The English Language

by R. G. Latham

There is no dual in the present English. It has been seen, however, that in the Anglo-Saxon there was a dual. But the Anglo-Saxon dual, being restricted to the personal pronouns (wit=we two; git=ye two), was not co-extensive with the Greek dual.

There is no dual in the present German. In the ancient German there was one.

In the present Danish and Swedish there is no dual. In the Old Norse and in the present Icelandic a dual number is to be found.

From this we learn that the dual number is one of those inflections that languages drop as they become modern.

The numbers, then, in the present English are two, the singular and the plural. Over what extent of language have we a plural? The Latins say, bonus pater=a good father; boni patres=good fathers. In the Latin, the adjective bonus changes its form with the change of number of the substantive that it accompanies. In English it is only the substantive that is changed. Hence we see that in the Latin language the numbers were extended to adjectives, whereas in English they are confined to the substantives and pronouns. Compared with the Anglo-Saxon, the present English is in the same relation as it is with the Latin. In the Anglo-Saxon there were plural forms for the adjectives.

For the forms selves and others, see the Syntax. For the present, it is sufficient to foreshadow a remark which will be made on the word self, viz. that whether it be a pronoun, a substantive, or an adjective, is a disputed point.

Words like wheat, pitch, gold, &c., where the idea is naturally singular; words like bellows, scissors, lungs, &c., where the idea is naturally plural; and words like deer, sheep, where the same form serves for the singular and plural, inasmuch as there takes place no change of form, are not under the province of etymology.

[§ 282]. The current rule is, that the plural number is formed from the singular by adding s, as father, fathers.

However, if the reader will revert to the Section upon the sharp and flat Mutes, where it is stated that mutes of different degrees of sharpness and flatness cannot come together in the same syllable, he will find occasion to take to the current rule a verbal exception. The letter added to the word father, making it fathers, is s to the eye only. To the ear it is z. The word sounds fatherz. If the s retained its sound, the spelling would be fatherce. In stags, lads, &c., the sound is stagz, ladz. The rule, then, for the formation of the English plurals, rigorously expressed, is as follows.—The plural is formed from the singular, by adding to words ending in a vowel, a liquid or flat mute, the flat lene sibilant (z); and to words ending in a sharp mute, the sharp lene sibilant (s): e.g. (the sound of the word being expressed), pea, peaz; tree, treez; day, dayz; hill, hillz; hen, henz; gig, gigz; trap, traps; pit, pits; stack, stacks. Upon the formation of the English plural some further remarks are necessary.

I. In the case of words ending in b, v, d, the th in thine=ð, or g, a change either of the final flat consonant, or of the sharp s affixed, was not a matter of choice, but of necessity; the combinations abs, avs, ads, aðs, ags, being unpronounceable. See the Section on the Law of Accommodation.