I've been wondering about numbers, lately, too. My ideas didn't considered
nullar; my thoughts were more linked to marked-ness of numbers. Greenberg
says that the singular number is the less marked, while the plural, the dual
and the paucal are more marked. This happens almost everywhere - well, to
tell the truth, in Lombard dialects the singular form of female nouns in -a
is the marked one... but this is due to sound change (pR CLESIA > gesa,
CLESIAS/CLESIAE > gees).

But if, in a language as Chinese, i.e., where there is no sing-pl
distinction, the numeral 'one' begins to be suffixed to nouns to mark their
sing. form we'd have a marked sing. versus an unmarked plur. Here's an
exemple with a Chinese-like made up numeral (don't remember the word for
'one'):

yün = one
ren = man

renyün = man    versus    ren = men

What do you think?

Luca



> Thanks a lot, that clears a lot up.
>
> I was pondering for my language and had an interesting idea... All
> the languages which I know use Singular and Plural. What if we used
> another number, zero. Zero you ask? Right, like none.
>
> I have no pencils.
> no pencils would be the zero number.
>
> So this would give me another set of endings for the zero number.
>
> A) Has this been done before?
> B) CAN ANYONE THINK OF A BETTER NAME??? ;]
>
> Thanks all
> Patrick
>
> At Wednesday, 27 December 2000, you wrote:
>
> >Patrick Jarret wrote:
> >
> >> >the locative or in the allative case only the last membre of
> the phrase
> >> >inflects, this because these cases come from pospositional
construction
> >> >taking the absolutive case:
> >>
> >> Pardon my naivete but what is the allative case's purpose? Or the
> >> absolutive? Is there a good web site covering different cases and
> >> their purposes? I know Latin ones, Locative, Ablative, Nominative
> >> etc... but these are unknown to me.
> >
> >Well, the allative (lat.: ad-lativus, from the supine of the verb
> ad-ferre,
> >'bring to') case's purpose is marking movement toward someone/something.
>
> >I'll give you an exemple in Vaiysi:
> >
> >yegam talut
> >go.1s  home.all
> >I go home
> >
> >The ablative (lat. ab-lativus, from ab-ferre) denotes movement *from*
> >someone/something. Vaiysi lacks ablative; Latin uses it more as an
> >instrumental case when it isn't used with prepositions. In the sentence
> >'otio exultas nimiumque gestis' (Catullus, carmen LI b, line 2)
> the ablative
> >has an instrumental function: 'with idleness'; 'because of idleness'
> can be
> >another translation which retains a stronger ablative meaning. In the
> >sentence 'Varus me meus ad suos amores / visum duxerat e foro otiosum'
> >(Catullus, carmen X, lines 1-2) the ablative is used with the preposition
> >_e(x)_, and retains its original meaning.
> >
> >On to absolutive...
> >
> >Languages can have different case systems. Latin uses a system called
> >accusative: the subject of a sentence takes the nominative case and the
> >object takes the accusative. If the verb doesn't take two arguments
> (i.e. it
> >is intransitive), the lone argument it has takes the nominative.
> >
> >ego       eo
> >1s.nom go.1s
> >I go
> >
> >ego         te             amo
> >1s.nom   thou.acc    love.1s
> >I love thee
> >
> >Latin verbs always agree with the nominative case (there is always a
> >nominative in the sentence), so you'll probably find simply 'eo',
> or 'te
> >amo'.
> >
> >My conlang Vaiysi uses a system called ergative: the subject of an
> >intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb take the absolutive
> >case. The subject of a transitive verb takes the ergative case.
> If the verb
> >takes only one argument, this is in the absolutive case.
> >
> >vyea     yegam
> >1s.abs   go.1s
> >I go
> >
> >ves         loudad     et
> >1s.erg    love.2s    thou.abs
> >I love thee
> >
> >Vaiysi verbs, otoh, always agree with the absolutive case (there
> is always
> >an absolutive in the sentence); this means you'll probably find simply
> >'yegam' or 'ves loudad'.
> >
> >There are, finally, languages which use active systems. The cases'
> purposes
> >are based on semantics: agentive is the case used for agents of
> normally
> >volitional verbs (break, push...) when it is the subject of the
> sentence;
> >patientive is the case used for objects of an action or a state, which
> >suffer its consequences - in other words the object of volitional
> verbs;
> >'recipient' case is the case used for subject of perception verbs
> (hear,
> >see, smell), non volitional intransitive verbs (sleep) or indirect
> objects
> >(dative); 'oblique' is the case used for objects of non volitional
> verbs.
> >
> >If you want to read a list of 30 useful cases, visit this page:
> >http://www.valdyas.org/andal/languages/denden/grammar/cases.html which
> >explains the cases system of Boudewijn Rempt's Denden.
> >
> >> Thanks for the patience
> >
> >That's nothing.
> >
> >> Patrick
> >>
> >
> >Luca
> >
> >>
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