzaNogueira_VCorr.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-19 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Wayoró pronouns
|-
!
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|wyr|on}}
| {{lang|wyr|ote}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|wyr|txire}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|wyr|en}}
| {{lang|wyr|djat}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|wyr|ndeke}}
| {{lang|wyr|ndeat}}
|}

===Dual===
{{Main |Dual (grammatical number)}}

Like the singular denotes exactly one item, the dual number denotes exactly two items. For example, in [[Camsá language|Camsá]]:<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=O’Brien |first=Colleen Alena |year=2018 |title=A Grammatical Description of Kamsá, a Language Isolate of Colombia |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0beccac0-d860-408b-8f8c-b2fff182e7ab/content |page=67 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |access-date=2023-03-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206064627/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0beccac0-d860-408b-8f8c-b2fff182e7ab/content |archive-date=2022-12-06 }}</ref>

*{{lang|kbh|kes̈}} - "dog" (singular)
*{{lang|kbh|kes̈'''at'''}} - "two dogs" (dual)
*{{lang|kbh|kes̈'''ëng'''}} - "dogs" (plural)

In languages with a singular/dual/plural paradigm, the exact meaning of plural depends on whether the dual is obligatory or facultative (optional).<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=42–44 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> In contrast to English and other singular/plural languages where plural means two or more, in languages with an obligatory dual, plural strictly means three or more. This is the case for [[Sanskrit]],<ref name="Corbett2000p43">{{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=43 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> [[Mansi language|North Mansi]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakró-Nagy |first1=Marianne |last2=Sipőcz |first2=Katalin |last3=Skribnik |first3=Elena |editor-last1=Bakró-Nagy |editor-first1=Marianne |editor-last2=Laakso |editor-first2=Johanna |editor-link2=Johanna Laakso |editor-last3=Skribnik |editor-first3=Elena |year=2022 |title=The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=537–564 [541–542] |chapter=North Mansi |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198767664.003.0029 |isbn=978-0-19-876766-4 }}</ref> and [[Alutiiq language|Alutiiq]].<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Counceller |author-first1= April {{lang|ems|Isiik|cat=no}} G. L. |author-last2=Chya |author-first2=Dehrich {{lang|ems|Isuwiq|cat=no}} |year=2023 |title=Kodiak Alutiiq Language Textbook |edition=1st |location=Kodiak, AK |publisher=Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository |pages=31–33, 35, 54, 67, 116–117, 153–157, 168–169, 193, 201 |url=https://alutiiqmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/KodiakAlutiiqLanguageTextbook_FINAL.pdf |access-date=2024-03-10 |archive-date=2024-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215163545/https://alutiiqmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/KodiakAlutiiqLanguageTextbook_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live |isbn=978-1-929650-25-5 }}</ref> In languages with a facultative dual, two of something can be referred to using either the dual or the plural, and so plural means two or more. This is the case for modern Arabic dialects,<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=44, 207 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> at least some [[Inuktitut]] dialects,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alorut |first1=Raigelee |last2=Johns |first2=Alana |date=2016 |title=The Use of the Dual in Some Inuit Dialects: The Importance of {{lang|naq|Tirliaq|cat=no}} |url=https://ajohns.artsci.utoronto.ca/AlorutJohnsDualApril.pdf |journal=Amerindia |volume=38, Questions de Sémantique Inuit / Topics in Inuit Semantics |pages=111–128 |access-date=2024-01-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121063037/https://ajohns.artsci.utoronto.ca/AlorutJohnsDualApril.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-21 }}</ref> and [[Yandruwandha language|Yandruwandha]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Breen |first=Gavan |author-link=Gavan Breen |year=2004 |title=Innamincka Talk: A Grammar of the Innamincka Dialect of Yandruwandha with Notes on Other Dialects |series=Pacific Linguistics 558 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=87, 113 |isbn=0-85883-547-9 }}</ref> In some languages, the dual is obligatory in certain cases but facultative in others. In [[Slovene language|Slovene]], it is obligatory for pronouns but facultative for nouns.<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=93–94 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> In [[Comanche language|Comanche]], it is obligatory when referring to humans, facultative for other animate nouns, and rarely used for inanimate nouns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Charney |first=Jean Ormsbee |year=1993 |title=A Grammar of Comanche |series=Studies in the Anthropology of North American Indians |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |pages=49–50 |isbn=0-8032-1461-8 }}</ref>

There are also languages where use of the dual number is more restricted than singular and plural. In the possessive noun forms of [[Northern Sámi]], the possessor can be in the dual number, but the noun possessed can only be singular or plural.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kahn |first1=Lily |last2=Valijärvi |first2=Riitta-Liisa |year=2017 |title=North Sámi: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=71–94 |doi=10.4324/9781315733487 |isbn=978-1-315-73348-7 }}</ref> Pronouns are the only part of speech with a dual form in some [[Polynesian languages]], including [[Samoan language|Samoan]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mosel |first1=La'i Ulrike |author-link=Ulrike Mosel |last2=So'o |first2=Ainslie |year=1997 |title=Say it in Samoan |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series D-88 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=8, 28–32, 40, 69–71 |isbn=0-85883-459-6 }}</ref> [[Tuvaluan language|Tuvaluan]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Besnier |first=Niko |year=2000 |title=Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific |series=Descriptive Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=xxiv, 359, 382 |isbn=0-203-02712-4 }}</ref>{{efn|As a small possible exception, the Tuvaluan verb for 'to go' has a special form in the first person dual inclusive future imperative.<ref>{{cite book |last=Besnier |first=Niko |year=2000 |title=Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific |series=Descriptive Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=39 |isbn=0-203-02712-4 }}</ref>}} and [[Māori language|Māori]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Winifred |year=1993 |title=Maori |series=Descriptive Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=250, 252, 348–349, 362, 365 |isbn=0-203-40372-X }}</ref> In [[Maltese language|Maltese]], the dual only exists for about 30 specific nouns, of which it is obligatory for only 8 (hour, day, week, month, year, once, hundred, and thousand). Words that can take a facultative dual in Maltese include egg, branch, tear, and wicker basket.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fenech |first=Edward |date=1996 |title=Functions of the Dual Suffix in Maltese |url=https://linguistica.sns.it/RdL/8.1/Fenech.pdf |journal=Rivista di Linguistica |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=89–99 [94–95] |access-date=2024-01-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715211206/https://linguistica.sns.it/RdL/8.1/Fenech.pdf |archive-date=2020-07-15 }}</ref> In [[Northwestern Otomi|Mezquital Otomi]], the dual can only be used by an adult male speaking to another adult male.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Palancar |first=Enrique L. |date=2013 |title=The Evolution of Number in Otomi |journal=Studies in Language |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=94–143 [124] |doi=10.1075/sl.37.1.03pal |s2cid=55795751 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Māori pronouns<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Winifred |year=1993 |title=Maori |series=Descriptive Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=365 |isbn=0-203-40372-X }}</ref>
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|mi|au/ahau}}
| {{lang|mi|māua}}
| {{lang|mi|mātou}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|mi|tāua}}
| {{lang|mi|tātou}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|mi|koe}}
| {{lang|mi|kōrua}}
| {{lang|mi|koutou}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|mi|ia}}
| {{lang|mi|rāua}}
| {{lang|mi|rātou}}
|}

Dual number existed in all nouns and adjectives of [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] around 4000 BCE, and was inherited in some form in many of its [[Prehistory|prehistoric]], [[Protohistory|protohistoric]], [[Ancient history|ancient]], and [[Middle Ages|medieval]] descendents. Only rarely has it persisted in [[Indo-European languages]] to the modern day. It survived in [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] in the first and second person pronouns, where it was then inherited by [[Old English]], [[Old High German]], [[Old Saxon|Old Low German]], [[Old Swedish|Early Old Swedish]], [[Old Norwegian]], [[Old Norse#Old Icelandic|Old Icelandic]], and [[Gothic language|Gothic]]. It continued in Icelandic until the 1700s, some dialects of [[Faroese language|Faroese]] until at least the late 1800s, and some dialects of [[North Frisian language|North Frisian]] through the 1900s.<ref>{{cite Q |Q131605459 |first=Don |last=Ringe |author-link=Donald Ringe |pages=4, 22, 31, 33, 35–42, 47–58, 233 |mode=cs1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Howe |first=Stephen |year=1996 |title=The Personal Pronouns in the Germanic Languages: A Study of Personal Pronoun Morphology and Change in the Germanic Languages from the First Records to the Present Day |series=Studia Linguistica Germanica 43 |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=127, 131–133, 135, 193–195, 242, 244–245, 256–258, 292–293, 315, 320–321, 341–342, 348–350 |isbn=3-11-014636-3}}</ref> From [[Proto-Greek language|Proto-Greek]] it entered [[Ancient Greek]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Filos |first=Panagiotis |editor-last=Giannakis |editor-first=G. K. |year=2014 |encyclopedia=Brill Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics |title=Proto-Greek and Common Greek |volume=3, P-Z, Index |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |pages=180–181 |url=https://www.academia.edu/371919 |access-date=2023-12-11 |archive-date=2022-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408064850/https://www.academia.edu/37191974 |url-status=live |isbn=978-90-04-26111-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Viti |first=Carlotta |editor-last=Giannakis |editor-first=G. K. |year=2014 |encyclopedia=Brill Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics |title=Dual |volume=1, A-F |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |pages=533–534 |isbn=978-90-04-26109-9}}</ref> and from [[Proto-Indo-Iranian language|Proto-Indo-Iranian]] it entered Sanskrit.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kümmel |first=Martin Joachim |editor-last=Olander |editor-first=Thomas |year=2022 |title=The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=253, 259–261 |chapter=Indo-Iranian |isbn=978-1-108-49979-8}}</ref><ref name="Corbett2000p43"/> From [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]], it still exists today in Slovene and the [[Sorbian languages]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Slobodchikoff |first=Tatyana G. |year=2019 |title=The Evolution of the Slavic Dual: A Biolinguistic Perspective |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Lexington Books |pages=5–6 |isbn=978-1-4985-7925-4}}</ref> Indo-European languages that have long ago lost the dual still sometimes have residual traces of it, such as the English distinctions ''both'' vs. ''all'', ''either'' vs. ''any'', and ''neither'' vs. ''none''. The Norwegian {{lang|no|både}}, cognate with English ''both'', has further evolved to be able to refer to more than two items, as in {{lang|no|både epler, pærer, og druer}}, literally "both apples, pears, and grapes."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strandskogen |first1=Åse-Berit |last2=Strandskogen |first2=Rolf |translator-last1=White |translator-first1=Barbara |year=1995 |orig-date=1986 |title=Norwegian: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=117 |isbn=0-415-10979-5 }}</ref>

===Trial===

The trial number denotes exactly three items. For example, in [[Awa language (Papua New Guinea)|Awa]]:<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Loving |author-first1=Richard |author-last2=Loving |author-first2=Aretta |editor-last=McKaughan |editor-first=Howard |year=1973 |title=The Languages of the Eastern Family of the East New Guinea Highland Stock |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_awb_morsyn-2/page/n1/mode/2up |series=Anthropological Studies in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea, vol. 1 |location=Seattle |publisher=University of Washington Press |chapter=A Preliminary Survey of Awa Noun Suffixes |pages=19–30 [20] |isbn=0-295-95132-X }}</ref>

*{{lang|awb|iya}} - "dog" (singular)
*{{lang|awb|iya'''tade'''}} - "two dogs" (dual)
*{{lang|awb|iya'''tado'''}} - "three dogs" (trial)
*{{lang|awb|iya'''madi'''}} - "dogs" (plural)

It is rare for a language to mark the trial on nouns,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://grambank.clld.org/parameters/GB165#2/21.0/151.9 |title=Feature GB165: Is there productive morphological trial marking on nouns? |last=Skirgård |first=Hedvig |date=2023-04-19 |website=Grambank |version=1.0.3 |publisher=The Grambank Consortium |access-date=2024-03-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316083655/https://grambank.clld.org/parameters/GB165#2/21.0/151.9 |archive-date=2024-03-16 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.7844558 |quote=Trial marking is not common...absent[:] 2125...present[:] 8 }}</ref> and some sources even claim that trial marking on nouns does not exist.<ref name="Acquaviva2022">{{cite book |last1=Acquaviva |first1=Paolo |last2=Daniel |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in Grammar: Results and Perspectives |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=833–910 [868] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}</ref><ref name="Velupillai2012">{{cite book |last=Velupillai |first=Viveka |year=2012 |title=An Introduction to Linguistic Typology |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |page=161 |isbn=978-90-272-7350-5 }}</ref> However, it has been recorded for a few languages; besides Awa, [[Arabana language|Arabana]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Hercus |first=Luise A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 128 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=64 |isbn=0-85883-425-1}}</ref><ref name="Hercus1966">{{cite journal |last=Hercus |first=L. A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |date=1966 |title=Some Aspects of the Form and Use of the Trial Number in Victorian Languages and in Arabana |journal=Mankind |volume=6 |issue=8 |pages=335–337 |doi=10.1111/j.1835-9310.1966.tb00370.x |access-date=2023-12-04 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1835-9310.1966.tb00370.x|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Kiwai language|Urama]],<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Brown |author-first1=Jason |author-last2=Muir |author-first2=Alex |author-last3=Craig |author-first3=Kimberley |author-last4=Anea |author-first4=Karika |year=2016 |title=A Short Grammar of Urama |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |series=Asia-Pacific Linguistics 32 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=25–27 |isbn=978-1-922185-22-8 |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107232500/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-07 }}</ref> and [[Angaataha language|Angaataha]] have trial number.<ref>{{cite report |author-last1=Eko |author-first1=Robert |author-last2=Graham |author-first2=Mack |date=2014 |title=Tentative Grammar Description for the Angaataha Language Spoken in Morobe Province |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/68/79/30/68793084489869111853398100027121511296/Angaataha_Tentative_Grammar_Description_final.pdf |publisher=SIL International |page=9 |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-date=2023-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208134706/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/68/79/30/68793084489869111853398100027121511296/Angaataha_Tentative_Grammar_Description_final.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> It is much more common for a language to have trial pronouns,<ref name="Acquaviva2022" /><ref name="Velupillai2012" /> the case for the Austronesian languages of [[Wakasihu language|Larike]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laidig |first1=Wyn D. |last2=Laidig |first2=Carol J. |date=1990 |title=Larike Pronouns: Duals and Trials in a Central Moluccan Language |series=A Special Issue on Western Austronesian Languages |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=87–109 [90] |doi=10.2307/3623187 |jstor=3623187 }}</ref><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=21 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> [[Tolai language|Tolai]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Mosel |first=Ulrike |author-link=Ulrike Mosel |year=1984 |title=Tolai Syntax and its Historical Development |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608413.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - no. 92 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=41, 93–94, 108 |isbn=0-85883-309-3 |access-date=2024-01-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240126061458/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608413.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-26 }}</ref> [[Raga language|Raga]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |editor-last1=Lynch |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Lynch (linguist) |editor-last2=Ross |editor-first2=Malcolm |editor-link2=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last3=Crowley |editor-first3=Terry |editor-link3=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2011 |orig-year=2002 |title=The Oceanic Languages |series=Routledge Language Family Series |chapter=Raga |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=626–637 [633] |isbn=978-0-203-82038-4}}</ref> and [[Wamesa language|Wamesa]].<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Gasser |first=Emily Anne |year=2014 |title=Windesi Wamesa Morphophonology |url=https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ling_graduate |pages=192-193, 194n21, 249-250 |publisher=Yale University |access-date=2024-01-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108075941/https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ling_graduate |archive-date=2023-01-08 }}</ref> A minimal example is [[Nukna language|Nukna]], which has only a single trial pronoun, {{lang|klt|nanggula}}, which can be either 2nd or 3rd person.<ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Matthew A. |year=2015 |title=Nukna Grammar Sketch |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 61 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/08/75/150875318491925844995926613370844010827/Nukna_Grammar_Sketch_A5.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |pages=38–39 |access-date=2024-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208154404/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/08/75/150875318491925844995926613370844010827/Nukna_Grammar_Sketch_A5.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-08 |isbn=978-9980-0-3990-3 }}</ref> The trial may also be marked on verbs, such as in [[Lenakel language|Lenakel]].<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Lynch |author-first=John |author-link=John Lynch (linguist) |year=1978 |title=A Grammar of Lenakel |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146494/1/PL-B55.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 55 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=55–58 |access-date=2024-03-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013104723/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146494/1/PL-B55.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-13 |isbn=0-85883-166-X }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Larike pronouns
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Trial
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|alo|aʔu}}
| {{lang|alo|arua}}
| {{lang|alo|aridu}}
| {{lang|alo|ami}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|alo|itua}}
| {{lang|alo|itidu}}
| {{lang|alo|ite}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|alo|ane}}
| {{lang|alo|irua}}
| {{lang|alo|iridu}}
| {{lang|alo|imi}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|alo|mane}}
| {{lang|alo|matua}}
| {{lang|alo|matidu}}
| {{lang|alo|mati}}
|}

