tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 05 06:13:35 2004
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Re: pajamas
On Monday 05 January 2004 05:30, Lieven Litaer wrote:
> > I don't know about tlhIngan-Hol, but many Terran languages have a dual
> > case
> > which is reserved for use when referring to items that only come in pairs
> > (eyes, ears, pants, pajamas, etc)
>
> Sorry, but you are quoting only one Terran language, english.
>
> And "eyes" is just a plural form of "eye", just like "ears".
>
> In english, the words are plural, because they are made to parts, like
> scissors (two edges), binoculars (two oculars), pajamas (two pieces),
> pants, trousers (two pipes)
> You can't say them in singular:
>
> In German these are all singular: 1 Schere, 1 Fernglas, 1 Schlafanzug, 1
> Hose.
Actually, I was thinking of Scots Gaelic, which has three numerical forms:
singular, dual and plural:
Example:
cluas (1 ear), cluais (2 ears), cluasan (multiple ears)
drathais (1 pair of pants), drathars (multiple pairs of pants)
Others are represented in plural:
sùil (1 eye), sùilean (multiple eyes; could be 2, could be 200)
Yet others are represented in singular:
dà-shùileach (1 set of binoculars)
'yen