Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with the category of number in Latin, specifically with the different meanings of the plural with verbal nouns. In the first section, I establish a reference framework on the concept of number, and in particular the so-called “number anomalies”. The second part of the paper addresses the functional complexity of the category of number itself, so it presents and exemplifies the four different meanings of plural forms with verbal nouns and explains them in light of the concepts of prototype and recategorization. The third section aims to identify the factors yielding a determined plural reading; in this way, I explain the connection between some meanings of the plural and the types of events that verbal nouns describe. Lastly, in the final section, I discuss the main results of this study.

Highlights

  • Latin presents a number system based on the opposition singular versus plural, where singular expresses “one” and plural designates “more than one”

  • The principal conclusions drawn by this study are as follows: 1. There are at least four types of interpretation for the category of number with verbal nouns: reference to different entities, iteration meaning, ‘sorts of’ meaning, and intensification

  • The interpretation of the plural as referring to different entities is reserved for verbal nouns that denote the result or effect of the event expressed by the base verb or that assume the reference of an entity or of a particular event associated with this verb

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Summary

Introduction

Latin presents a number system based on the opposition singular versus plural, where singular expresses “one” and plural designates “more than one”. The majority of these works take into account the typology of nouns (collective nouns, mass nouns, abstract nouns, etc.) in order to explain some of the particular meanings that the opposition singular/plural assumes in Latin. This is how examples such as (1)–(3) are explained:. In order to extend the results of this study, this corpus has been amplified through examples extracted from other works dating from the period under scrutiny (archaic and classical Latin).

Meaning of the plural with verbal nouns
Factors that determine how the plural is interpreted
Conclusions
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