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

}}

UNL

In UNL, number is to be represented by attributes, if marked. Then:

• person = person or person.@singular
• persons = person.@pl
• people = people (number lexicalized)

Number attributes

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

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

}}

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