{"history":[],"article":{"id":"234c0973-95c3-45b6-ae01-12a5d166dfc1","title":"Romance plurals","slug":"romance-plurals","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \n**The [plurals](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-number) of the [Romance languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/romance-languages)**, and their [historical](https://bliptext.com/articles/historical-linguistics) origin and development, are an important area of study in [comparative](https://bliptext.com/articles/comparative-linguistics) and [historical](https://bliptext.com/articles/historical-linguistics) [Romance linguistics](https://bliptext.com/articles/romance-linguistics).\nThere are two general categories that Romance languages fall into based on the way they form plurals.\nLanguages of the first category, belonging to [Western Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-romance), generally employ a plural [suffix](https://bliptext.com/articles/suffix) morpheme **-s**.\nLanguages of the second category, belonging to [Italo-Dalmatian](https://bliptext.com/articles/italo-dalmatian-languages) and [Eastern Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-romance-languages), form the plural by changing the final vowel of the singular form, or suffixing a new vowel to it.\nThere are various hypotheses about how these systems—especially the second—emerged historically from the [declension](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension) patterns of [Vulgar Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/vulgar-latin), and this remains an area of much debate and controversy amongst scholars of Romance.\n\n# Two types of plural marking\nRomance languages can be broadly divided into two broad groups based on the historical trajectory that the pluralization of nouns, articles, and adjectives took.\nIn the first group, consisting of the Romance languages north or west of the [La Spezia–Rimini Line](https://bliptext.com/articles/la-spezia-rimini-line) (i.e. [Western Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-romance)), plurals are generally formed by the addition of the plural suffix (or a closely related sound e.g. ). For example, in [Spanish](https://bliptext.com/articles/spanish-language):\nIn a few of these languages, such as modern spoken [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language) and the [Western Lombard](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-lombard) varieties, the plural was historically formed this way, but further [sound changes](https://bliptext.com/articles/sound-change) resulted in the [elision](https://bliptext.com/articles/elision) of this final for most or all nouns, adjectives, and/or articles (though in [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language) it is preserved in the [orthography](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-orthography) and in speech may resurface in some contexts in [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language); see [liaison](https://bliptext.com/articles/liaison-french)).\nIn these languages, plural nouns may sometimes be distinguished by the form of articles, but not because they have an (e.g. [Milanese](https://bliptext.com/articles/milanese-language) el can/i can ).\nThe second group, consisting of the Romance languages south or east of the La Spezia–Rimini Line (i.e. [Italo-Dalmatian](https://bliptext.com/articles/italo-dalmatian-languages) and [Eastern Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-romance-languages)), involves changing (or adding) the final vowel; for example:\n\n# Latin\nThe following table illustrates the singular and plural forms of the [first](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-declension), [second](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-declension), and [third](https://bliptext.com/articles/third-declension) [declensions](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension) in [Classical Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/classical-latin).\nThe corresponding [Proto-Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-romance) forms are shown below:\n\n# Origin of plural -s\nThe plural form**s** in -**s** in language**s** like Spani**s**h (for example, buena**s** madre**s** \"good mother**s**\", bueno**s**** hombre****s** \"good men\") can be **s**traightforwardly explained a**s** de**s**cendant**s** of Latin accu**s**ative form**s** in -a**s**, -o**s** and -e**s**.\nOn the other hand, 3rd declension nouns and adjectives have -es in both nominative and accusative, however, so the -s plural for these words could derive from either case form.\nThere is also evidence that Vulgar Latin may have preserved the nominative plural ending -as in the 1st declension, attested in [Old Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-latin) and replaced by -ae in literary Classical Latin.\nThe Romance varieties that maintained the distinction between nominative and accusative cases in the medieval period ([Old French](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-french), [Old Occitan](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-occitan), Old Sursilvan) have forms in -s for both nominative and accusative plurals of feminine nouns of the first declension.\n\n# Origin of vocalic plurals\nThere is debate over the origin of the plurals of Italian and Romanian, with some claiming that they derive from the Latin nominative endings -Ī -AE and others that they partly derive from the Latin accusative endings.