Grammatical number

Number, in linguistics, is a grammatical category used to express the quantity of objects referred to by a noun.

Related Topics:
Linguistics - Grammatical - Noun

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According to this definition, noun is inherently expressed in nouns and pronouns, and secondarily, via agreement, in adjectives and verbs.

Related Topics:
Pronoun - Agreement - Adjective - Verb

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The term number is also used to describe the distinction between certain grammatical aspects that indicate the number of times an event occurs (e.g. semelfactive aspect, iterative aspect, etc.). For that use, see Grammatical aspect.

Related Topics:
Grammatical aspect - Semelfactive aspect - Iterative aspect

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Most languages of the world have formal means to express differences of number. The most extended distinction, as found in English and many other languages, involves a simple two-way number contrast between singular and plural (car / cars; child / children, etc.). Other more elaborate systems of number are described below.

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There is a minor group of languages that express quantity only by lexical means, in such a way that we can say that they lack a category of number. For instance, in Khmer, neither nouns nor verbs carry any grammatical information concerning number: such information must be conveyed by lexical items such as khlah 'some', pii-bey 'a few', and so on.

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