The plural forms of some nouns are morphologically singular.
Nouns are inflected according to a number of different declension classes. Four classes are relevant for the discussion below:
|
|
neuter -et-stem
'button' |
masculine
'deer' |
(feminine) a-stem
'woman' |
(feminine) i-stem
'thing' |
|||||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
| NOM | dugme | dugm-et-a | jelen | jelen-i | žen-a | žen-e | stvar | stvar-i | |||
| ACC | dugme | dugm-et-a | jelen-a | jelen-e | žen-u | žen-e | stvar | stvar-i | |||
| GEN | dugm-et-a | dugm-et-a | jelen-a | jelen-a | žen-e | žen-a | stvar-i | stvar-i | |||
| DAT | dugm-et-u | dugm-et-ima | jelen-u | jelen-ima | žen-i | žen-ama | stvar-i | stvar-ima | |||
| INS | dugm-et-om | dugm-et-ima | jelen-om | jelen-ima | žen-om | žen-ama | stvar-i | stvar-ima | |||
A number of nouns use feminine collectives for their plurals, which are declined as singular nouns. These fall into three types according to declension class.
|
|
neuter ‑et‑stem ~ a-stem
'child' |
masculine ~ a‑stem
'brother |
neuter ‑et‑stem ~ i-stem
'calf' |
|||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |||
| NOM | dete | deca | brat | deca | tele | telad | ||
| ACC | dete | decu | brata | decu | tele | telad | ||
| GEN | deteta | dece | brata | dece | teleta | telad | ||
| DAT | detetu | deci | bratu | deci | teletu | teladi, teladima | ||
| INS | detetom | decom | bratom | decom | teletom | teladi, teladima | ||
Dete is a unique type. Gospodin ~ gospoda 'sir' and vlastelin ~ vlastela 'ruler' follow the pattern of brat . The largest class is the tele type, which is widely found for the young of animals, as well as some other (animate) diminutives.1
This mismatch has both morphological and syntactic ramifications:
Morphological
In the oblique cases, the tele type vacillates between singular forms (e.g. teladi) and plural forms (teladima).
Syntactic
Such nouns show a mixture of singular and plural agreement. Corbett (1983) provides a detailed picture of the patterns found with dete, where both the type of agreement target and its case play a role:
|
type of agreement target:
|
||||
|
attributive
|
predicate
|
relative pronoun | personal pronoun | |
| nominative | F.SG | N.PL | N.PL | N.PL, M.PL |
| accusative | F.SG | ------ | F.SG | N/M.PL |
| other oblique | F.SG | ------ | F.SG, (N.)PL | N/M.PL |
An attributive modifier displays feminine singular agreement:
| ov-e | dec-e |
| this-FEM.SG.GEN | children-GEN |
| 'of these children' | |
Predicates and nominative relative pronouns display neuter plural agreement:
| Dec-a | koj-a | su | tada | bila |
| children-NOM | who-N.PL.NOM | be.3PL | then | be.PST-N.PL |
| 'Children who then were...' | ||||
Non-nominative relative pronouns show feminine singular agreement:
| Tamo | su | bila | u | pitanju | deca | koju | je | trebalo | uzeti |
| there | be.3PL | be.PST-N.PL | in | question | children-NOM | who-FEM.SG.ACC | is | be.necessary.PST | to take |
| 'There were children in question there whom it was necessary to take...' | |||||||||
However, in the oblique cases (genitive, dative, instrumental) relative pronouns may also show plural agreement (note that the relative pronoun does not distinguish gender in these cases):
| deca | koje or
kojih |
se | svi | boje |
| children-NOM | who-FEM.SG.GEN
who-GEN.PL |
REFL | all | fear.3PL |
| 'The children whom everyone is afraid of.' | ||||
Personal pronouns show either neuter or masculine plural agreement (these are distinct only in the nominative):
| ta | deca | su | mu | potrebna, | jer | ona | jedina | čuju... |
| this.FEM.SG.ACC | children-NOM | be.3PL | him | necessary.N.PL.NOM | for | they.N.PL.NOM | alone.N.PL.NOM | hear.3PL |
| 'There were children in question there whom it was necessary to take...' | ||||||||
| U | ovoj | istoj | kući | spavaju | njegov-a | deca. | I | oni | će... |
| in | this | same | house | sleep.3PL | his-FEM.SG.NOM | children-NOM | and | they.M.PL.NOM | be.FUT.3PL |
| 'His children sleep in the very same house. They too will...' | |||||||||
Note that the interpretation of these agreement forms is complicated by the regular syncretism between the nominative singular feminine and the nominative/accusative plural neuter, both of which take the ending -a.
1 Vlastelin also uses regular plural forms. Of the tele type, some of those denoting domestic animals also have a plural with a different stem suffix, which declines as a masculine plural (e.g. telići 'calves').
Corbett, Greville. 1983. Hierarchies, targets and controllers: agreement patterns in Slavic. London: Croom Helm.