While the dual can be obligatory or facultative, according to [[Greville G Corbett|Greville Corbett]] there are no known cases of an obligatory trial, so the trial might always be facultative. However, languages may have both a facultative dual and a facultative trial, like in Larike, or an obligatory dual and a facultative trial, like in [[Ngan'gi language|Ngan'gi]].<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=22n15, 43–45 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>

Most languages with a trial are in the Austronesian family, and most non-Austronesian languages with a trial are nearby in Oceania.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=197 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}</ref> The latter category includes the Austronesian-influenced [[English-based creole languages|English creole]] languages of [[Tok Pisin]],<ref name="Verhaar1995">{{cite book |last=Verhaar |first=John W. M. |year=1995 |title=Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin: An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication no. 26 |pages=19–20 |isbn=978-0-8248-1672-8}}</ref> [[Bislama]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2004 |title=Bislama Reference Grammar |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |location=Honolulu |volume=31 |pages=26, 46–47 |jstor=20006778|isbn=978-0-8248-2880-6}}</ref> and [[Pijin language|Pijin]].<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Beimers |first=Gerry David |year=2008 |title=Pijin: A Grammar of Solomon Islands Pidgin |url=https://rune.une.edu.au/1959.11/2367 |pages=92, 236–237 |publisher=University of New England |access-date=2023-12-04}}</ref> In Australia, the trial can also be found in [[Australian Aboriginal languages|Aboriginal languages]] of many different language families.{{efn|This includes:
{{columns-list|gap=0em|
*[[Pama–Nyungan languages|Pama–Nyungan]] - [[Arabana language|Arabana]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Hercus |first=Luise A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 128 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=64–66, 91–92, 105, 109, 121–122, 124, 127 |isbn=0-85883-425-1}}</ref><ref name="Hercus1966"/>
*[[Macro-Gunwinyguan languages|Macro-Gunwinyguan]] - [[Anindilyakwa language|Anindilyakwa]]<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=van Egmond |first=Marie-Elaine |year=2012 |title=Enindhilyakwa Phonology, Morphosyntax and Genetic Position |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/8747 |page=85-86, 107-108, 138, 388 |publisher=University of Sydney |access-date=2024-01-04}}</ref><ref name="Corbett2000p22">{{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=22 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>
*[[Iwaidjan languages|Iwaidjan]] - [[Amurdak language|Amurdak]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Mailhammer |first=Robert |editor-last1=Hanna |editor-first1=Patrizia Noel Aziz |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=Laura Catharine |year=2022 |title=Linguistic Preferences |series=Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs, vol. 358 |location=Berlin |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |chapter=Amurdak Intersyllabic Phonotactics and Morphophonemic Alternations as Motivated by the Contact Law |pages=49–70 [58] |isbn=978-3-11-072146-1 }}</ref>
*[[Western Daly languages|Western Daly]] - [[Marrithiyel language|Marrithiyel]]<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Green |first=Ian |year=1989 |title=Marrithiyel, A Language of the Daly River Region of the Northern Territory |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/10926 |pages=1, 74-75, 138-139 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2023-11-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224075849/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/10926/6/Green%20I%20Thesis%201989.pdf |archive-date=2022-12-24}}</ref>
*[[Southern Daly languages|Southern Daly]] - [[Ngan'gi language|Ngan'gi]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Blythe |first=Joe |date=2013 |title=Preference Organization Driving Structuration: Evidence from Australian Aboriginal Interaction for Pragmatically Motivated Grammaticalization |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Lg_89_4_Blythe.pdf |journal=Language |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=883-919 [889-890, 895] |doi=10.1353/lan.2013.0057 |hdl=11343/43148 |s2cid=1574534 |access-date=2023-12-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204172821/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Lg_89_4_Blythe.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-04}}</ref>
*[[Wagaydyic languages|Wagaydyic]] - [[Wadjiginy language|Wadjiginy]]<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Ford |first=Lysbeth Julie |year=1990 |title=The Phonology and Morphology of Bachamal (Wogait) |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/10815/8/Ford_L_Master_1990.pdf |page=95-98 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2023-11-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303061205/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/10815/8/Ford_L_Master_1990.pdf |archive-date=2020-03-03}}</ref>
*[[Worrorran languages|Worrorran]] - [[Worrorra language|Worrorra]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Clendon |first=Mark |year=2014 |title=Worrorra: A Language of the North-West Kimberley Coast |location=Adelaide |publisher=University of Adelaide Press |pages=155–156, 210–214, 224–225, 235 |isbn=978-1-922064-59-2}}</ref>
*Possible [[language isolate]] - [[Giimbiyu language|Giimbiyu]]<ref name="Bach2023">{{cite book |last1=Bach |first1=Xavier |last2=Round |first2=Erich R. |editor-last=Bowern |editor-first=Claire |editor-link=Claire Bowern |year=2023 |chapter=Suppletion |title=The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=328-343 [331] |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0029 |isbn=978-0-19-882497-8 }}</ref>
}}}} In Indonesia, trial pronouns are common in the storytelling of [[Abun language|Abun]], a possible language isolate.<ref name="Berry1999">{{cite book |last1=Berry |first1=Keith |last2=Berry |first2=Christine |year=1999 |title=A Description of Abun: A West Papuan Language of Irian Jaya  |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series B - no. 115 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=44–45 |isbn=0-85883-482-0}}</ref> In the Solomon Islands, trial pronouns are used very frequently in [[Touo language|Touo]], either a [[Central Solomon languages|Central Solomon language]] or a language isolate. As a result, bilingual speakers of Touo and Pijin will use trial pronouns a lot more commonly in Pijin than other speakers, for whom the trial is usually a lot less common than the dual.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Beimers |first=Gerry David |year=2008 |title=Pijin: A Grammar of Solomon Islands Pidgin |url=https://rune.une.edu.au/1959.11/2367 |pages=31 |publisher=University of New England |access-date=2023-12-04}}</ref> A very rare example of a spoken language with the trial (in both pronouns and verbs) outside of Oceania is [[Tangsa language|Muklom Tangsa]], spoken in northeast India.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Mulder |first=Mijke |year=2020 |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Muklom Tangsa |url=https://opal.latrobe.edu.au/ndownloader/files/24866600 |pages=156-158, 173-174, 262-265, 279, 282-284 |publisher=La Trobe University |access-date=2024-01-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122174953/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/figshare-production-eu-latrobe-storage9079-ap-southeast-2/24866600/Thesis.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIARRFKZQ25KW2DIYRU/20240122/ap-southeast-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240122T174952Z&X-Amz-Expires=10&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=41cf952ea3f02f46ec2794d850ac63428b4ffbd04c8b0b3a9c043d276fb72c70 |archive-date=2024-01-22}}</ref>

===Paucal===
The paucal number represents 'a few', a small inexactly numbered group of items. For example, in [[Siwai language|Motuna]]:<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Onishi |first=Masayuki |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of Motuna (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea) |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/12476 |pages=11, 72–73 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2024-01-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211105936/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/12476/1/Onishi%20M%20Thesis%201994.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-11 }}</ref>

*{{lang|siw|mahkata}} - "dog" (singular)
*{{lang|siw|mahkata'''karo'''}} - "two dogs" (dual)
*{{lang|siw|mahkata'''naa'''}} - "a few dogs" (paucal)
*{{lang|siw|mahkata'''ngung'''}} - "dogs" (plural)

Almost all languages with a paucal also have a dual.<ref name="Corbett2017">{{cite journal |author-last1=Corbett |author-first1=Greville G. |author-link1=Greville G Corbett |author-last2=Fedden |author-first2=Sebastian |author-last3=Finkel |author-first3=Raphael |author-link3=Raphael Finkel |date=2017 |title=Single Versus Concurrent Systems: Nominal Classification in Mian |url=https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=cs_facpub |journal=Linguistic Typology |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=209–260 [246] |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427075820/https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=cs_facpub |archive-date=2019-04-27 |doi=10.1515/lingty-2017-0006 }}</ref><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=23 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> However, this is not universal. Nouns in [[Mocoví language|Mocoví]] only have singular, paucal, and plural.<ref name="Corbett2017"/><ref name="Grondona1998">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Grondona |first=Verónica María |year=1998 |title=A Grammar of Mocoví |url=https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese%3Agrondona-1998/grondona_1998_mocovi.pdf |pages=11, 51–62 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014014503/https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese%3Agrondona-1998/grondona_1998_mocovi.pdf |archive-date=2023-10-14 }}</ref> On the other hand, the pronouns in [[Mussau-Emira language|Mussau]]<ref name="Ross2011">{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last1=Lynch |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Lynch (linguist) |editor-last2=Ross |editor-first2=Malcolm |editor-link2=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last3=Crowley |editor-first3=Terry |editor-link3=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2011 |orig-year=2002 |title=The Oceanic Languages |series=Routledge Language Family Series |chapter=Mussau |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=148–166 [152] |isbn=978-0-203-82038-4}}</ref><ref name="Brownie2007">{{cite book |last1=Brownie |first1=John |last2=Brownie |first2=Marjo |year=2007 |title=Mussau Grammar Essentials |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 52 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/30/81/13308188451694821564901351327647219855/MussauGrammarEssentials.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |pages=30–35 |access-date=2024-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611092229/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/30/81/13308188451694821564901351327647219855/MussauGrammarEssentials.pdf |archive-date=2022-06-11 |isbn=978-9980-0-3223-2 }}</ref> and [[Lihir language|Lihir]]<ref name="Corbett2000p25">{{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=25 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> have dual, trial, and paucal.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Lihir pronouns
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Trial
! Paucal
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|lih|yo}}
| {{lang|lih|gel}}
| {{lang|lih|getol}}
| {{lang|lih|gehet}}
| {{lang|lih|ge}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|lih|kito}}
| {{lang|lih|kitol}}
| {{lang|lih|kitahet}}
| {{lang|lih|giet}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|lih|wa}}
| {{lang|lih|gol}}
| {{lang|lih|gotol}}
| {{lang|lih|gohet}}
| {{lang|lih|go}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|lih|e}}
| {{lang|lih|dul}}
| {{lang|lih|dietol}}
| {{lang|lih|diehet}}
| {{lang|lih|die}}
|}

The lower bound of the paucal is usually defined by what other number categories exist in the language. In singular/paucal/plural paradigms, use of the paucal begins at two, but with the addition of the dual, the paucal begins at three. There is usually no exact upper bound on how many paucal refers to, and its approximate range depends on both language and context.<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=22–23 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> It has been recorded as going up to about 5 in [[Warndarrang language|Warndarrang]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Heath |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Heath |year=1980 |title=Basic Materials in Warndarang: Grammar, Texts and Dictionary |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/159464817.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 72 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=22–23 |isbn=0-85883-219-4 |access-date=2024-01-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130223011/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/159464817.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-30 }}</ref> about 6 in [[Baiso language|Baiso]],<ref name="Corbett2000p22"/> 10 in Arabic,<ref>{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [317] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Jaradat |first=Abdulazeez |date=2023 |title=When a Dual Marker Acts as a Paucal Marker: The Case of the Dual ''-e:n'' in Northern Rural Jordanian Arabic |journal=Languages |volume=8 |issue=3 |article-number=183 |pages=3, 12 |doi=10.3390/languages8030183 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and about 10 or 15 in [[Murrinh-patha language|Murrinh-patha]].<ref name="Corbett2000p25"/> In [[Manam language|Manam]], the primary factor for using the paucal is not a specific number range, but the referents forming a single group; although the paucal is most common between 3 and 5, it has been used with more than 20.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lichtenberk |first=Frantisek |year=1983 |title=A Grammar of Manam |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b58a6fb6-1de4-44aa-9d9b-dd873b736f16/content |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 18 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |page=109 |isbn=0-8248-0764-2 |access-date=2024-01-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131055218/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b58a6fb6-1de4-44aa-9d9b-dd873b736f16/content |archive-date=2024-01-31 }}</ref> In [[Paamese language|Paamese]], a major factor is relative group size compared to the plural, such that even though the paucal generally means 12 or fewer, a group of 2,000 people may be referred to in the paucal when contrasted with a group of 100,000 referred to in the plural.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Terry |author-link=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=1982 |title=The Paamese language of Vanuatu |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608403.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 87 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=1, 81 |isbn=0-85883-279-8 |doi=10.15144/PL-B87 |access-date=2024-01-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721133749/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608403.pdf |archive-date=2021-07-21 }}</ref>

Much like the dual, it is crosslinguistically variable which words and parts of speech may be marked with the paucal. Baiso has the paucal only for nouns and not pronouns,<ref name="Corbett2000p22"/> whereas [[Yimas language|Yimas]] has the paucal only for pronouns and not nouns.<ref name="Corbett2000p92">{{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=92 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> In [[Meriam language|Meryam Mir]], the paucal is mostly marked on the verbs.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Piper |first=Nick |year=1989 |title=A Sketch Grammar of Meryam Mir |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110341/2/b17380704-Piper_N.pdf |pages=2, 81–83, 88, 99, 104–105, 123, 125–128, 136, 138–139 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2024-02-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214182625/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110341/2/b17380704-Piper_N.pdf |archive-date=2023-02-14 }}</ref><ref>{{cite conference |last=Jones |first=Stephen |editor-last1=Butt |editor-first1=Miriam |editor-link1=Miriam Butt |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Tracy Holloway |title=Number in Meryam Mir |conference=Lexical Functional Grammar (LGF) '15 Conference |series=CSLI Publications |pages=103–123 |year=2015 |location=Tokyo, Japan |url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/20/papers/lfg15jones.pdf |access-date=2024-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726195029/https://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/20/papers/lfg15jones.pdf |archive-date=2021-07-26 }}</ref> [[Avar language|Avar]] has the paucal for only about 90 specific nouns, including brush, spade, snake, and daughter-in-law (the only kin term that can take the paucal in Avar).<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=96–98 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> [[Bunun language|Takivatan Bunun]] has a paucal only in its distal demonstratives used in reference to people.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=De Busser |first=Rik L.J. |year=2009 |title=Towards a Grammar of Takivatan Bunun: Selected Topics |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:11378/datastreams/CONTENT/content |pages=454, 458–459 |publisher=La Trobe University |access-date=2024-02-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201064520/https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:11378/datastreams/CONTENT/content |archive-date=2024-02-01 }}</ref>

