Dual grammatical number: Encyclopedia II - Dual grammatical number - Dual form in Indo-European languages

Dual grammatical number - Dual form in Indo-European languages

From comparisons of existing and recorded languages, linguists have concluded that the Proto-Indo-European language had dual forms. This use was preserved in the earliest records of Indo-European languages. This is best represented in Sanskrit, with a mandatory dual number for all inflected categories: nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns. The Ancient Greek language used in the Homeric texts, the Iliad and Odyssey, likewise had dual forms for all inflected categories, although their use was only sporadic. Old Church Slavonic and Proto-Slavic (the ancestor of the Slavic languages) had dual forms, as did Old Irish and Avestan. (Sanskrit and the Slavic languages agree in showing only three dual forms for nouns: nominative-accusative-vocative, dative-ablative-instrumental, and genitive-locative. Greek has only two forms, and Old Irish only one. Avestan has a genitive dual separate from the locative, but this may not go back to Proto-Indo-European.)

The dual form was present in the early Germanic languages. Gothic had first- and second-person dual marking on verbs and pronouns; Old English, Old Norse and other old Germanic languages had dual marking only on first- and second-person pronouns. The dual has disappeared from all modern Germanic languages -- although only quite recently in North Frisian¹. Interestingly, the old dual pronouns have become the standard plural pronouns in Icelandic.

Early Celtic languages show dual forms, and in modern Scottish Gaelic dual forms of nouns are required following the numeral 'dà' ("two"). However, when no numeral is present the plural form is used. In the case of masculine nouns, the dual form is identical with that of the singular, however in conservative usage some feminine nouns have a distinct dual form. Example: with a masc. noun - 'dà chù' "two dogs" (sg. 'cù') vs 'trì coin[pl]' "three dogs"; with a fem. noun - 'dà làimh' "two hands" (sg. 'làmh') vs. 'trì làmhan[pl]'.

Among Indo-European languages of the present day, the dual form endured for relatively long in the Slavic languages. Slovenian uses the dual number in full (although it tends to disappear in informal speech among young people), and Sorbian, the Slavic language of a very small minority in Germany, also uses the dual number. Among the Baltic languages, the dual form existed but is now obsolete in standard Lithuanian, being used in poetic contexts and some dialects.

Dual grammatical number - Dual form in Slavic languages

Every Slavic language has retained lexical remnants of the dual. The old plural of "oko", eye, was "očesa". In almost every language in which the Dual has disappeared, "očesa" has disappeared along with it, and the form "oči" has predominated. (Slovene "očesa" pushed out "oči" instead, becoming the proper dual (and plural) of "oko"). About the same holds for "uho" ("ear"). In Bulgarian and Macedonian, "rące" and "noze" have become the regular plurals for old nouns "hands" ("arms") and "feet" ("legs").

Official Czech also has few remnants of dual: certain body parts in instrumental and genitive (and the modifying adjectives) require the dual, e.g., "se svýma očima" (inst. dual with one's own eyes) and "u nohou "(gen. dual at the feet). However, it has lost its numerical meaning: it is used for these bodyparts regardless of their number ("skladba pro čtyři ruce" (composition for four hands)) and the plural is used for figurative meanings ("hrnec s dvěma uchama" (pot with two ears=handles)). Colloquial Czech substitutes the instrumental dual for the instrumental plural. Thus, while "s kamarády" (with friends) would be grammatically correct, this, in colloquial Czech, is rendered "s kamarádama", which reflects the form of the dual. The dual in old czech was more extensive, and included such things as pronouns (onĕ - they for two females).

Polish had dual in normal use in its earliest forms. Today only some objects that come in pairs like "two hands", "two eyes" (but not "two ears" or "two legs") use it in some inflected forms -- both plural and "fossilised" dual form for them is correct:

• hands: nominative ręce, instrumental rękami (plural), rękoma (dual)
• eyes: nominative oczy, instrumental oczami (plural), oczyma (dual)

Serbian and Croatian have generalized old dual instrumental case endings in nouns and pronouns for a number of cases in the plural, but in some cases, the dual form remained distinctive from plural. Dual form has been retained in nouns that appear together with numbers: two, three and four and with the word "both".

Nominative case of noun "horse":

Croatian:

• singular: 1 konj
• dual: 2,3,4 konja
• plural: konji

Serbian:

• singular: 1 konj
• dual: 2,3,4 konja
• plural: konji

(Numbers above 4 take plural genitive: 5 konja)

As already stated, Slovene (a.k.a. Slovenian) uses dual in full, (except for natural pairs). This may be explained by the fact that Slovene as a formalised language is relatively new and the geographical situation of Slovenia (greatly mountainous) favored a strong inertia. For some declensions (like genitive), the dual form merges with the plural form. The presence of such a number doesn't invalidate the existence of the pronoun both (obe or osebe).

Dual is one of the most distinctive feature of Slovene language and a mark of recognition, and is often noticed in touristic brochures. Some explanations (the both of us example) tend to make dual as a mark of closeness, while really by itself it has nothing to do with closeness, just with numbering (consider the intimacy of two cars…), although, of course, context may depict such a “real” closeness.

Slovene courses for foreigners tend to dismiss or, at least, delay the learning, of the dual number, further encouraging its “segregation”.

Nominative case of noun "city":

singular: 1 mesto dual: 2 mesti plural: 3-4 mesta, 5+ mest

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dual form in Indo-European languages", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki