Number

Number is a category that typically corresponds to the actual quantity of the referents of a given noun.

Natural Language

In natural languages, number may be realised by grammatical affixes (such as "s" for plural, in English) or by quantifiers (such as "a couple of", "many", etc).
In the UNLarium framework, the grammatical category of number may assume the following values:

{{#tree:id=tagset|openlevels=0|root=Number (NUM)|

• singular (SNG)
  • One member of a class.
• plural (PLR)
  • More than one member of a class.
  • dual (DUA)
    • Two members of a class.
  • trial (TRI)
    • Three members of a class.
  • quadrual (QDR)
    • Four members of a class.
  • paucal (PAU)
    • Few members of a class.
  • multal (MUL)
    • Many members of a class.
• invariant (INV)
  • The word is invariant, i.e., has a single form used both in singular and plural.

}}

The number plural (PLR) subsumes more specific number values and should be used when there is no particular information on the quantity of the reference.

UNL

In UNL, number is to be represented by attributes, if marked. The number attribute values are the following:

{{#tree:id=number|openlevels=0|root=Number|

• @singular (default)
• @pl
  • @dual
  • @trial
  • @quadrual
  • @paucal
  • @multal

}}

@singular is the default number value and may be omitted.

book = book (or book.@singular)

number, when lexicalized, should be omitted.

glasses = glasses (and not glasses.@pl)

Examples

@singular

book = book or book.@singular

@pl (plural)

books = book.@pl

children = child.@pl

livres = livre.@pl

@paucal (some)

a few books = book.@paucal

some books = book.@paucal

@multal (many)

many books = book.@multal

several books = book.@multal