It is common for former trials to evolve in meaning to become paucals, and many Austronesian languages have paucal markers that are etymologically derived from the numeral three, indicating the old usage.<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=21, 25, 267–268 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref><ref name="Cysouw2003p199">{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=199–203, 297 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}</ref> It is less common for duals to evolve into paucals,<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=25n20 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> but this has been observed in some dialects of Arabic.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brustad |first=Kristen E. |year=2000 |title=The Syntax of Spoken Arabic: A Comparative Study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian, and Kuwaiti Dialects |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Georgetown University Press |pages=45–46 |isbn=0-87840-789-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Jaradat |first=Abdulazeez |date=2023 |title=When a Dual Marker Acts as a Paucal Marker: The Case of the Dual ''-e:n'' in Northern Rural Jordanian Arabic |journal=Languages |volume=8 |issue=3 |article-number=183 |doi=10.3390/languages8030183 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Paucals that are etymologically trials are sometimes incorrectly described as being trials.{{efn|Sometimes this takes the form of neglecting to analyze the possible uses of the trial/paucal, but other times it takes the form of a published grammar describing a language as having a trial but then describing that "trial" as functioning like a paucal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=199–200 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}</ref> Examples of the latter include works on [[Ambai language|Ambai]]<ref name="Silzer1983">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Silzer |first=Peter James |year=1983 |title=Ambai: An Austronesian Language of Irian Jaya, Indonesia |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110277/2/b11579870-SILZER,%20P.J..pdf |page=120 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2023-08-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518162617/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/110277/2/b11579870-SILZER,%20P.J..pdf |archive-date=2023-05-18 }}</ref> and [[Sakao language|Sakao]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Guy |first=J.B.M. |year=1974 |title=A Grammar of the Northern Dialect of Sakao |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608384.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - no. 33 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=8, 28–29, 42 |access-date=2024-02-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202060608/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/160608384.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |isbn=0-858-83-104-X |doi=10.15144/PL-B33 }}</ref>}} For example, trial pronouns were once described as being found in all the Kiwaian languages,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Capell |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Capell |date=1962 |title=Oceanic Linguistics Today |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2739878 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=371–428 [374] |doi=10.1086/200305 |jstor=2739878 |s2cid=144609787 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wurm |first=S. A. |author-link=Stephen Wurm |editor-last=Franklin |editor-first=Karl |year=1973 |chapter=The Kiwaian Language Family |title=The Linguistic Situation in the Gulf District and Adjacent Areas, Papua New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 26 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=217–260 [227] |isbn=0-85883-100-7 }}</ref> but it is now recognized that many actually have a paucal instead.{{efn|While the closely related Kiwaian languages of [[Kiwai language|Kope]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schulz |first1=Hanna |last2=Petterson |first2=Robert |year=2022 |title=Studies in Kope |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 64 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |pages=20–21, 23, 30, 50, 56–57, 59–63, 66, 69 |access-date=2024-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202011714/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |id={{Listed Invalid ISBN|9980-4639-2}} }}</ref> and Urama<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Brown |author-first1=Jason |author-last2=Muir |author-first2=Alex |author-last3=Craig |author-first3=Kimberley |author-last4=Anea |author-first4=Karika |year=2016 |title=A Short Grammar of Urama |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |series=Asia-Pacific Linguistics 32 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=20, 25–27 |isbn=978-1-922185-22-8 |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107232500/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-07 }}</ref> still reportedly have a trial, [[Bamu language|Bamu]], [[Waboda language|Waboda]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schulz |first1=Hanna |last2=Petterson |first2=Robert |year=2022 |title=Studies in Kope |series=Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, vol. 64 |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |url-status=live |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=SIL-PNG Academic Publications |page=60 |access-date=2024-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202011714/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/65/71/62/6571622541641722806568811060516711094/Kope_DP_64___final.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |id={{Listed Invalid ISBN|9980-4639-2}} }}</ref> and [[Kerewo language|Kerewo]]<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Di Rosa |first=Dario |year=2018 |title=Frustrated Modernity: Kerewo Histories and Historical Consciousness, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162631283.pdf |page=viii |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2024-02-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202035337/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162631283.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 }}</ref> all have a paucal.}} Linguist Michael Cysouw has suggested that ''most'' languages reported to have trials in fact have mislabelled paucals, and that true trials are very rare.<ref name="Cysouw2003p199"/> On the other hand, [[Luise Hercus]] stated in her published grammar of Arabana that the language's trial (which can be marked on nouns) is a true trial which cannot act as a paucal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hercus |first=Luise A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 128 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=64 |isbn=0-85883-425-1}}</ref> Similar things have been said about trial pronouns in Larike<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laidig |first1=Wyn D. |last2=Laidig |first2=Carol J. |date=1990 |title=Larike Pronouns: Duals and Trials in a Central Moluccan Language |series=A Special Issue on Western Austronesian Languages |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=87–109 [92] |doi=10.2307/3623187|jstor=3623187 }}</ref> and [[Aneityum language|Anejom̃]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Lynch |first=John |author-link=John Lynch (linguist) |year=2000 |title=A Grammar of Anejom̃ |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146679/1/PL-507.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics 507 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=36n1 |access-date=2024-02-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202063457/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146679/1/PL-507.pdf |archive-date=2024-02-02 |isbn=0-85883-484-7 |doi=10.15144/PL-507 }}</ref>

[[Russian language|Russian]] has what has variably been called paucal numerals,<ref>{{cite book |last=Pesetsky |first=David |author-link=David Pesetsky |year=2013 |title=Russian Case Morphology and the Syntactic Categories |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 66 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |page=1 |isbn=978-0-262-01972-9 }}</ref> the count form,<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=270 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>{{efn|The term "count form" has also been used to describe similar constructions in [[Mongondow language|Mongondow]], [[Lolak language|Lolak]], and [[Ponosakan language|Ponosakan]]. In these languages, pronouns take on a unique form when following a numeral. Mongondow and Lolak also have singular, dual, trial, and plural pronoun forms, while Ponosakan lacks a trial. This means in Mongondow and Lolak, the count form is for a specific given number larger than three, and in Ponosakan it is for a number larger than two. Unlike Russian nouns, the use of these forms does not end above a certain number.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lobel |first=Jason William |date=2011 |title=Pronominal Number in Mongondow-Gorontalo |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=543–550 |doi=10.1353/ol.2011.0029|doi-access=free }}</ref>}} the adnumerative,<ref name="Corbett2012">{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2012 |title=Features |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=209–210 |isbn=978-1-107-02623-0 }}</ref> or the genitive of quantification.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Franks |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Franks |date=1994 |title=Parametric Properties of Numeral Phrases in Slavic |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00992929 |journal=Natural Language & Linguistic Theory |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=597–674 |doi=10.1007/BF00992929 |s2cid=170548920 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> When a noun in the nominative case has a numeral added to quantify it, the noun becomes genitive singular with 2, 3, or 4, but genitive plural with 5 or above.{{efn|This also occurs to nouns in the accusative case, but only if they are inanimate, and it furthermore also occurs with the numerals half, one-and-a-half, sometimes a quarter, and any higher compound numerals ending in 2, 3, or 4.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pesetsky |first=David |author-link=David Pesetsky |year=2013 |title=Russian Case Morphology and the Syntactic Categories |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 66 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |pages=1, 133n2, 136n1 |isbn=978-0-262-01972-9 }}</ref> A very small number of nouns may take on a slightly different form where stress is changed to a different syllable; these nouns include {{lang|ru|час}} (hour), {{lang|ru|шар}} (ball), and {{lang|ru|след}} (footprint).<ref name="Corbett2012"/> Linguists have debated whether the form is actually genitive, or whether it is simply identical in form to the genitive in almost all cases but actually constituting a separate noun case or paucal conjugation.<ref name="Corbett2012"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stepanov |first1=Arthur |last2=Stateva |first2=Penka |date=2018 |title=Countability, Agreement and the Loss of the Dual in Russian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |journal=Journal of Linguistics |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=779–821 [781–782] |doi=10.1017/S0022226718000130 |access-date=2024-02-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503151036/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-03 }}</ref>}} Many linguists have described these as paucal constructions.<ref>See:
*{{cite book |last1=Bailyn |first1=John F. |last2=Nevins |first2=Andrew |editor-last1=Bachrach |editor-first1=Asaf |editor-last2=Nevins |editor-first2=Andrew |year=2008 |title=Inflectional Identity |chapter=Russian Genitive Plurals are Impostors |series=Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=237–270 [263–268] |isbn=978-0-19-921925-4 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Franks |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Franks |date=1994 |title=Parametric Properties of Numeral Phrases in Slavic |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00992929 |journal=Natural Language & Linguistic Theory |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=597–674 |doi=10.1007/BF00992929 |s2cid=170548920 |url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Madariaga |first1=Nerea |last2=Igartua |first2=Iván |date=2017 |title=Idiosyncratic (Dis)agreement Patterns: The Structure and Diachrony of Russian Paucal Subjects |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00806765.2017.1390922 |journal=Scando-Slavica |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=99–132 |doi=10.1080/00806765.2017.1390922 |s2cid=149279486 |url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book |last=Pesetsky |first=David |author-link=David Pesetsky |year=2013 |title=Russian Case Morphology and the Syntactic Categories |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 66 |location= Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-01972-9 }}  
</ref> However, some have disagreed on the grounds that a Russian noun cannot be declined to stand by itself and mean anywhere between 2 and 4.<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 |page=22n18 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Stepanov |first1=Arthur |last2=Stateva |first2=Penka |date=2018 |title=Countability, Agreement and the Loss of the Dual in Russian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |journal=Journal of Linguistics |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=779–821 [781–782] |doi=10.1017/S0022226718000130 |access-date=2024-02-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503151036/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/97F287A2BFF4BE053B448CE637238CCD/S0022226718000130a.pdf/countability_agreement_and_the_loss_of_the_dual_in_russian.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-03 }}
</ref> Similar constructions can be found in other [[Slavic languages]], including [[Polish language|Polish]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lyskawa |first=Paulina |date=2020 |title=The Structure of Polish Numerically-Quantified Expressions |url=https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5279/ |journal=Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=art. 31, 1-37 |doi=10.5334/gjgl.880 |doi-access=free |access-date=2024-02-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925025543/https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5279/ |archive-date=2023-09-25 }}</ref> [[Serbo-Croatian]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Despić |first=Miloje |editor-last=Podobryaev |editor-first=Alexander |year=2013 |title=Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: The Second MIT Meeting 2011 |chapter=A Note on Paucal, Agreement and Case |series=Michigan Slavic Materials, 58 |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=Michigan Slavic Publications |pages=57–71 |isbn=978-0-936534-09-1 }}</ref> and [[Slovene language|Slovene]]. Because Slovene also has a regular dual, there is a four-way distinction of nouns being singular with 1, dual with 2, plural with 3 or 4, and genitive plural with 5 or more.<ref>{{cite book |last=Derbyshire |first=William W. |year=1993 |title=A Basic Reference Grammar of Slovene |location=Columbus, OH |publisher=Slavica Publishers |page=57 |isbn=0-89357-236-5 }}</ref>

===Greater paucal===

The greater paucal number is a larger paucal category, for an inexactly numbered group that is larger in size than a smaller paucal. It can be found in the pronouns of the Austronesian language of [[Sursurunga language|Sursurunga]], which exhibit a five-way distinction described as singular, dual, paucal, greater paucal, and plural. The Sursurunga paucal is used for smaller groups, usually of about three or four, or for nuclear families of any size. The Sursurunga greater paucal is used for groups of four or more (and must be used instead of the plural for a group of two or more dyads). There is thus some overlap between the two groups; a family of four can be referred to in Sursurunga by either of the paucals.<ref name="Corbett2000p26">{{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=26–29 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> This distinction is found both in Sursurunga's personal pronouns and in two different sets of possessive pronouns, one for edible things and one for non-edible things.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hutchisson |first=Don (compiler) |editor-last=Benroi |editor-first=Samson |editor-last2=Hutchisson |editor-first2=Sharon |year=2018 |title={{lang|sgz|Sálán má Worwor Talas uri tan Kuir Wor Sursurunga|cat=no}} (The Meanings and Explanations of Sursurunga Words) |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/88/19/158819228519561049250925126870358697031/Full_Sursurunga_Dictionary.pdf |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics |pages=19–20, 23 |access-date=2024-02-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406093035/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/88/19/158819228519561049250925126870358697031/Full_Sursurunga_Dictionary.pdf |archive-date=2020-04-06 |isbn=978-9980-0-4287-3 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Sursurunga pronouns<ref>{{cite book |last=Hutchisson |first=Don (compiler) |editor-last=Benroi |editor-first=Samson |editor-last2=Hutchisson |editor-first2=Sharon |year=2018 |title={{lang|sgz|Sálán má Worwor Talas uri tan Kuir Wor Sursurunga|cat=no}} (The Meanings and Explanations of Sursurunga Words) |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/88/19/158819228519561049250925126870358697031/Full_Sursurunga_Dictionary.pdf |location=Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics |page=20 |access-date=2024-02-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406093035/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/15/88/19/158819228519561049250925126870358697031/Full_Sursurunga_Dictionary.pdf |archive-date=2020-04-06 |isbn=978-9980-0-4287-3 }}</ref><ref name="Corbett2000p26"/>
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Paucal
! Greater<br>paucal
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|sgz|iau}}
| {{lang|sgz|giur}}
| {{lang|sgz|gimtul}}
| {{lang|sgz|gimhat}}
| {{lang|sgz|gim}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|sgz|gitar}}
| {{lang|sgz|gitul}}
| {{lang|sgz|githat}}
| {{lang|sgz|git}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|sgz|u}}
| {{lang|sgz|gaur}}
| {{lang|sgz|gamtul}}
| {{lang|sgz|gamhat}}
| {{lang|sgz|gam}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|sgz|a}}
| {{lang|sgz|diar}}
| {{lang|sgz|ditul}}
| {{lang|sgz|dihat}}
| {{lang|sgz|di}}
|}

===Quadral===

The quadral number denotes exactly four items. Apparent examples of its use are almost entirely confined to pronouns, and specifically those in the languages of Oceania or in [[sign language]]s. It has been contested whether the quadral truly exists in natural language; some linguists have rejected it as an extant category,<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=26–30 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
*{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=200–203 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}
*{{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 [187, 191, 205, 223n38] |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 }}
*{{cite book |editor-last1=Lynch |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Lynch (linguist) |editor-last2=Ross |editor-first2=Malcolm |editor-link2=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-last3=Crowley |editor-first3=Terry |editor-link3=Terry Crowley (linguist) |year=2011 |orig-year=2002 |title=The Oceanic Languages |series=Routledge Language Family Series |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=35 |isbn=978-0-203-82038-4}}
</ref> while others have accepted it.<ref>See:
*{{cite book |last1=Bender |first1=Byron W. |author-link1=Byron W. Bender |last2=Capelle |first2=Alfred |last3=Pagotto |first3=Louise |year=2016 |title=Marshallese Reference Grammar |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=PALI Language Texts: Micronesia |pages=172–174 |isbn=978-0-8248-5993-0 |jstor=j.ctvsrh2m}}
*{{cite book |last=Blust |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Blust |year=2013 |orig-year=2009 |edition=2nd |title=The Austronesian Languages |series=Pacific Linguistics 602 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=67, 318–319, 332 |isbn=978-0-85883-602-0}}
*{{cite book |last1=Kimmelman |first1=Vadim |last2=Burkova |first2=Svetlana |last3=Filimonova |first3=Elizaveta |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in Russian Sign Language |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=805–832 [809–811] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}
*{{cite book |last=Verhaar |first=John W. M. |year=1995 |title=Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin: An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication no. 26 |pages=19–20 |isbn=978-0-8248-1672-8}}
</ref> Some languages that have previously been described as having a quadral, like Sursurunga, have since been reanalyzed as having a paucal instead.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hutchisson |first=Don |editor-last=Wiesemann |editor-first=Ursula |year=1986 |chapter=Sursurunga Pronouns and the Special Uses of Quadral Number |title=Pronominal Systems |location=Tübingen, Germany |publisher=Gunter Narr |series=Continuum: Schriftenreihe zur Linguistik, bd. 5 |pages=1–20 |isbn=3-87808-335-1}}</ref><ref name="Corbett2000p26"/>

Like trial forms, quadral forms of pronouns have been said to be attested in the Melanesian pidgins of Tok Pisin,<ref name="Verhaar1995"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |author-link=David Crystal |year=2000 |title=Language Death |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=58 |isbn=978-0-521-01271-3}}</ref> Bislama,<ref name="Tryon1987">{{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 |page=19 |isbn=0-85883-361-1 |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/263015/1/PL-D72.pdf |access-date=29 April 2024}}</ref> and Pijin.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jourdan |first=Christine |editor-last1=Burridge |editor-first1=Kate |editor-link1=Kate Burridge |editor-last2=Kortmann |editor-first2=Bernd |year=2008 |chapter=Solomon Islands Pijin: Morphology and Syntax |title=Varieties of English |volume=3, The Pacific and Australasia |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=467–487 [474] |isbn=978-3-11-019637-5}}</ref> However, while these are grammatically possible, they are rare, and plural forms are almost always used in their place.