\nThe Italian endings are -i (for nouns in -o, -e and masculine nouns in general), and -e (for feminine nouns in -a); the few remnants of the Latin neuter nouns in -um can take -a for the plural.\nThe nominative theory suggests that -i as the plural of nouns in -o and -e as the plural of nouns in -a are derived straightforwardly from nominative -Ī and -AE, respectively (it is known that AE > e in all Romance languages), and that the plural -i for nouns in -e is derived by analogy with the plural of nouns in -o.\n(The corresponding nominative form in Latin is -ĒS. With the loss of final /s/, singular and plural would both have -e, which is problematic and was rectified by borrowing -i.)\nThe accusative theory proposes that Italian -e derives from -as.\nOne piece of evidence is that in Italian, masculine amico has plural amici with (the expected palatal outcome before -Ī), but feminine amica has plural amiche, with that is unexpected if e < -AE, but expected if e < -ĀS.\n(The change AE > e occurred long before palatalization, hence is expected here too. It is unlikely that this unusual distribution is due to analogy; if so, either or would be expected in both plural forms.) Additionally, [Old French](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-french) feminine plurals end in -es in both the nominative and the oblique (accusative); this may be evidence in favour of a more general Proto-Romance replacement of -AE by -ĀS.\nAdditionally, the isolated Italian word dunque 'thus' corresponds to Sardinian duncas.\nNeither word can be derived from Latin DUMQUAM, and the isolated nature of the word means that analogical change is unlikely.\nSardinian duncas suggests Proto-Romance *DUNQUAS, with dunque the expected outcome (even down to the unusual qu preceding e) if -AS > e.\nThe \"accusative\" theory essentially suggests:\nThe first of these changes is almost certain, given examples like tu stai 'you stand' < TŪ STĀS; Italian crai 'tomorrow' (archaic, literary or regional) < CRĀS; tu sei 'you are' < TŪ *SES; sei 'six' < SEX (probably Proto-Italian *sess).\nNote also noi 'we' < NŌS, voi 'you ([pl.](https://bliptext.com/articles/plural))' <.\nThe second sound change is cross-linguistically extremely common.\nFurthermore, it explains a number of otherwise unexplainable forms in Italian:\nIndicative tu ami 'you love' < TŪ AMĀS is unexpected; we would expect *tu ame.\nHowever, tu ame is in fact attested in Old Tuscan.\nIn this case, it appears that -i was generalized as the universal tu ending at the expense of -e.\n(Note the even more striking generalization of first plural -iamo, originally only the subjunctive form of -ere and -ire verbs.)","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T06:57:23.139Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T06:57:23.139Z","search_vector":"'plural':2 'romanc':1","search_content":" \n \n\n# \n**The [plurals](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-number) of the [Romance languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/romance-languages)**, and their [historical](https://bliptext.com/articles/historical-linguistics) origin and development, are an important area of study in [comparative](https://bliptext.com/articles/comparative-linguistics) and [historical](https://bliptext.com/articles/historical-linguistics) [Romance linguistics](https://bliptext.com/articles/romance-linguistics).\nThere are two general categories that Romance languages fall into based on the way they form plurals.\nLanguages of the first category, belonging to [Western Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-romance), generally employ a plural [suffix](https://bliptext.com/articles/suffix) morpheme **-s**.\nLanguages of the second category, belonging to [Italo-Dalmatian](https://bliptext.com/articles/italo-dalmatian-languages) and [Eastern Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-romance-languages), form the plural by changing the final vowel of the singular form, or suffixing a new vowel to it.\nThere are various hypotheses about how these systems—especially the second—emerged historically from the [declension](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension) patterns of [Vulgar Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/vulgar-latin), and this remains an area of much debate and controversy amongst scholars of Romance.\n\n# Two types of plural marking\nRomance languages can be broadly divided into two broad groups based on the historical trajectory that the pluralization of nouns, articles, and adjectives took.\nIn the first group, consisting of the Romance languages north or west of the [La Spezia–Rimini Line](https://bliptext.com/articles/la-spezia-rimini-line) (i.e. [Western Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-romance)), plurals are generally formed by the addition of the plural suffix (or a closely related sound e.g. ). For example, in [Spanish](https://bliptext.com/articles/spanish-language):\nIn a few of these languages, such as modern spoken [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language) and the [Western Lombard](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-lombard) varieties, the plural was historically formed this way, but further [sound changes](https://bliptext.com/articles/sound-change) resulted in the [elision](https://bliptext.com/articles/elision) of this final for most or all nouns, adjectives, and/or articles (though in [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language) it is preserved in the [orthography](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-orthography) and in speech may resurface in some contexts in [French](https://bliptext.com/articles/french-language); see [liaison](https://bliptext.com/articles/liaison-french)).