Editing Grammatical number (section)

===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>