Many different sign languages have been explicitly described as having quadral pronoun forms.{{efn|This includes:

{{columns-list|gap=0em|colwidth=20em|
*[[American Sign Language]]<ref name="Baker1980">{{cite book |last1=Baker-Shenk |first1=Charlotte |last2=Cokely |first2=Dennis |year=1991 |orig-year=1980 |title=American Sign Language: A Teacher's Resource Text on Grammar and Culture |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Gallaudet University Press |pages=213–214, 370 |isbn=0-930323-84-X}}</ref><ref name="Neidle2015">{{cite book |last1=Neidle |first1=Carol |last2=Nash |first2=Joan Cottle Poole |editor-last1=Jepsen |editor-first1=Julie Bakken |editor-last2=De Clerck |editor-first2=Goedele |editor-last3=Lutalo-Kiingi |editor-first3=Sam |editor-last4=McGregor |editor-first4=William B. |editor-link4=William B. McGregor |year=2015 |chapter=American Sign Language |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=31–70 [46] |isbn=978-1-61451-796-2}}</ref>
*[[Argentine Sign Language]]<ref name="Caceres2017">{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Caceres |first=Roman |year=2017 |title=Lexical Categories in {{lang|es|Lengua de Señas Argentina|cat=no}} |url=https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104 |pages=123–124, 212 |publisher=University of North Dakota |access-date=2024-01-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424124627/https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104&context=theses |archive-date=2023-04-24 }}</ref>
*[[Brazilian Sign Language]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Almeida-Silva |first1=Anderson |last2=Taveira da Cruz |first2=Ronald |last3=Martins-Paraguassu |first3=Nize |editor-last=Quadros |editor-first=Ronice Müller de |year=2020 |chapter=Evidence for Determiners (Articles) in Brazilian Sign Language: An Analysis of the Syntactic-Semantic Evidence Found in Nominals |title=Brazilian Sign Language Studies |series=Sign Languages and Deaf Communities, vol. 11 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=155–175 [162] |isbn=978-1-5015-1640-5}}</ref>
*[[British Sign Language]]<ref name="Sutton1999">{{cite book |last1=Sutton-Spence |first1=Rachel |last2=Woll |first2=Bencie |author-link2=Bencie Woll |year=1999 |title=The Linguistics of British Sign Language: An Introduction |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=42–43 |isbn=978-0-521-63142-6}}</ref>
*[[Czech Sign Language]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Macurová |first1=Alena |last2=Bímová |first2=Petra |date=2001 |title=Poznáváme Český Znakový Jazyk II. (Slovesa a Jejich Typy) |url=http://dspace.specpeda.cz/bitstream/handle/0/670/285-304.pdf |journal=Speciální Pedagogika |language=cs |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=285–296 [286] |access-date=2023-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120091219/http://dspace.specpeda.cz/bitstream/handle/0/670/285-304.pdf |archive-date=2022-01-20}}</ref>
*[[German Sign Language]]<ref name="Illmer2019a">{{cite conference |last=Illmer |first=Britta |title=The Trial Caught in the Middle. An Analysis of the Trial in DGS as a Phenomenon Between Dual and Paucal |conference=13th Conference of Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR13) |pages=251–252 |year=2019 |location=Hamburg, Germany |url=https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/conferencehandbook.pdf#page=253 |access-date=2024-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125202213/https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/conferencehandbook.pdf#page=253 |archive-date=2024-01-25 }}</ref><ref name="Illmer2019b">{{cite AV media |last=Illmer |first=Britta |date=September 27, 2019 |title=The Trial Caught in the Middle. An Analysis of the Trial in DGS as a Phenomenon Between Dual and Paucal |type=Video presentation |language=gsg, en |url=https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/tislr13signopsisbrittaillmer.mp4 |access-date=2024-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125173747/https://fiona.uni-hamburg.de/82b0d2a4/tislr13signopsisbrittaillmer.mp4 |archive-date=2024-01-25 |format=MP4 |location=Hamburg, Germany |publisher=13th Conference of Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR13), University of Hamburg }}</ref>
*[[Hong Kong Sign Language]]<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=MPhil |last=Lam |first=Wai-sze |year=2003 |title=Verb Agreement in Hong Kong Sign Language |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48540099.pdf |page=208 |publisher=Chinese University of Hong Kong |access-date=2023-08-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190320015142/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48540099.pdf |archive-date=2019-03-20}}</ref>
*[[Jamaican Sign Language]]<ref name="Cumberbatch2015">{{cite book |last=Cumberbatch |first=Keren |editor-last1=Jepsen |editor-first1=Julie Bakken |editor-last2=De Clerck |editor-first2=Goedele |editor-last3=Lutalo-Kiingi |editor-first3=Sam |editor-last4=McGregor |editor-first4=William B. |editor-link4=William B. McGregor |year=2015 |chapter=Jamaican Sign Language |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=511–527 [517] |isbn=978-1-61451-796-2}}</ref>
*[[Jamaican Country Sign Language|Konchri Sain]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Cumberbatch |first=Keren |editor-last1=Jepsen |editor-first1=Julie Bakken |editor-last2=De Clerck |editor-first2=Goedele |editor-last3=Lutalo-Kiingi |editor-first3=Sam |editor-last4=McGregor |editor-first4=William B. |editor-link4=William B. McGregor |year=2015 |chapter=Konchri Sain |title=Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=553–565 [559] |isbn=978-1-61451-796-2}}</ref>
*[[Levantine Arabic Sign Language]]<ref name="Versteegh2009">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Hendriks |first1=Bernadet |last2=Zeshan |first2=Ulrike |author-link2=Ulrike Zeshan |editor-last1=Versteegh |editor-first1=Kees |editor-link1=Kees Versteegh |editor-last2=Eid |editor-first2=Mushira |editor-last3=Elgibali |editor-first3=Alaa |editor-last4=Woidich |editor-first4=Manfred |editor-last5=Zaborski |editor-first5=Andrzej |year=2009 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language And Linguistics |title=Sign Languages |volume=4, Q-Z |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=Brill |pages=222–235 [228] |isbn=978-90-04-14476-7}}</ref>
*[[New Zealand Sign Language]]<ref>{{cite book |last=McKee |first=Rachel |year=2015 |title=New Zealand Sign Language: A Reference Grammar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbexCQAAQBAJ&pg=PP48 |location=Wellington, New Zealand |publisher=Bridget Williams Books |at=p. [13] of Chapter 2 (no page numbers) |isbn=978-1-927277-30-0}}</ref>
*[[Russian Sign Language]]<ref name="Kimmelman2022">{{cite book |last1=Kimmelman |first1=Vadim |last2=Burkova |first2=Svetlana |last3=Filimonova |first3=Elizaveta |editor-last1=Acquaviva |editor-first1=Paolo |editor-last2=Daniel |editor-first2=Michael |editor-link2=Michael Daniel (linguist) |year=2022 |chapter=Number in Russian Sign Language |title=Number in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook |series=Comparative Handbooks of Linguistics, vol. 5 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=805–832 [809–811] |isbn=978-3-11-056069-5}}</ref>
*[[Ugandan Sign Language]]<ref name="Lutalo2014">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Lutalo-Kiingi |first=Sam |year=2014 |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Morphosyntactic Constructions in Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL) |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/20544623.pdf |pages=197–199 |publisher=University of Central Lancashire |access-date=2023-07-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731103151/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/20544623.pdf |archive-date=2023-07-31}}</ref>
}}}}{{efn|Other sign languages have been described as having pronouns for exactly four referents without being explicitly described as having a quadral. This includes [[Auslan]], [[Danish Sign Language]],<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 [340] |isbn=0-521-80385-3}}</ref> and [[Icelandic Sign Language]].<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=MA |last=Þorvaldsdóttir |first=Kristín Lena |year=2011 |title={{lang|is|Sagnir í Íslenska Táknmálinu: Formleg Einkenni og Málfræðilegar Formdeildir|cat=no}} |language=is |url=https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/9997/4/Sagnir%20i%20%20%20%20%20%20taknm%c3%a1lum_MA%20ritgerd_KL%c3%9e%202011.pdf |page=13 |publisher=University of Iceland |access-date=2024-01-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103052532/https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/9997/4/Sagnir%20i%20%20%20%20%20%20taknm%C3%A1lum_MA%20ritgerd_KL%C3%9E%202011.pdf |archive-date=2023-01-03}}</ref>}} [[Estonian Sign Language]] has even been described as having the quadral for nouns.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Miljan |first=Merilin |date=2003 |title=Number in Estonian Sign Language |url=https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/Trames-3-2003-203-223_20230313133502.pdf |journal=TRAMES |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=203–223 [206–209] |doi=10.3176/tr.2003.3.04 |s2cid=146721613 |access-date=2023-07-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731084205/https://kirj.ee/wp-content/plugins/kirj/pub/Trames-3-2003-203-223_20230313133502.pdf |archive-date=2023-07-31}}</ref>

[[Marshallese language|Marshallese]] has been said to have the quadral as a regular feature in its pronoun system.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bender |first=Byron W. |author-link=Byron W. Bender |year=1969 |title=Spoken Marshallese: An Intensive Language Course with Grammatical Notes and Glossary |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |series=PALI Language Texts: Micronesia |pages=5, 8–9 |isbn=0-87022-070-5}}</ref><ref name="Bender2016">{{cite book |last1=Bender |first1=Byron W. |author-link1=Byron W. Bender |last2=Capelle |first2=Alfred |last3=Pagotto |first3=Louise |year=2016 |title=Marshallese Reference Grammar |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |series=PALI Language Texts: Micronesia |pages=172–174 |isbn=978-0-8248-5993-0 |jstor=j.ctvsrh2m}}</ref> While the apparent Marshallese quadral can mean exactly four, it also has an alternate rhetorical use in speeches to larger groups in order to impart a sense of individual intimacy. According to [[Greville G Corbett|Greville Corbett]], this means it is better classified as a paucal.<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=26–30 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> However, there is not consensus that this alternate use means Marshallese does not truly have a quadral; the final 2016 reference grammar of Marshallese by [[Byron W. Bender]], a linguist with expertise in the language, still refers to it as having a quadral.<ref name="Bender2016"/> Besides singular, dual, trial, and quadral or paucal, Marshallese additionally has two different plural forms, one for five or more and one for two or more (referred to as multiple and plural absolute respectively), creating a partially overlapping six-way number distinction.<ref name="Bender2016"/><ref name="Cowper2022">{{cite journal |last1=Cowper |first1=Elizabeth |author-link1=Elizabeth Cowper |last2=Hall |first2=Daniel Currie |date=2022 |title=Morphosemantic Features in Universal Grammar: What We Can Learn from Marshallese Pronouns and Demonstratives |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/122/article/864682/pdf |journal=The Canadian Journal of Linguistics |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=242–266 [245–246] |doi=10.1017/cnj.2022.25 |access-date=2024-01-26 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Capell |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Capell |date=1962 |title=Oceanic Linguistics Today |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2739878 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=371–428 [385] |doi=10.1086/200305 |jstor=2739878 |s2cid=144609787 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Kove language|Kove]] has been recorded as having a similar pronoun system as Marshallese, with one addition: the plural (2+) is split between two categories, one for members of the same family and one for members of different families, creating a seven-way distinction.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Sato |first=Hiroko |year=2013 |title=Grammar of Kove: An Austronesian Language of the West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/45198c76-a0aa-4b9c-ae00-6656ea75bfed/content |pages=113–115 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |access-date=2024-03-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319191554/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/45198c76-a0aa-4b9c-ae00-6656ea75bfed/content |archive-date=2024-03-19 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Marshallese pronouns ({{lang|mh|Rālik|italic=no}} dialect)
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Trial
! Quadral<br>or Paucal
! Multiple<br>(5+)
! Plural<br>(2+)
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|mh|ña}}
| {{lang|mh|kōmro}}
| {{lang|mh|kōmjeel}}
| {{lang|mh|kōm(je)eañ}}
| {{lang|mh|kōmwōj}}
| {{lang|mh|kōm}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|mh|kōjro}}
| {{lang|mh|kōjjeel}}
| {{lang|mh|kōjeañ}}
| {{lang|mh|kōjwōj}}
| {{lang|mh|kōj}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|mh|kwe}}
| {{lang|mh|koṃro}}
| {{lang|mh|koṃjeel}}
| {{lang|mh|koṃ(je)eañ}}
| {{lang|mh|koṃwōj}}
| {{lang|mh|koṃ}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|mh|e}}
| {{lang|mh|erro}}
| {{lang|mh|erjeel}}
| {{lang|mh|er(je)jeañ}}
| {{lang|mh|erwōj}}
| {{lang|mh|er}}
|}

A few other languages have also been claimed to have quadral pronouns. [[Robert Blust]] and others have said they exist in some of the Austronesian [[Kenyah languages]], specifically the highland Lepoʼ Sawa dialect spoken in [[Long Anap]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Blust |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Blust |year=2013 |orig-year=2009 |edition=2nd |title=The Austronesian Languages |series=Pacific Linguistics 602 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=67, 318–319 |isbn=978-0-85883-602-0}}</ref><ref name="Smith2017">{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Alexander D. |date=2017 |title=Reconstructing Proto Kenyah Pronouns and the Development of a True Five Number System |url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1880536c-4922-4669-a999-62f363b6b56d/content#page=57 |journal=Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |volume=JSEALS Special Publication No. 1, ''Issues in Austronesian Historical Linguistics'' |pages=48–66 |access-date=2023-08-05 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805125809/https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1880536c-4922-4669-a999-62f363b6b56d/content |archive-date=2023-08-05 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Soriente |first=Antonia |date=2018 |title=Deixis in Borneo: Kenyah and Punan |url=https://www.ethnorema.it/wp-content/uploads/14-03-Soriente.pdf |journal=Ethnorêma |volume=14 |pages=1–34 [25] |doi=10.23814/ethn.14.18.sor |access-date=2024-01-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311024950/https://www.ethnorema.it/wp-content/uploads/14-03-Soriente.pdf |archive-date=2023-03-11 }}</ref> There seems to be no other published sources of info on this dialect's pronouns, and an investigation into the lowland Lebo’ Vo’ dialect has revealed a paucal instead of a quadral.<ref name="Smith2017"/> A quadral claim has also been made for the animate demonstrative pronouns in [[Nauruan language|Nauruan]].<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Hughes |first=Kevin |year=2020 |title=The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Nauruan: Towards a Definitive Classification of an Understudied Micronesian Language |url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4653&context=gc_etds |page=261 |publisher=City University of New York |access-date=2024-01-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502140936/https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4653&context=gc_etds |archive-date=2023-05-02 }}</ref> Outside the Austronesian family, [[Abun language|Abun]] storytelling reportedly frequently contains quadral pronouns in addition to trial ones.<ref name="Berry1999"/> Perhaps the only known spoken language outside Oceania to have a claimed quadral is [[Apinayé language|Apinayé]] of Brazil, recorded as having a third person pronominal prefix meaning "they four", although this has been little researched or described.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Callow |first=John Campbell |year=1962 |title=The Apinayé Language: Phonology and Grammar |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29420/1/10731576.pdf |page=115n3 |publisher=University of London |access-date=2023-11-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615133017/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29420/1/10731576.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=197n5 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}</ref>