\nIn these languages, plural nouns may sometimes be distinguished by the form of articles, but not because they have an (e.g. [Milanese](https://bliptext.com/articles/milanese-language) el can/i can ).\nThe second group, consisting of the Romance languages south or east of the La Spezia–Rimini Line (i.e. [Italo-Dalmatian](https://bliptext.com/articles/italo-dalmatian-languages) and [Eastern Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-romance-languages)), involves changing (or adding) the final vowel; for example:\n\n# Latin\nThe following table illustrates the singular and plural forms of the [first](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-declension), [second](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-declension), and [third](https://bliptext.com/articles/third-declension) [declensions](https://bliptext.com/articles/declension) in [Classical Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/classical-latin).\nThe corresponding [Proto-Romance](https://bliptext.com/articles/proto-romance) forms are shown below:\n\n# Origin of plural -s\nThe plural form**s** in -**s** in language**s** like Spani**s**h (for example, buena**s** madre**s** \"good mother**s**\", bueno**s**** hombre****s** \"good men\") can be **s**traightforwardly explained a**s** de**s**cendant**s** of Latin accu**s**ative form**s** in -a**s**, -o**s** and -e**s**.\nOn the other hand, 3rd declension nouns and adjectives have -es in both nominative and accusative, however, so the -s plural for these words could derive from either case form.\nThere is also evidence that Vulgar Latin may have preserved the nominative plural ending -as in the 1st declension, attested in [Old Latin](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-latin) and replaced by -ae in literary Classical Latin.\nThe Romance varieties that maintained the distinction between nominative and accusative cases in the medieval period ([Old French](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-french), [Old Occitan](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-occitan), Old Sursilvan) have forms in -s for both nominative and accusative plurals of feminine nouns of the first declension.\n\n# Origin of vocalic plurals\nThere is debate over the origin of the plurals of Italian and Romanian, with some claiming that they derive from the Latin nominative endings -Ī -AE and others that they partly derive from the Latin accusative endings.\nThe Italian endings are -i (for nouns in -o, -e and masculine nouns in general), and -e (for feminine nouns in -a); the few remnants of the Latin neuter nouns in -um can take -a for the plural.\nThe nominative theory suggests that -i as the plural of nouns in -o and -e as the plural of nouns in -a are derived straightforwardly from nominative -Ī and -AE, respectively (it is known that AE > e in all Romance languages), and that the plural -i for nouns in -e is derived by analogy with the plural of nouns in -o.\n(The corresponding nominative form in Latin is -ĒS. With the loss of final /s/, singular and plural would both have -e, which is problematic and was rectified by borrowing -i.)\nThe accusative theory proposes that Italian -e derives from -as.\nOne piece of evidence is that in Italian, masculine amico has plural amici with (the expected palatal outcome before -Ī), but feminine amica has plural amiche, with that is unexpected if e e occurred long before palatalization, hence is expected here too. It is unlikely that this unusual distribution is due to analogy; if so, either or would be expected in both plural forms.) Additionally, [Old French](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-french) feminine plurals end in -es in both the nominative and the oblique (accusative); this may be evidence in favour of a more general Proto-Romance replacement of -AE by -ĀS.\nAdditionally, the isolated Italian word dunque 'thus' corresponds to Sardinian duncas.\nNeither word can be derived from Latin DUMQUAM, and the isolated nature of the word means that analogical change is unlikely.\nSardinian duncas suggests Proto-Romance *DUNQUAS, with dunque the expected outcome (even down to the unusual qu preceding e) if -AS > e.\nThe \"accusative\" theory essentially suggests:\nThe first of these changes is almost certain, given examples like tu stai 'you stand' < TŪ STĀS; Italian crai 'tomorrow' (archaic, literary or regional) < CRĀS; tu sei 'you are' < TŪ *SES; sei 'six' < SEX (probably Proto-Italian *sess).\nNote also noi 'we' < NŌS, voi 'you ([pl.](https://bliptext.com/articles/plural))' <.\nThe second sound change is cross-linguistically extremely common.\nFurthermore, it explains a number of otherwise unexplainable forms in Italian:\nIndicative tu ami 'you love' < TŪ AMĀS is unexpected; we would expect *tu ame.\nHowever, tu ame is in fact attested in Old Tuscan.\nIn this case, it appears that -i was generalized as the universal tu ending at the expense of -e.\n(Note the even more striking generalization of first plural -iamo, originally only the subjunctive form of -ere and -ire verbs.)","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History