The category of Number in Basque: I. Synchronic and historical aspects

Abstract

This is the first half of an article in which all sectors of Basque morpho - logy with some overt opposition for grammatical number are synchronically and diachronically analyzed. This opposition presents different values across lexical categories: sg. / pl. / indef. on nouns (etxe-a, etxe-ak, etxe), sg. / pl. on demonstratives (hau / hau-ek), indef. on interrogative/relative and indefinite pronouns (zenbait etxe), sg. / pl. on personal pronouns (ni / gu), and sg. / pl. on the personal marks of verbs (na-bil / ga-bil-tza, da-bil / da-bil-tza, da-kar-t / da-kar-gu, da-kar / da-kar-tza, da-kar / da-kar-te...). This half includes two points. In Point 1, the expressions of these categories in modern standard Basque are analyzed. In Point 2, these expressions are discussed dialectally and historically, in order to track their historical evolution as far as it is possible.

Keywords

• category of number
• grammatical number
• singular
• plural
• indefinite
• Basque