In some Austronesian languages with a singular/dual/trial/plural pronoun system, the plural forms are etymologically related to the number four. This has led to suggestions or assertions that historically a true quadral did exist, but it has since morphed into a plural form.{{efn|This has been claimed for Tolai,<ref>{{cite book |last=Krifka |first=Manfred |author-link=Manfred Krifka |editor-last1=Brandt |editor-first1=Patrick |editor-last2=Fuss |editor-first2=Eric |year=2006 |chapter=A Note on the Pronoun System and the Predicate Marker in Tok Pisin |title=Form, Structure, and Grammar: A Festschrift Presented to Günther Grewendorf on Occasion of His 60th Birthday |series=Studia Grammatica 63 |location=Berlin |publisher=Akademie Verlag |pages=79–91 [80] |isbn=978-3-05-004224-4}}</ref> [[Konomala language|Konomala]], [[Patpatar language|Patpatar]], [[Kandas language|Kandas]], [[Siar-Lak language|Siar]],<ref name="Ross1988">{{cite book |last=Ross |first=M. D. |author-link=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |year=1988 |title=Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 98 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=101, 334, 344 |isbn=0-85883-367-0}}</ref> [[Mandara language|Tabar]], [[Label language|Label]], [[Gao language|Gao]], [[Kwamera language|Kwamera]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Capell |first=A. |author-link=Arthur Capell |editor-last=Sebeok |editor-first=Thomas A. |editor-link=Thomas Sebeok |year=1971 |chapter=The Austronesian Languages of Australian New Guinea |title=Current Trends in Linguistics |volume=8, Linguistics in Oceania. Bk. 1, Indigenous Languages |location=The Hague |publisher=Mouton |pages=240–340 [260–262] |lccn=64-3663 |oclc=8682227}}</ref> [[Ma'ya language|Ma'ya]], [[Matbat language|Matbat]],<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Kamholz |first=David Christopher |year=2014 |title=Austronesians in Papua: Diversification and Change in South Halmahera–West New Guinea |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt6nj8g0b3/qt6nj8g0b3.pdf |page=120 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=2023-08-05 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426161839/https://escholarship.org/content/qt6nj8g0b3/qt6nj8g0b3.pdf |archive-date=2022-04-26 }}</ref> Larike,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laidig |first1=Wyn D. |last2=Laidig |first2=Carol J. |date=1990 |title=Larike Pronouns: Duals and Trials in a Central Moluccan Language |series=A Special Issue on Western Austronesian Languages |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=87–109 [99] |doi=10.2307/3623187|jstor=3623187 }}</ref> Wamesa,<ref>{{cite book |last=Capell |first=A. |author-link=Arthur Capell |editor-last=Wurm |editor-first=S. A. |editor-link=Stephen Wurm |year=1976 |chapter=General Picture of Austronesian Languages, New Guinea Area |title=New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study |volume=2, Austronesian Languages |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 39 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=5–52 [44] |isbn=0-85883-155-4}}</ref> Ambai,<ref name="Silzer1983"/> [[Loniu language|Loniu]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Hamel |first=Patricia J. |year=1994 |title=A Grammar and Lexicon of Loniu, Papua New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 103 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=52 |isbn=0-85883-410-3 }}</ref> [[Kenyah languages|Badeng]],<ref name="Smith2017"/> and [[Baluan-Pam language|Paluai]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Schokkin |first=Dineke |year=2020 |title=A Grammar of Paluai: The Language of Baluan Island, Papua New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics vol. 663 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |page=120 |isbn=978-3-11-067513-9}}</ref> Some of these languages may be more accurately described as having a singular/dual/paucal/plural system, where the paucal markers are etymologically related to the word for three and the plural markers are related to the word for four.}} It has thus been hypothesized that the quadral existed in [[Proto-Oceanic language|Proto-Oceanic]]<ref name="Ross1988"/> and Proto-Southern Vanuatu.<ref>{{cite conference |last=Kikusawa |first=Marco |title=On the Development of Number Systems in Oceanic Pronouns |conference=6th International Conference on Oceanic Linguistics (COOL6) |pages=1–38 |year=2006 |location=Port Vila, Vanuatu |url=https://www.academia.edu/6062716 |access-date=24 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124080210/https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/32987772/Kikusawa__R._2007._On_the_development_of_number_systems_in_Oceanic_pronouns-libre.pdf?1393928927=&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B+filename%3DOn_the_Development_of_Number_Systems_in.pdf&Expires=1700813402&Signature=SD6lXl9OtiD-pe4KeooMEaSQrI6XRIyGdcMAKOv0xjGkwd0iKWDUcDwaHbla61LjhTcVwmXMSLXIa-hj1QwXcE79AIq7LihxpBS4Y~piYWiqHVxD4gWjaHgykr47kr4O7LfcTVFVcqzOtDshklAuPBxyR~6wirFWn3R6H-eYv-xAbyc7ZDULYhRa2esk~6rnnKPS-2cIXufD1KabW-uemp72oy3ce2QV5u6wNPRPTjSNi86PuFUCnFiLoa2B1wIkTjtHdEIqQ3F1LN83y~YMG2CgwJKhx~mRoujcyTBJcp314WQLcgHKpNP6HfgkyLKST0u1zD~uTv9bUO06nnJt~A__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA |archive-date=24 November 2023}}</ref>

===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>

===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"/>

===Greatest plural===

Greatest plural is a number larger than and beyond greater plural. It has also been called the "even greater plural". For example, in [[Warekena language|Warekena]]:<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=37–38 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref><ref name="Harbour2014p202">{{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 [202] |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><ref name="Aikhenvald2015">{{cite book |last=Aikhenvald |first=Alexandra Y. |author-link=Alexandra Aikhenvald |year=2015 |title=The Art of Grammar: A Practical Guide |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=112–113 |isbn=978-0-19-968321-5 }}</ref>

*{{lang|gae|ʧinu}} - "dog" (singular)
*{{lang|gae|ʧinu'''ne'''}} - "dogs" (plural)
*{{lang|gae|ʧinu'''nawi'''}} - "very many dogs" (greater plural)
*{{lang|gae|ʧinu'''nenawi'''}} - "very many dogs indeed, so many one cannot count them" (greatest plural)

A similar system is found in [[Banyun language|Banyun]], where the greater plural represents unlimitedness, and the greatest plural represents "a higher degree of unlimitedness".<ref name="Harbour2014p202"/>

Linguist Daniel Harbour has represented the paucal, greater paucal, plural, greater plural, and greatest plural as collectively definable by "cuts" that divide the range of possible numbers into different sections. One low cut defines paucal and plural, and one high cut defines plural and greater plural. Two low cuts define paucal, greater paucal, and plural; one low cut and one high cut define paucal, plural, and greater plural; and two high cuts define plural, greater plural, and greatest 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 [186, 196–202] |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> There does not appear to be any language with three such cuts, and so no language with three paucal categories and an "even greater paucal".<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 [205] |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><ref>{{cite book |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |editor-last1=Matushansky |editor-first1=Ora |editor-last2=Marantz |editor-first2=Alec |editor-link2=Alec Marantz |year=2013 |title=Distributed Morphology Today: Morphemes for Morris Halle |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=MIT Press |chapter="Not Plus" Isn't "Not There": Bivalence in Person, Number, and Gender |page=135–150 [149n3] |isbn=978-0-262-01967-5 }}</ref>

Because they are inexactly defined, the existence of multiple plural categories may blur the line between paucal and plural.<ref name="Corbett2000p32">{{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=32 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref><ref name="Harbour2014p201">{{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 [201, 201n13, 214] |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> For example, Mele-Fila is said to have a paucal, plural, and greater plural. However, the transition between plural and greater plural occurs around 15 to 20. This puts the Mele-Fila "plural" in range of some larger "paucals" described in other languages. Thus the distinction is muddied between a system of paucal, plural, greater plural, and a system of paucal, greater paucal, plural.<ref name="Harbour2014p201"/> Other examples can be found in the related languages of [[Gumuz language|Northern Gumuz]] and [[Daatsʼiin language|Daatsʼiin]]. Northern Gumuz is said to mark the plural and greater plural on verbs,<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Ahland |first=Colleen Anne |year=2012 |title=A Grammar of Northern and Southern Gumuz |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |pages=211, 213–216 |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=2024-03-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504225327/https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-04 }}</ref> and Daatsʼiin is said to mark "three degrees of plurality" (plural, greater plural, and greatest plural) on verbs.<ref name="Ahland2016">{{cite book |last=Ahland |first=Colleen |editor-last1=Payne |editor-first1=Doris L. |editor-link1=Doris L. Payne |editor-last2=Pacchiarotti |editor-first2=Sara |editor-last3=Bosire |editor-first3=Mokaya |year=2016 |title=Diversity in African Languages: Selected Papers from the 46th Annual Conference on African Linguistics |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/199433458.pdf#page=427 |series=Contemporary African Linguistics 1 |location=Berlin |publisher=Language Science Press |chapter=Daatsʼíin, A Newly Identified Undocumented Language of Western Ethiopia: A Preliminary Examination |pages=417–449 [427–428]|access-date=2024-03-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307161804/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/199433458.pdf#page=427 |archive-date=2024-03-07 |isbn=978-3-946234-70-8 |doi=10.17169/langsci.b121.493 }}</ref> In both languages though, the "plural" is often actually a paucal, understood to mean about two to four. However, in neither language is this always the case. The Northern Gumuz paucal/plural may sometimes refer to "much greater than four".<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Ahland |first=Colleen Anne |year=2012 |title=A Grammar of Northern and Southern Gumuz |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |pages=215 |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=2024-03-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504225327/https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/12559/Ahland_oregon_0171A_10546.pdf |archive-date=2022-05-04 }}</ref>

===General, singulative, and plurative===
{{Main |Singulative number}}

In some languages, the default form of a noun is not singular, but rather general, which does not specify number and could mean one or more than one. Singular and plural forms are marked from the general form. The general is used when the specific number is deemed irrelevant or unimportant. In this system, the singular is often called the singulative, to distinguish it as derived from a different form. Similarly, the plural derived from the general has been called the plurative.<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=9–13, 17, 17n11 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> For example, in [[Pular language|Pular]]:<ref name="Caudill2000">{{cite book |last1=Caudill |first1=Herb |last2=Diallo |first2=Ousmane Besseko |year=2000 |title={{lang|fuf|Miɗo Waawi Pular!|cat=no}} Learner's Guide to Pular (Fuuta Jallon) |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/manual-pulaar/page/n35/mode/2up |location=Conakry, Guinea |publisher=Peace Corps |page=25 }}</ref>

*{{lang|fuf|bare}} - "dog(s)" (general, any number)
*{{lang|fuf|bare'''eru'''}} - "dog" (singulative)
*{{lang|fuf|bare'''eji'''}} - "dogs" (plurative)

However, some languages only have a two-way difference between general and plurative, like in [[Japanese language|Japanese]]:<ref>
Of the sources below, Corbett (2000) explains the number distinction with the examples spelled {{lang|ja-latn|inu}} and {{lang|ja-latn|inu-tati}}; Takebayashi (1996) spells each part individually as {{lang|ja-latn|inu}} ({{lang|ja|犬}}) and {{lang|ja-latn|-tachi}} ({{lang|ja|たち}}); Takano (1992) uses the romanized and unhyphenated {{lang|ja-latn|inutachi}}; and 研作 & 聡子 (2019) is an example of {{lang|ja|犬たち}} in use.
*{{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=13–14 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Takebayashi |editor-first=Shigeru |year=2003 |orig-year=1996 |title=textsPocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_2900198607488/page/n143/mode/2up |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=127, 369 |isbn=978-0-19-860748-9 }}
*{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Takano |first=Hisako |year=1992 |title=Syntactic and Semantic Natures of Japanese Common Nouns |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/59188911.pdf |page=71 |publisher=Michigan State University |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330061627/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/59188911.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-30 }}
*{{cite book |last1={{lang|ja|研作|cat=no}} |first1={{lang|ja|吉田|cat=no}} |last2={{lang|ja|聡子|cat=no}} |first2={{lang|ja|春日|cat=no}} |year=2019 |title={{lang|ja|起きてから寝るまでイヌ英語表現|cat=no}} |language=ja, en |location=Tokyo |publisher={{lang|ja|アルク|cat=no}} |isbn=978-4-7574-3170-6 }}
</ref>

*{{lang|ja-latn|inu}} ({{lang|ja|犬}}) - "dog(s)" (general)
*{{lang|ja-latn|inu'''tachi'''}} ({{lang|ja|犬たち}}) - "dogs" (plurative)

Less common is a two-way distinction between general and singulative. No language has this as its default number contrast, although some languages have specific nouns with this distinction.<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=16–17 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> For example, in [[Sidama language|Sidama]]:<ref name="Kawachi2007">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Kawachi |first=Kazuhiro |year=2007 |title=A Grammar of Sidaama (Sidamo), a Cushitic Language of Ethiopia |url=https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~dryer/KawachiSidaama.pdf |page=345 |publisher=University at Buffalo |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608141913/https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~dryer/KawachiSidaama.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-08 }}</ref>

*{{lang|sid|goto}} - "hyena(s)" (general)
*{{lang|sid|got'''iiččo'''}} - "hyena" (singulative)

In some languages like [[Afar language|Afar]], few nouns have a three-way contrast of general/singulative/plurative, but nouns with two-way contrasts of general/singulative and general/plurative are both common.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=E.M. |last2=Hayward |first2=R.J. |author-link2=Richard Hayward (linguist) |year=1985 |title=An Afar-English-French Dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English) |url=https://archive.org/details/afarenglishfrenc0000park/page/16/mode/2up |location=London |publisher=University of London |page=16 |isbn=0-7286-0124-9 }}</ref>

There are also languages which regularly employ different number systems with a dual, trial, paucal, or greater plural in addition to a general:
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
{|
| 
*[[Hamer language|Hamer]] - general, singulative, and paucal:<ref name="Petrollino2016p72">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Petrollino |first=Sara |year=2016 |title=A Grammar of Hamar: A South Omotic Language of Ethiopia |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/44090 |pages=72, 77–79, 84, 89–90 |publisher=Leiden University |access-date=2024-03-30 }}</ref>
**{{lang|amf|qáski}} - "dog(s)" (general)
**{{lang|amf|qáski'''no'''}} - "dog" (singulative)
**{{lang|amf|qáski'''na'''}} - "a few dogs" (paucal)
|}
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
{|
|
*[[Warlpiri language|Warlpiri]] - general, dual, and paucal:<ref name="Kashket1987">{{cite report |author=Michael B. Kashket |date=September 22, 1987 |title=A Government-Binding Based Parser for Warlpiri, a Free-Word Order Language |series=Technical Report 993 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA189381.pdf |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory |pages=20, 23 |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330150452/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA189381.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Legate |first=Julie Anne |author-link=Julie Anne Legate |date=2008 |title=Warlpiri and the Theory of Second Position Clitics |url=https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~jlegate/nllt26.pdf |journal=Natural Language & Linguistic Theory |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=3–60 [5, 20] |doi=10.1007/s11049-007-9030-0 |access-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230912091758/https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~jlegate/nllt26.pdf |archive-date=2023-09-12 }}</ref>
**{{lang|wbp|maliki}} - "dog(s)" (general)
**{{lang|wbp|maliki'''jarra'''}} - "two dogs" (dual)
**{{lang|wbp|maliki'''patu'''}} - "a few dogs" (paucal)
|}
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
{|
|
*[[Bambassi language|Bambassi]] - general, dual, and plurative:<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Ahland |first=Michael Bryan |year=2012 |title=A Grammar of Northern Mao (Màwés Aas'è) |url=https://cla.csulb.edu/departments/linguistics/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Ahland-2012.pdf |pages=194–199, 310 |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=2024-03-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105044056/https://cla.csulb.edu/departments/linguistics/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Ahland-2012.pdf |archive-date=2023-11-05 }}</ref>
**{{lang|myf|kané}} - "dog(s)" (general)
**{{lang|myf|kan'''kuw'''e}} - "two dogs" (dual)
**{{lang|myf|kan'''ol'''e}} - "dogs" (plurative)
|}
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
{|
|
*[[Baiso language|Baiso]] - general, singulative, paucal, and plurative:<ref name="Corbett2000Baiso">{{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=10–11, 22, 39, 42, 48, 127–129, 181–183 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Gnarie |first=Lemmi Kebebew  |year=2018 |title=Grammatical Description and Documentation of Bayso |url=https://etd.aau.edu.et/server/api/core/bitstreams/1a179e30-7371-4ab5-99ad-f02c53ed36e0/content |pages=62, 72, 76 |publisher=Addis Ababa University |access-date=2024-03-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331040925/https://etd.aau.edu.et/server/api/core/bitstreams/1a179e30-7371-4ab5-99ad-f02c53ed36e0/content |archive-date=2024-03-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/thelinguists/Endangered-Languages/One-of-a-kind-Words.html |title=One-of-a-kind Words |last1=Harrison |first1=David |author-link1=K. David Harrison |last2=Anderson |first2=Gregory |author-link2=Gregory Anderson (linguist) |date=2009 |website=PBS |access-date=2024-03-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222080527/https://www.pbs.org/thelinguists/Endangered-Languages/One-of-a-kind-Words.html |archive-date=2021-12-22 }}</ref>
**{{lang|bsw|ker}} - "dog(s)" (general)
**{{lang|bsw|ker'''titi'''}} - "dog" (singulative)
**{{lang|bsw|ker'''dʒedʒa'''}} - "a few dogs" (paucal)
**{{lang|bsw|ker'''oor'''}} - "dogs" (plurative)
|}
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
{|
|
*[[Arabana language|Arabana]] - general, dual, trial, and plurative:<ref name="Hercus1994">{{cite book |last=Hercus |first=Luise A. |author-link=Luise Hercus |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 128 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=63–65, 105 |isbn=0-85883-425-1}}</ref>
**{{lang|ard|madla}} - "dog(s)" (general)
**{{lang|ard|madla'''pula'''}} - "two dogs" (dual)
**{{lang|ard|madla'''karikari'''}} - "three dogs" (trial)
**{{lang|ard|madla'''kari'''}} - "dogs" (plurative)
|}
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</div>
<div style="display:inline-grid; vertical-align:top;">
{|
|
*[[Kaytetye language|Kaytetye]] - general, dual, plurative, and greater plural:<ref name="Corbett2000Kaytetye">{{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=33, 48–49, 127 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Panther |first=Forrest Andrew |year=2021 |title=Topics in Kaytetye Phonology and Morpho-Syntax |url=https://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/uon:38438/ATTACHMENT01 |pages=220, 247 |publisher=University of Newcastle |access-date=2024-03-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331064337/https://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/uon:38438/ATTACHMENT01 |archive-date=2024-03-31 }}</ref><ref name="Turpin2000">{{cite book |last=Turpin |first=Myfany |year=2000 |title=A Learner's Guide to Kaytetye |location=Alice Springs, Australia |publisher=IAD Press |page=43 |isbn=978-1-86465-026-6 }}</ref>
**{{lang|gbb|aleke}} - "dog(s)" (general)
**{{lang|gbb|aleke'''therre'''}} - "two dogs" (dual)
**{{lang|gbb|alek'''amerne'''}} - "dogs" (plurative)
**{{lang|gbb|alek'''eynenge'''}} - "all dogs" (greater plural)
|}
</div>

