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Singulative number
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===Other languages=== Singulatives are featured in some [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] languages.<ref name=s47/> In [[Arabic grammar]], the singulative is called {{lang|ar|اسم الوحدة}}, "noun of unity". It is formed by the suffixes: # {{lang|ar|ة}} -''a(t)'', applies to animals, plants, and inanimate objects<ref>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=William |author1-link=William Wright (orientalist) |title=''A Grammar of the Arabic language'' |volume=2 |year=1862 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=1-84356-028-3 |page=147}}</ref> # {{lang|ar|ي}} -''ī'', applies to sentient beings {{columns-start}} {| {{table}} |+ suffix {{lang|ar|ة}} -''a(t)'' ! collective ! singulative |- | {{lang|ar|قمح}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|qamḥ}}<br> "wheat" | {{lang|ar|قمحة}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|qamḥa(t)}}<br> "a grain of wheat" |- | {{lang|ar|شجر}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|shajar}}<br> "trees" | {{lang|ar|شجرة}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|shajara(t)}}<br> "a tree" |- | {{lang|ar|بقر}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|baqar}}<br> "cattle" | {{lang|ar|بقرة}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|baqara(t)}}<br> "a cow" |} {{column}} {| {{table}} |+ suffix {{lang|ar|ي}} -''ī'' ! collective ! singulative |- | {{lang|ar|جن}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|[[jinn]]}} | {{lang|ar|جني}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|jinnī}} |- | {{lang|ar|زنج}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|zinj}}<br>"black African people" | {{lang|ar|زنجى}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|zinjī}}<br>"a black African person" |} {{columns-end}} In some cases, the singulative has a further plural indicating a collection of the singular units, which may be [[broken plural|broken]] or regular. {| {{table}} ! [[broken plural|broken]] | {{lang|ar|جند}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|jund}}<br> 'army' | {{lang|ar|جندي}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|jundī}}<br> 'a soldier' | {{lang|ar|جنود}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|junūd}}<br> 'soldiers' |- ! regular | {{lang|ar|عسكر}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|`askar}}<br> 'army, military' | {{lang|ar|عسكري}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|`askarī}}<br> 'a soldier, private, or enlisted man' | {{lang|ar|عسكريون}} {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ar|`askarīyūn}}<br> 'soldiers, privates, enlisted men' |} In [[East Slavic languages]], which are basically of singular–plural system, the singular suffix -ин- ('-in-', Russian, '-yn-', Ukrainian), resp. '-ін-' ('-in-', Belarusian) performs the singulative function for collective nouns.<ref name=s47>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VwY-4QzbtmIC&pg=PA47 p 47]</ref> {| {{table}} ! ! collective ! singulative |- ! Russian | {{wikt-lang|ru|горох}}, {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ru|gorokh}} <br>"[[pea]]s in mass" | {{wikt-lang|ru|горошина}}, {{ns}} {{Transliteration|ru|goroshina}} <br>"a single pea" |- ! Ukrainian | {{wikt-lang|uk|пісок}}, {{ns}} {{Transliteration|uk|pisok}} <br>"[[sand]]" | {{wikt-lang|uk|піщина}}, {{ns}} {{Transliteration|uk|pischyna}} <br>"grain of sand"<ref name=s47/> |- ! Belarusian | {{wikt-lang|be|бульба}}, {{ns}} {{Transliteration|be|buĺba}} <br>"[[potato]]es in mass", e.g. as a crop or as a species | {{wikt-lang|be|бульбіна}}, {{ns}} {{Transliteration|be|buĺbina}} <br>"one potato [[tuber]]" |} Notice the affix '-a' in all these examples, which indicates the feminine form. Notice also that plural forms may be derived from these singulatives in a regular way: ''goroshina''->''goroshiny'' (several peas), etc. In both East Slavic and Arabic, the singulative form always takes on the feminine [[Grammatical gender|gender]].{{Clarify|reason=Already the example زنجى ''zinjī'' 'a black African person' given above is a counterexample.|date=June 2012}} {{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} Singulative markers are found throughout the [[Nilo-Saharan languages]]. [[Majang language|Majang]], for example, has: {{interlinear|indent=2|c1=(Bender 1983:124)|ŋɛɛti → ŋɛɛti-n|lice.COL {} louse.SGV|}} In Dutch, singulative forms of collective nouns are occasionally made by diminutives: {{interlinear|indent=2|snoep → snoepje|{"sweets, candy"} {} {"sweet, piece of candy"}|}} These singulatives can be pluralized like most other nouns: ''snoepjes'' "several sweets, pieces of candy".{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}
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