Additional other systems can be seen in some languages only for specific nouns:
*In [[Burushaski]], for nouns that have the same form in the singular and the plural, the plural marker signifies a greater plural:<ref name="Yoshioka2012">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Yoshioka |first=Noboru |year=2012 |title=A Reference Grammar of Eastern Burushaski |url=https://archive.org/details/a-reference-grammar-of-eastern-burushaski-by-yoshioka-noboru/page/40/mode/2up |page=40 |publisher=Tokyo University of Foreign Studies }}</ref>
**{{lang|bsk|čhúmo}} - "fish" (general)
**{{lang|bsk|čhúmo'''muc'''}} - "a quite large number of fish" (greater plural)
*In addition to general, singulative, and paucal, some nouns in Hamer have an additional distinction that has been analyzed either as a greater plural<ref>{{cite book |last=Lydall |first=Jean |editor-last=Bender |editor-first=M. Lionel |editor-link=Lionel Bender |year=1976 |title=The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia |series=Committee on Ethiopian Studies, Occasional Papers Series, Monograph No. 5 |chapter=Hamer |location=East Lansing, MI |publisher=African Studies Center, Michigan State University |pages=393–438 [407–409] }}</ref> or a collective plural.<ref name="Petrollino2000p80">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Petrollino |first=Sara |year=2016 |title=A Grammar of Hamar: A South Omotic Language of Ethiopia |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/44090 |pages=77–80, 82–85, 87–90 |publisher=Leiden University |access-date=2024-03-30 }}</ref> It seems to unambiguously be a greater plural in specific cases, such as:<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Petrollino |first=Sara |year=2016 |title=A Grammar of Hamar: A South Omotic Language of Ethiopia |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/44090 |page=80 |publisher=Leiden University |access-date=2024-03-30 }}</ref>
**{{lang|amf|hámar}} - "Hamer person/people" (general)
**{{lang|amf|hamar'''tâ'''}} (m) / {{lang|amf|hamar'''tóno'''}} (f) - "Hamer person" (singulative)
**{{lang|amf|hámar'''ra'''}} - "a few Hamer people" (paucal)
**{{lang|amf|hámar'''ro'''}} - "all Hamer people" (greater plural)
*Some dialects of Arabic have a few nouns that exhibit a five-way distinction of general, singulative, dual, plurative, and greater plural. In [[Damascus Arabic]]:<ref name="Corbett2000p32"/>
**{{lang|apc-latn|dəbbān}} - "fly/flies" (general)
**{{lang|apc-latn|dəbbān'''e'''}} - "fly" (singulative)
**{{lang|apc-latn|dəbbān'''tēn'''}} - "two flies" (dual)
**{{lang|apc-latn|dəbbān'''āt'''}} - "flies" (plurative)
**{{lang|apc-latn|d'''a'''ba'''bī'''n}} - "many flies" (greater plural)

===Minimal, unit augmented, and augmented===

Minimal, unit augmented, and augmented are a different set of number categories for pronouns in languages that grammatically treat a first person dual inclusive pronoun identically to singular pronouns, and a first person trial inclusive pronoun identically to dual pronouns. It is a relative paradigm that replaces the absolute paradigm of singular, dual, trial, and plural for languages where absolute classification is ill-fitting.

For example, under a singular/dual/trial/plural analysis, the pronouns in [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]]<ref name="Cysouw2003p87">{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=87–89 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}</ref><ref name="Thomas1955">{{cite journal |last=Thomas |first=David |date=1955 |title=Three Analyses of the Ilocano Pronoun System |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1955.11659556?download=true |journal=WORD |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=204–208 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1955.11659556 |access-date=2024-01-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102163123/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1955.11659556?download=true |archive-date=2024-01-02}}</ref> and [[Bininj Kunwok]]<ref name="Evans2003">{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Evans (linguist) |year=2003 |title=Bininj Gun-wok: A Pan-Dialectal Grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune |series=Pacific Linguistics 541 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |page=261 |isbn=0-85883-530-4}}</ref> are:

<div style=display:inline-grid>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Ilocano pronouns
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|ilo|co}}
| -
| {{lang|ilo|mi}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|ilo|ta}}
| {{lang|ilo|tayo}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|ilo|mo}}
| -
| {{lang|ilo|yo}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|ilo|na}}
| -
| {{lang|ilo|da}}
|}
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Bininj Kunwok pronouns
|-
!
! Singular
! Dual
! Trial
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|gup|ngarduk}}
| {{lang|gup|ngarrewoneng}}
| -
| {{lang|gup|ngadberre}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|gup|ngarrgu}}
| {{lang|gup|garriwoneng}}
| {{lang|gup|gadberre}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|gup|nguddanggi}}
| {{lang|gup|ngurriwoneng}}
| -
| {{lang|gup|ngudberre}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|gup|nuye/ngarre}}
| {{lang|gup|berrewoneng}}
| -
| {{lang|gup|bedberre}}
|}
</div>

"Singular" does not exist for first person inclusive, which is by definition at least two people. In Ilocano, the "dual" ''only'' exists for first person inclusive, and likewise for the "trial" in Bininj Kunwok. Such categorization has been called "inelegant."<ref name="Evans2003"/> It can also poorly reflect the grammatical structure: using the suffix {{lang|gup|-woneng}}, Bininj Kunwok treats the first person inclusive "trial" identically to the "duals" in other persons, even though it refers to three people.

The alternate analysis is thus:

<div style=display:inline-grid>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Ilocano pronouns
|-
!
! Minimal
! Augmented
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|ilo|co}}
| {{lang|ilo|mi}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| {{lang|ilo|ta}}
| {{lang|ilo|tayo}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|ilo|mo}}
| {{lang|ilo|yo}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|ilo|na}}
| {{lang|ilo|da}}
|}
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Bininj Kunwok pronouns
|-
!
! Minimal
! Unit augmented
! Augmented
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|gup|ngarduk}}
| {{lang|gup|ngarrewoneng}}
| {{lang|gup|ngadberre}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| {{lang|gup|ngarrgu}}
| {{lang|gup|garriwoneng}}
| {{lang|gup|gadberre}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|gup|nguddanggi}}
| {{lang|gup|ngurriwoneng}}
| {{lang|gup|ngudberre}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|gup|nuye/ngarre}}
| {{lang|gup|berrewoneng}}
| {{lang|gup|bedberre}}
|}
</div>

The 'minimal' number is the smallest possible group for each category. For 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, this is one, and for 1st inclusive, this is two. Unit augmented is one more than minimal. For 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, this is two, and for 1st inclusive, this is three. Augmented is an equivalent to plural. In a minimal/augmented system, augmented means more than one for 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, and means more than two for 1st inclusive. In a minimal/unit augmented/augmented system, augmented means more than two for 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd, and means more than three for 1st inclusive.

Besides Ilocano, languages considered to have a minimal/augmented pronoun system include [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=261 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=de Schepper |first=Kees |date=2012 |title=Against a Minimal–Augmented Analysis of Number |url=https://www.jbe-platform.com/docserver/fulltext/avt.29.11sch.pdf |journal=Linguistics in the Netherlands |volume=29 |pages=134–146 [142] |doi=10.1075/avt.29.11sch |hdl=2066/101786 |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104070017/https://www.jbe-platform.com/docserver/fulltext/avt.29.11sch.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-04 }}</ref> [[Maranao language|Maranao]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Daniel |editor-last1=Billings |editor-first1=Loren |editor-last2=Goudswaard |editor-first2=Nelleke |year=2010 |title={{lang|ilp|Piakandatu Ami|cat=no}}: Dr. Howard P. McKaughan |chapter=The Grammar of Clitics in Maranao |location=Manila |publisher=Linguistic Society of the Philippines and SIL Philippines |pages=179-204 [180, 180n2] |chapter-url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/07/70/130770395534694674649839873268234450496/20_Kaufman_McKaughan2010.pdf |access-date=2024-01-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511053358/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/07/70/130770395534694674649839873268234450496/20_Kaufman_McKaughan2010.pdf |archive-date=2019-05-11 |isbn=978-971-780-026-4}}</ref> [[Maskelynes language|Maskelynes]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |year=2016 |title=Impossible Persons |series=Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 74 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=The MIT Press |page=148 |isbn=978-0-262-52929-7 }}</ref> and [[Ho-Chunk language|Ho-Chunk]].<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 [192, 203, 214] |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> The three-way distinction with the addition of unit augmented is mostly found in Australian Aboriginal languages, more specifically non-Pama-Nyungan languages.<ref name="Cysouw2003p232">{{cite book |last=Cysouw |first=Michael |year=2009 |orig-year=2003 |title=The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking |series=Oxford Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=232–236 |isbn=978-0-19-925412-5}}</ref>{{efn|Besides Bininj Kunwok, this includes [[Rembarrnga language|Rembarrnga]], [[Ndjébbana language|Ndjébbana]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=McKay |first=Graham R. |date=1978 |title=Pronominal Person and Number Categories in Rembarrnga and Djeebbana |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=27–37 |doi=10.2307/3622826 |jstor=3622826}}</ref> [[Guniyandi language|Guniyandi]], [[Nyigina language|Nyigina]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=McGregor |first=William B. |author-link=William B. McGregor |date=1989 |title=Greenberg on the First Person Inclusive Dual: Evidence from Some Australian Languages |journal=Studies in Language |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=437–451 |doi=10.1075/sl.13.2.10mcg}}</ref> [[Mangarrayi language|Mangarrayi]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Moskal |first=Beata |date=2018 |title=Excluding Exclusively the Exclusive: Suppletion Patterns in Clusivity |url=https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5098/ |journal=Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=art. 130, 1-34 [17] |doi=10.5334/gjgl.362 |doi-access=free |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724180550/https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/5098/ |archive-date=2023-07-24 }}</ref> [[Nunggubuyu language|Nunggubuyu]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Dixon |first=R. M. W. |author-link=Robert M. W. Dixon |year=1980 |title=The Languages of Australia |series=Cambridge Language Surveys |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=352–353 |isbn=978-0-521-22329-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Heath |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Heath |year=1984 |title=Functional Grammar of Nunggubuyu |series=AIAS new series no. 53 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies |pages=241–243 |isbn=0-85575-157-6}}</ref> [[Warrwa language|Warrwa]],<ref>{{cite book |last=McGregor |first=William |author-link=William B. McGregor |year=1994 |title=Warrwa |series=Languages of the World/Materials 89 |location=München |publisher=Lincom Europa |page=20 |isbn=3-929075-51-2 }}</ref> [[Burarra language|Burarra]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Glasgow |first1=Kathleen |last2=Capell |first2=A. |author-link2=Arthur Capell |last3=McKay |first3=G. R. |last4=Kennedy |first4=Rod |last5=Trefry |first5=D. |year=1984 |chapter=Burrara Word Classes |title=Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 16 |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series A - No. 68 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australia National University |pages=1-54 [1, 15-17, 26-27] |doi=10.15144/PL-A68.1 }}</ref> [[Gaagudju language|Gaagudju]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Harvey |first=Mark |year=2002 |title=A Grammar of Gaagudju |series=Mouton Grammar Library 24 |location=Berlin |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |page=268 |isbn=3-11-017248-8 }}</ref> [[Malak-Malak language|Malak-Malak]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gaby |first1=Alice |last2=Shoulson |first2=Oliver |editor-last=Bowern |editor-first=Claire |editor-link=Claire Bowern |year=2023 |chapter=Pronouns |title=The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=268-277 [269] |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0024 |isbn=978-0-19-882497-8 }}</ref> and [[Dalabon language|Dalabon]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Nicholas |author-link1=Nicholas Evans (linguist) |last2=Marley |first2=Alexandra |editor-last=Bowern |editor-first=Claire |editor-link=Claire Bowern |year=2023 |chapter=The Gunwinyguan languages |title=The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages |series=Oxford Guides to the World's Languages |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=781-795 [790-791] |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0067 |isbn=978-0-19-882497-8 }}</ref> It is also found in the Pama-Nyungan languages of [[Gurindji language|Gurindji]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meakins |first1=Felicity |author-link1=Felicity Meakins |last2=McConvell |first2=Patrick |year=2021 |title=A Grammar of Gurindji: As Spoken by Violet Wadrill, Ronnie Wavehill, Dandy Danbayarri, Biddy Wavehill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Long Johnny Kijngayarri, Banjo Ryan, Pincher Nyurrmiari and Blanche Bulngari |series=Mouton Grammar Library, vol. 91 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=6, 41, 135, 139–141, 325–326 |isbn=978-3-11-074688-4 }}</ref> and [[Bilinarra language|Bilinarra]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meakins |first1=Felicity |author-link1=Felicity Meakins |last2=Nordlinger |first2=Rachel |author-link2=Rachel Nordlinger |year=2014 |title=A Grammar of Bilinarra: An Australian Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory |series=Pacific Linguistics, vol. 640 |location=Boston |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=216–217 |doi=10.1515/9781614512745 |isbn=978-1-61451-274-5 }}</ref>}} Among the very few languages outside Australia it applies to is the Austronesian language [[Äiwoo language|Äiwoo]]<ref name="Cysouw2003p232"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Næss |first=Åshild |date=2018 |title=Plural-Marking Strategies in Äiwoo |url=https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/67758/Plural_N%25C3%25A6ss_2018.pdf |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=31–62 |doi=10.1353/ol.2018.0001 |hdl=10852/67758 |s2cid=150127508 |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103151417/https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/67758/Plural_N%25C3%25A6ss_2018.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-03 }}</ref> and the [[Trans–New Guinea languages|Trans–New Guinea language]] of [[Kunimaipa language|Kunimaipa]].<ref name="Cysouw2003p232"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Peter W. |last2=Moskal |first2=Beata |last3=Xu |first3=Ting |last4=Kang |first4=Jungmin |last5=Bobaljik |first5=Jonathan David |author-link5=Jonathan Bobaljik |date=2019 |title=Case and Number Suppletion in Pronouns |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/bobaljik/files/smith2019_article_caseandnumbersuppletioninprono.pdf |journal=Natural Language and Linguistic Theory |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=1029–1101 [1091n121] |doi=10.1007/s11049-018-9425-0 |s2cid=254866643 |access-date=2024-01-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209001613/https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/bobaljik/files/smith2019_article_caseandnumbersuppletioninprono.pdf |archive-date=2021-12-09 }}</ref>

Minimal and augmented may also combine with paucal to create a three-way pronoun system of minimal, paucal, and augmented/plural. This is reportedly the case with [[Kayapo language|Kayapo]].<ref name="Harbour2006">{{cite web |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |date=2006 |title=Numerus: Der Morphologische Gebrauch Semantischer Atome |series=Queen Mary's Occasional Papers Advancing Linguistics (OPAL) #5 |language=de |publisher=Queen Mary University of London |url=https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/media/sllf-new/department-of-linguistics/05-QMOPAL-Harbour.pdf |page=2 |access-date=2024-01-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330201235/https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/media/sllf-new/department-of-linguistics/05-QMOPAL-Harbour.pdf |archive-date=2023-03-30 }}</ref><ref name="Harbour2014p214">{{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 [214] |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> A four-way system of minimal, unit augmented, paucal, and plural is theoretically possible, but has never been observed in any natural language.<ref name="Harbour2014p214"/>

===Composed numbers===

Composed numbers are number categories built from multiple number markers combined. They are "a rare phenomenon."<ref name="Corbett2000p36">{{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=36 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>

====Dual and plural====

In [[Breton language|Breton]]:<ref name="Corbett2000p36"/>

*{{lang|br|lagad}} - "eye" (singular)
*{{lang|br|'''daou'''lagad}} - "two eyes" (dual)
*{{lang|br|lagad'''où'''}} - "eyes" (plural)
*{{lang|br|'''daou'''lagad'''où'''}} - "pairs of eyes" (composed, dual + plural)

Breton only has the dual for nouns that naturally come in pairs, mostly body parts and items of clothing. The composed dual and plural indicates multiple sets of two each, whereas the regular plural represents multiple items without them conceptualized as coming in pairs.<ref name="Acquaviva2008">{{cite book |last=Acquaviva |first=Paolo |year=2008 |title=Lexical Plurals: A Morphosemantic Approach |series=Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=238, 247, 251–252 |isbn=978-0-19-953421-0 }}</ref> There is at least one attestation in [[Egyptian language|Ancient Egyptian]], from an inscription dating to the reign of [[Merneptah]], of the exact same grammatical construction with the word "hand" (to mean multiple pairs of hands).<ref>{{cite book |last=Matić |first=Uroš |year=2019 |title=Body and Frames of War in New Kingdom Egypt: Violent Treatment of Enemies and Prisoners |series=Philippika - Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen / Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures 134 |location=Wiesbaden, Germany |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |page=282n450 |isbn=978-3-447-19925-4 }}</ref>

A similar category can be found in some nouns of [[Classical Arabic]], where it has been called the "dual of the plural". However, its meaning is the reverse of the Breton construction. Rather than multiple sets of two each, it indicates two sets of multiple each. Thus there is {{lang|ar-latn|rumḥun}}, spear (singular); {{lang|ar-latn|rumḥani}}, two spears (dual); {{lang|ar-latn|rimāḥun}}, spears (plural); and {{lang|ar-latn|rimāḥāni}}, two groups of spears (dual of the plural).<ref name="Ojeda1992p322">{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [322–323] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n321/mode/2up }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kunitzsch |first=Paul |date=1978 |title=Der Sternhimmel in den "Dichterischen Vergleichen der Andalus-Araber" |language=de |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=238–251 [245] |jstor=43381949 }}</ref> The Arabic dual of the plural more specifically implies a minimum of six items, or two groups of three each.<ref name="Ojeda1992p322"/>

====Plural and plural====

In Breton<ref name="Corbett2000p36"/> and Classical Arabic,<ref name="Ojeda1992p319">{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [319–322] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }}</ref><ref name="Mathieu2014">{{cite book |last=Mathieu |first=Eric |editor-last1=Aguilar-Guevara |editor-first1=Ana |editor-last2=Le Bruyn |editor-first2=Bert |editor-last3=Zwarts |editor-first3=Joost |year=2014 |title=Weak Referentiality |series=Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, vol. 219 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |chapter=Many a Plural |volume=219 |pages=157–182 [172, 177] |isbn=978-90-272-6938-6 |doi=10.1075/la.219.07mat }}</ref> as well as in [[Somali language|Somali]]<ref name="Lecarme2002">{{cite book |last=Lecarme |first=Jacqueline |editor-last=Boucher |editor-first=Paul |year=2002 |title=Many Morphologies |location=Somerville, MA |publisher=Cascadilla Press |chapter=Gender “Polarity”: Theoretical Aspects of Somali Nominal Morphology |pages=109–141 [110, 121–122] |chapter-url=https://arcadia.sba.uniroma3.it/bitstream/2307/2759/1/Gender%20%27Polarity%27%20-%20Theoretical%20Aspects%20of%20Somali%20Nominal%20Morphology.pdf |access-date=2024-04-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403192819/https://arcadia.sba.uniroma3.it/bitstream/2307/2759/1/Gender%20%27Polarity%27%20-%20Theoretical%20Aspects%20of%20Somali%20Nominal%20Morphology.pdf |archive-date=2024-04-03 |isbn=978-1-57473-125-5 }}</ref> and [[Maasai language|Maasai]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Hieda |first=Osamu |editor-last=Hieda |editor-first=Osamu |year=2014 |title=Recent Advances in Nilotic Linguistics |series=Studies in Nilotic Linguistics, vol. 8 |url=https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/11619 |location=Fuchu, Tokyo |publisher=Research Institute for Languages and Culture of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies |chapter=Number in Nilotic: A Hypothetical Consideration from Historical Perspective |pages=15–32 [22, 22n11] |access-date=2024-04-03 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403030423/https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/11619/files/B156_SNL-8_Recent%20Advances%20in%20Nilotic%20Linguistics_web_1.pdf |archive-date=2024-04-03 |isbn=978-4-86337-156-9 }}</ref> some nouns may compose the plural with itself, to mean multiple different groups. This has been called the "plural of the plural", the plural plural, or the double plural.<ref name="Ojeda1992p319"/><ref name="Mathieu2014"/> An Arabic example is {{lang|ar-latn|kalb}}, dog (singular); {{lang|ar-latn|aklub}}, dogs (plural); and {{lang|ar-latn|akālib}}, groups of dogs (double plural).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ziadeh |first=Farhat J. |date=1986 |title=Prosody and the Initial Formation of Classical Arabic |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=333–338 [336] |doi=10.2307/601598 |jstor=601598 }}</ref> The Arabic double plural implies a minimum of nine items, or three groups of three each. Some Classical Arabic nouns may even compose the plural with itself yet again, to create the "plural plural plural" or triple plural, such as {{lang|ar-latn|firqat}}, sect (singular); {{lang|ar-latn|firaq}}, sects (plural); {{lang|ar-latn|ʔafrāq}}, groups of sects (double plural); and {{lang|ar-latn|ʔafārīq}}, groups of groups of sects (triple plural). The triple plural implies a minimum of 27 items.<ref name="Ojeda1992p321">{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [321–322] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }}</ref> According to the 15th century linguist and polymath [[al-Suyuti|Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti]], the Arabic word for male camel, {{lang|ar-latn|jamalun}}, may be cumulatively pluralized up to six times: {{lang|ar-latn|ʔajmulun}} (plural), {{lang|ar-latn|ʔajmālun}} (double plural), {{lang|ar-latn|jāmilun}} (triple plural), {{lang|ar-latn|jimālun}} (quadruple plural), {{lang|ar-latn|jimālatun}} (quintuple plural), and {{lang|ar-latn|jimālātun}} (sextuple plural).<ref name="Schub1982">{{cite journal |last=Schub |first=Michael B. |date=1982 |title=A Note on a Sextuple Plural in Arabic and More on Plurals of Paucity and Abundance |journal=Al-'Arabiyya |volume=15 |issue=1/2 |pages=153–155 [154] |jstor=43192546}}</ref>{{efn|Since the dual was a regular feature of Classical Arabic, a dual also exists for all of these examples: {{lang|ar-latn|kalbāni}} for two dogs,<ref>{{cite book |last=Abu-Chacra |first=Faruk |year=2007 |edition=1st |title=Arabic: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=72, 82 |doi=10.4324/9780203088814 |isbn=978-0-203-08881-4 }}</ref> {{lang|ar-latn|firqatāni}} for two sects,<ref>{{cite book |last=Marlow |first=L. |year=2016 |title=Counsel for Kings: Wisdom and Politics in Tenth-Century Iran |volume=1, The Naṣīḥat al-mulūk of Pseudo-Māwardī: Contexts and Themes |series=Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=85 |isbn=978-0-7486-9691-8 }}</ref> and {{lang|ar-latn|jamalāni}} for two camels.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cheerangote |first=Saidalavi |date=2018 |title=Contact-Induced Elements in Arabi-Malayalam |url=http://www.languageinindia.com/may2018/saidalaviarabimalayalamcontactinduced2.pdf |journal=Language in India |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=333–341 [335] |access-date=2024-04-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724095027/http://www.languageinindia.com/may2018/saidalaviarabimalayalamcontactinduced2.pdf |archive-date=2020-07-24 }}</ref> A more modern source lists {{lang|ar-latn|jimālun}} as the regular plural of {{lang|ar-latn|jamalun}} (instead of the quadruple plural), from which is formed an additional dual of the plural, {{lang|ar-latn|jimālāni}}, meaning two herds of male camels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ojeda |first=Almerindo E. |editor-last1=Barker |editor-first1=Chris |editor-link1=Chris Barker (linguist) |editor-last2=Dowty |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Dowty |year=1992 |title=SALT II: Proceedings from the Second Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory; Held at the Ohio State University, May 1-3, 1992 |chapter=The Semantics of Number in Arabic |series=Working Papers in Linguistics No. 40 |location=Columbus |publisher=The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics |pages=303–326 [322] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED352828/page/n315/mode/2up }}</ref>}}

===Conflated numbers===

Some number categories, formed from the combination of other existing categories, have only been attested as occurring secondarily alongside other grammatical number systems within a language. These have been called conflated numbers.<ref name="Corbett2000p121">{{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=121–124 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>

====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}}
|}

====Singular-dual-trial====

In the [[Tucanoan languages|Tucanoan language]] of [[Tuyuca language|Tuyuca]], inanimate classifiers (which attach to nouns) distinguish one to three versus more than three:<ref name="Corbett2000p123">{{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=123 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref><ref name="Barnes1990">{{cite book |last=Barnes |first=Janet |editor-last=Payne |editor-first=Doris L. |editor-link=Doris L. Payne |year=1990 |title=Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American Languages |chapter=Classifiers in Tuyuca |location=Austin, TX |publisher=University of Texas Press |pages=273–292 [274–275, 283] |isbn=978-0-292-72364-1 }}</ref>

*{{lang|tue|hoópór'''o'''}} - "banana(s)" (one to three)
*{{lang|tue|hoópór'''i'''}} - "bananas" (plural, four or more)

The related Tucanoan language of [[Wanano language|Wanano]] also has some nouns that function this way.<ref name="Waltz2002">{{cite journal |last=Waltz |first=Nathan E. |date=2002 |title=Innovations in Wanano (Eastern Tucanoan) When Compared to Piratapuyo |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=157–215 [189–190] |doi=10.1086/466485 |jstor=1265637 }}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Stenzel |first=Kristine Sue |year=2004 |title=A Reference Grammar of Wanano |url=https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese:stenzel-2004/stenzel_2004_wanano.pdf |pages=185–190 |publisher=University of Colorado |access-date=2024-03-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208130840/https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese:stenzel-2004/stenzel_2004_wanano.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-08 }}</ref>

The same number distinction is also seen in the verb for "climb" in [[Miriwoong language|Miriwoong]], an Australian language.<ref name="Bach2023"/>

====Singular-dual-trial-quadral====

In [[Wanano language| Piratapuyo]], closely related to Wanano, some nouns with inanimate classifiers distinguish between one and four versus more than four:<ref name="Waltz2002"/><ref name="Waltz2012">{{cite book |last=Waltz |first=Nathan E. |editor-last1=Jones |editor-first1=Paula Simmons |editor-last2=Waltz |editor-first2=Carolyn |year=2012 |title={{lang|es|Diccionario Bilingüe|cat=no}}: Piratapuyo-{{lang|es|Español, Español|cat=no}}-Piratapuyo |language=es |url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/21/32/05/21320596936256302259008409377610888646/pirdic1ed2012.pdf |location=Bogotá |publisher=Editorial Fundación para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Marginados |pages=141, 146 |access-date=2024-03-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313144838/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/21/32/05/21320596936256302259008409377610888646/pirdic1ed2012.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-13 |isbn=978-958-46-1598-5 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Balykova |first=Kristina |date=2021 |title=Quantificação e Individuação em Wa'ikhana |language=pt |url=https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/liames/article/view/8661280/26570 |journal=Liames: {{lang|pt|Línguas Indígenas Americanas|cat=no}} |volume=21 |pages=1–21 [16] |access-date=2024-03-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808100206/https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/liames/article/download/8661280/26570/99371 |archive-date=2022-08-08 |doi=10.20396/liames.v21i00.8661280 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

*{{lang|pir|pika}} - "finger(s)" (one to four)
*{{lang|pir|pika'''ri'''}} - "fingers" (plural, five or more)

====Singular-paucal====

[[Zuni language|Zuni]], similarly to Hopi, shows a singular-dual versus plural distinction in its verbs, and a plural noun with a nonplural verb indicates dual. However, the opposite combination, a nonplural noun with a plural verb, is also possible, and can be variably interpreted as one, two, or a few. Zuni nouns have thus been described as having a "singular-paucal" versus plural distinction.<ref name="Walker1966">{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=Willard |date=1966 |title=Inflectional Class and Taxonomic Structure in Zuni |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=217–227 [217, 217n3] |doi=10.1086/464906 |jstor=1263461 }}</ref><ref name="Harbour2020p87">{{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 [87–89] |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>

Some nouns in [[Navajo language|Navajo]] have also been described as working this way, such as:<ref>{{cite journal |last=Witherspoon |first=Gary J. |author-link=Gary Witherspoon |date=1971 |title=Navajo Categories of Objects at Rest |journal=American Anthropologist |series=N.s. |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=110–127 [112] |doi=10.1525/aa.1971.73.1.02a00090 |jstor=671816 }}</ref>

*{{lang|nv|kǫ}} - "fire(s)" (one or several)
*{{lang|nv|'''daa'''kǫ}} - "fires" (many)

Similarly, although Larike pronouns exhibit singular, dual, trial, and plural, they can only be used for human referents. For nonhuman referents, there are only two possible numbers, which are marked on the verb: a plural, and a "singular" that can be used to mean anywhere from one to a few.<ref name="Corbett2000p123"/>

====Nondual====

The nondual{{efn|Variously spelled as either nondual<ref>See:
*{{cite journal |last=Evans |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Evans (linguist) |date=2014 |title=Positional Verbs in Nen |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/14019/1/Evans%20Positional%20Verbs%20in%20Nen%202014.pdf |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=225–255 [228n†, 229, 229n10, 231–237, 233n17, 235n20] |doi=10.1353/ol.2014.0019 |hdl=1885/14019 |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724191507/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/14019/1/Evans%20Positional%20Verbs%20in%20Nen%202014.pdf |archive-date=2023-07-24 }}
*{{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 [60n1] |doi=10.1353/lan.2020.0002 |access-date=2024-03-15 |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 }}
*{{cite book |last=Siegel |first=Jeff |year=2023 |title=A Grammar of Nama: A Papuan Language of Southern New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics, vol. 668 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=122–125, 127–128, 133–134, 137, 139, 141–146, 148, 150–152, 155, 217, 238, 264, 295, 302–304, 302n51, 313–314, 316, 318 |isbn=978-3-11-107701-7 }}
</ref> or non-dual.<ref>See:
*{{cite book |author-last1=McDonald |author-first1=M. |author-last2=Wurm |author-first2=S. A. |author-link2=Stephen Wurm |year=1979 |title=Basic Materials in Waŋkumara (Gaḷali): Grammar, Sentences and Vocabulary |url=http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 65 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=18–19 |isbn=0-85883-202-X |access-date=2024-04-11 |archive-date=2020-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110025746/http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }}
*{{cite book |last=Siegl |first=Florian |year= |title=Materials on Forest Enets, an Indigenous Language of Northern Siberia |series=Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia / Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, 267 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Société Finno-Ougrienne |page=280 |isbn=978-952-5667-46-2 }}
*{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=Logan |editor-last1=Berez |editor-first1=Andrea L. |editor-link1=Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker |editor-last2=Mulder |editor-first2=Jean |editor-link2=Jean Mulder |editor-last3=Rosenblum |editor-first3=Daisy |year=2010 |title=Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |series=Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 2 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |pages=57–89 [68] |chapter=Noun Class and Number in Kiowa-Tanoan: Comparative-Historical Research and Respecting Speakers' Rights in Fieldwork |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315192418/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |archive-date=2024-03-15 |isbn=978-0-8248-3530-9 }}</ref>}} number means any number except two. For example, in [[Wilson River language|Wangkumara]]:<ref name="McDonald1979">{{cite book |author-last1=McDonald |author-first1=M. |author-last2=Wurm |author-first2=S. A. |author-link2=Stephen Wurm |year=1979 |title=Basic Materials in Waŋkumara (Gaḷali): Grammar, Sentences and Vocabulary |url=http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 65 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=16–19, 22, 24, 28, 67 |isbn=0-85883-202-X |access-date=2024-04-11 |archive-date=2020-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110025746/http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-B65.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

*{{lang|xwk|d̯it̯i}} - "dog(s)" (nondual, one or three or more than three)
*{{lang|xwk|d̯it̯i'''bula'''}} - "two dogs" (dual)

Wangkumara does not normally mark number directly on nouns. Instead, it distinguishes singular, dual, and plural using adnominal pronouns, plural-indicating adjectives like 'many', or marking on other adjectives. The exception is that nouns take the dual enclitic when referring to two. Thus for nouns alone, the only distinction is dual and nondual.<ref name="McDonald1979"/>

A more complex system can be found in the [[Tanoan languages]] of [[Kiowa language|Kiowa]] and [[Jemez language|Jemez]]. These languages have what is called an inverse number system. Although the languages distinguish between singular, dual, and plural, any given noun only has a single possible number marker. What number is implicit in an unmarked noun depends on its class. In Kiowa, by default, Class I nouns are singular-dual, Class II nouns are plural (two or more), Class III nouns are dual, and Class IV nouns are mass nouns with no number. The inverse number marker changes the noun to whatever number(s) the unmarked noun isn't, such as changing Class III nouns from dual to nondual.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=Logan |editor-last1=Berez |editor-first1=Andrea L. |editor-link1=Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker |editor-last2=Mulder |editor-first2=Jean |editor-link2=Jean Mulder |editor-last3=Rosenblum |editor-first3=Daisy |year=2010 |title=Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |series=Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 2 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |pages=57–89 [60] |chapter=Noun Class and Number in Kiowa-Tanoan: Comparative-Historical Research and Respecting Speakers' Rights in Fieldwork |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315192418/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |archive-date=2024-03-15 |isbn=978-0-8248-3530-9 }}</ref> In Jemez, Class III nouns are the opposite: they are inherently nondual, and get marked for dual.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=Logan |editor-last1=Berez |editor-first1=Andrea L. |editor-link1=Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker |editor-last2=Mulder |editor-first2=Jean |editor-link2=Jean Mulder |editor-last3=Rosenblum |editor-first3=Daisy |year=2010 |title=Fieldwork and Linguistic Analysis in Indigenous Languages of the Americas |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |series=Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 2 |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press |pages=57–89 [67–68] |chapter=Noun Class and Number in Kiowa-Tanoan: Comparative-Historical Research and Respecting Speakers' Rights in Fieldwork |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315192418/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/88057c69-25c4-499d-9a23-ab017f32d6b6/content |archive-date=2024-03-15 |isbn=978-0-8248-3530-9 }}</ref>

<div style=display:inline-grid>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Some Kiowa nouns<ref>{{cite book |last=Harbour |first=Daniel |editor-last1=Matushansky |editor-first1=Ora |editor-last2=Marantz |editor-first2=Alec |editor-link2=Alec Marantz |year=2013 |title=Distributed Morphology Today: Morphemes for Morris Halle |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=MIT Press |chapter="Not Plus" Isn't "Not There": Bivalence in Person, Number, and Gender |page=135–150 [142] |isbn=978-0-262-01967-5 }}</ref>
|-
! Class
! Noun
! Singular
! Dual
! Plural
|-
! I
! bug
| colspan=2 | {{lang|kio|pól}}
| {{lang|kio|pól'''dau'''}}
|-
! II
! stick
| {{lang|kio|áa'''dau'''}}
| colspan=2 | {{lang|kio|áa}}
|-
! rowspan=2 | III
! rowspan=2 | tomato
| style="border-style: solid none solid solid;" rowspan=2 | {{lang|kio|k’âun'''dau'''}}
| {{lang|kio|k’âun}}
| style="border-style: solid solid solid none;" rowspan=2 | {{lang|kio|k’âun'''dau'''}}
|-
| style="border-style: none none none none;" |
|-
! IV
! rock
| colspan=3 | {{lang|kio|ts’ów}}
|}
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</div>
<div style=display:inline-grid>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Some Jemez nouns<ref>{{cite book |last=Mithun |first=Marianne |author-link=Marianne Mithun |year=2006 |orig-year=1999 |title=The Languages of Native North America |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=81 |isbn=0-521-23228-7 }}</ref>
|-
! Class
! Noun
! Singular
! Dual
! Plural
|-
! I
! crow
| {{lang|tow|kyáá}}
| colspan=2 |{{lang|tow|kyáá'''sh'''}}
|-
! II
! bridge
| colspan=2 | {{lang|tow|wáákwe'''sh'''}}
| {{lang|tow|wáákwe}}
|-
! rowspan=2 | III
! rowspan=2 | flower
| style="border-style: solid none solid solid;" rowspan=2 | {{lang|tow|pá}}
| {{lang|kio|pá'''sh'''}}
| style="border-style: solid solid solid none;" rowspan=2 | {{lang|tow|pá}}
|-
| style="border-style: none none none none;" |
|-
! IV
! snow
| colspan=3 | {{lang|tow|zú}}
|}
</div>

The nondual versus dual distinction may also be found in verbs. [[Timbisha language|Timbisha]] has verbs with several different possible number distinctions, including nondual ones.<ref name="McLaughlin2018">{{cite journal |last=McLaughlin |first=John E. |date=2018 |title=Expanding to the Edges: Central Numic Dual Number |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1830&context=english_facpub |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=359–381 [370–371] |doi=10.1086/697587 |access-date=2024-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502044421/https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1830&context=english_facpub |archive-date=2022-05-02 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> A more minor example is [[Enets language|Forest Enets]], which has the nondual only in its intransitive third person imperative verbs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Siegl |first=Florian |year= |title=Materials on Forest Enets, an Indigenous Language of Northern Siberia |series=Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia / Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, 267 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Société Finno-Ougrienne |page=280 |isbn=978-952-5667-46-2 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Some Timbisha verbs
|-
! Verb
! Singular
! Dual
! Plural
|-
! "to emerge"
| {{lang|par|to’e}}
| {{lang|par|toto’e}}
| {{lang|par|kɨa}}
|-
! "to fall"
| {{lang|par|pahe}}
| colspan=2 | {{lang|par|pokoa}}
|-
! "to kill"
| colspan=2 | {{lang|par|pakka}}
| {{lang|par|wasɨ}}
|-
! rowspan=2 |"to go"
| style="border-style: solid none solid solid;" rowspan=2 | {{lang|par|mi’a}}
| {{lang|par|mimi’a}}
| style="border-style: solid solid solid none;" rowspan=2 | {{lang|par|mi’a}}
|-
| style="border-style: none none none none;" |
|}

The nondual violates a proposed universal of conflated systems, namely that they will always encompass every value except plural.<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=123–124 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref> Regardless, the nondual has still been referred to as a conflation of number values.<ref>{{cite book |last=Siegel |first=Jeff |year=2023 |title=A Grammar of Nama: A Papuan Language of Southern New Guinea |series=Pacific Linguistics, vol. 668 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |page=302 |isbn=978-3-11-107701-7 }}</ref>

===Numberless languages===

A small number of languages have no grammatical number at all, even in pronouns. A well known example is [[Pirahã language|Pirahã]]. [[Acehnese language|Acehnese]] comes close, but appears to have a singular/plural distinction only in the first person 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 |pages=50–51, 64–65 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Pirahã pronouns
|-
! First
| {{lang|myp|ti}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|myp|gíxai}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|myp|hiapióxio}}
|}

===Summary of number systems===

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible" style="text-align: center;"
|+ class="nowrap" | Grammatical number distinctions found in world languages
|-
! rowspan=2 | System
! rowspan=2 | Number of<br>distinctions
! colspan=3 | Example
|-
! Language
! Part(s) of speech
! Source
|-
| (Numberless)
| 1
| [[Pirahã language|Pirahã]]
| -
| <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=50–51 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>
|-
| Singular, plural
| 2
| [[English language|English]]
| Nouns, pronouns, verbs (3rd person)
| <ref name="Corbett2000p5"/>
|-
| General, singulative
| 2
| [[Sidama language|Sidama]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Kawachi2007"/>
|-
| General, plurative
| 2
| [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
| Nouns
| <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=13–14 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>
|-
| General, greater plural
| 2
| [[Burushaski]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Yoshioka2012"/>
|-
| Minimal, augmented
| 2
| [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Cysouw2003p87"/><ref name="Thomas1955"/>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Singular-dual, plural
| rowspan=2 | 2
| [[Kalaw Lagaw Ya]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Comrie1981"/>
|-
| [[Hopi language|Hopi]]
| Verbs
| <ref name="Corbett2000p169"/><ref name="Harbour2020p60"/>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Singular-paucal, plural
| rowspan=2 | 2
| [[Zuni language|Zuni]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Walker1966"/><ref name="Harbour2020p87"/>
|-
| [[Wakasihu language|Larike]]
| Verbs (non-human referents)
| <ref name="Corbett2000p123"/>
|-
| Singular-dual-trial, plural
| 2
| [[Tuyuca language|Tuyuca]]
| Nouns (inanimate)
| <ref name="Corbett2000p123"/><ref name="Barnes1990"/>
|-
| Singular-dual-trial-quadral, plural
| 2
| [[Wanano language| Piratapuyo]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Waltz2002"/><ref name="Waltz2012"/>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Nondual, dual
| rowspan=2 | 2
| [[Wilson River language|Wangkumara]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="McDonald1979"/>
|-
| [[Timbisha language|Timbisha]]
| Verbs (some)
| <ref name="McLaughlin2018"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, plural
| 3
| [[Alutiiq language|Alutiiq]]
| Nouns, pronouns, verbs
| <ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Counceller |author-first1= April {{lang|ems|Isiik|cat=no}} G. L. |author-last2=Chya |author-first2=Dehrich {{lang|ems|Isuwiq|cat=no}} |year=2023 |title=Kodiak Alutiiq Language Textbook |edition=1st |location=Kodiak, AK |publisher=Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository |pages=31–33, 35, 48–49, 54–61, 66–69, 86–87, 90–91, 116–117, 125–126, 131–132, 138–143, 145–146, 152–158, 167–169, 171, 192–193, 201 |url=https://alutiiqmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/KodiakAlutiiqLanguageTextbook_FINAL.pdf |access-date=2024-03-10 |archive-date=2024-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215163545/https://alutiiqmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/KodiakAlutiiqLanguageTextbook_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live |isbn=978-1-929650-25-5 }}</ref>
|-
| Singular, paucal, plural
| 3
| [[Mocoví language|Mocoví]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Corbett2017"/><ref name="Grondona1998"/>
|-
| Singular, plural, double plural
| 3
| [[Somali language|Somali]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Lecarme2002"/>
|-
| Singular, plural, greater plural
| 3
| [[Tswana language|Tswana]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref>{{cite book |last=Cole |first=Desmond T. |year=1955 |title=An Introduction to Tswana Grammar |location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co. |pages=79, 82 |isbn=0-582-61709-X }}</ref>
|-
| General, singulative, paucal
| 3
| [[Hamer language|Hamer]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Petrollino2016p72"/>
|-
| General, singulative, plurative
| 3
| [[Pular language|Pular]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Caudill2000"/>
|-
| General, dual, paucal
| 3
| [[Warlpiri language|Warlpiri]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Kashket1987"/>
|-
| General, dual, plurative
| 3
| [[Bambassi language|Bambassi]]
| Nouns
| <ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Ahland |first=Michael Bryan |year=2012 |title=A Grammar of Northern Mao (Màwés Aas'è) |url=https://cla.csulb.edu/departments/linguistics/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Ahland-2012.pdf |pages=195–199 |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=2024-03-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105044056/https://cla.csulb.edu/departments/linguistics/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Ahland-2012.pdf |archive-date=2023-11-05 }}</ref>
|-
| Minimal, unit augmented, augmented
| 3
| [[Bininj Kunwok]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Evans2003"/>
|-
| Minimal, paucal, plural
| 3
| [[Kayapo language|Kayapo]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Harbour2006"/><ref name="Harbour2014p214"/>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Singular, dual, trial, plural
| rowspan=2 | 4
| [[Kiwai language|Urama]]
| Nouns, pronouns
| <ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Brown |author-first1=Jason |author-last2=Muir |author-first2=Alex |author-last3=Craig |author-first3=Kimberley |author-last4=Anea |author-first4=Karika |year=2016 |title=A Short Grammar of Urama |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |series=Asia-Pacific Linguistics 32 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=20, 24–25 |isbn=978-1-922185-22-8 |access-date=2024-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107232500/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/111328/3/BrownEtAl-2016-UramaGrammar.pdf |archive-date=2024-01-07 }}</ref>
|-
| [[Lenakel language|Lenakel]]
| Verbs, pronouns
| <ref>{{cite book |author-last=Lynch |author-first=John |author-link=John Lynch (linguist) |year=1978 |title=A Grammar of Lenakel |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146494/1/PL-B55.pdf |series=Pacific Linguistics, Series B - No. 55 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=24–25, 55–58 |access-date=2024-03-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013104723/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146494/1/PL-B55.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-13 |isbn=0-85883-166-X }}</ref>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Singular, dual, paucal, plural
| rowspan=2 | 4
| [[Siwai language|Motuna]]
| Nouns
| <ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Onishi |first=Masayuki |year=1994 |title=A Grammar of Motuna (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea) |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/12476 |pages=71–73 |publisher=Australian National University |access-date=2024-01-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211105936/https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/12476/1/Onishi%20M%20Thesis%201994.pdf |archive-date=2023-12-11 }}</ref>
|-
| [[Yimas language|Yimas]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Corbett2000p92"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, plural, dual + plural (4+)
| 4
| [[Breton language|Breton]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Corbett2000p36"/><ref name="Acquaviva2008"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, plural, plural + dual (6+)
| 4
| [[Classical Arabic]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Ojeda1992p322"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, plural, double plural
| 4
| [[Classical Arabic]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Ojeda1992p319"/><ref name="Mathieu2014"/>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Singular, dual, plural, greater plural
| rowspan=2 | 4
| [[Barngarla language|Barngarla]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Zuckermann2020"/>
|-
| [[Mokilese language|Mokilese]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Corbettp34"/>
|-
| Singular, paucal, plural, greater plural
| 4
| [[Havasupai–Hualapai language|Hualapai]]
| Verbs (some)
| <ref name="Baerman2019"/>
|-
| rowspan=2 | Singular, plural, greater plural, greatest plural
| rowspan=2 | 4
| [[Warekena language|Warekena]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Harbour2014p202"/><ref name="Aikhenvald2015"/>
|-
| [[Daatsʼiin language|Daatsʼiin]]
| Verbs (some cases)
| <ref name="Ahland2016"/>
|-
| General, singulative, paucal, and plurative
| 4
| [[Baiso language|Baiso]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Corbett2000Baiso"/>
|-
| General, singulative, paucal, greater plural
| 4
| [[Hamer language|Hamer]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Petrollino2000p80"/>
|-
| General, dual, trial, plurative
| 4
| [[Arabana language|Arabana]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Hercus1994"/>
|-
| General, dual, plurative, greater plural
| 4
| [[Kaytetye language|Kaytetye]]
| Nouns
| <ref name="Corbett2000Kaytetye"/><ref name="Turpin2000"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, quadral*, plural
| 5
| [[Russian Sign Language]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Kimmelman2022"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, paucal, plural
| 5
| [[Mussau-Emira language|Mussau]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Ross2011"/><ref name="Brownie2007"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, paucal, greater paucal, plural
| 5
| [[Sursurunga language|Sursurunga]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Corbett2000p26"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, paucal, plural, greater plural
| 5
| [[Mele-Fila language|Mele-Fila]]
| Pronoun/article combinations
| <ref name="Corbettp35"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, plural, double plural, triple plural
| 5
| [[Classical Arabic]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Ojeda1992p321"/>
|-
| General, singulative, dual, plurative, greater plural
| 5
| [[Damascus Arabic]]
| Nouns (some)
| <ref name="Corbett2000p32"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, quadral*, quintal*, plural
| 6
| [[Levantine Arabic Sign Language]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Versteegh2009"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, quadral*/paucal,<br>plural (5+), plural (2+)
| 6
| [[Marshallese language|Marshallese]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Bender2016"/><ref name="Cowper2022"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, quadral*, quintal*,<br>[six referents]*, plural
| 7
| [[Ugandan Sign Language]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Lutalo2014"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, plural, double plural, triple plural,<br>quadruple plural, quintuple plural, sextuple plural
| 8
| [[Classical Arabic]] (15th century)
| The word for camel
| <ref name="Schub1982"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, quadral*, quintal*,<br>[six referents]*, ... [nine referents]*, plural
| 10
| [[American Sign Language]]
| Pronouns (some speakers)
| <ref name="Jones2013"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, quadral*, quintal*,<br>[six referents]*, ... [ten referents]*, plural
| 11
| [[Israeli Sign Language]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Meir2008"/>
|-
| Singular, dual, trial, ... plural
| ?<sup>†</sup>
|[[Bislama]]
| Pronouns
| <ref name="Tryon1987"/>
|-
|align="left" colspan="5" style="font-size: 9pt"| *Category's existence has been debated<br><sup>†</sup>No exact limit
|}