Number in The Gilaki Language

This paper aims to address the representation of number in the Gilaki language, Lahijani variety. Number, in this language, interacts with various facets of linguistics, pragmatics and sociology. The data has been collected from the daily speech of the native speakers, and based on the linguistic intuition of one of the authors. According to the outcome, pronouns have different forms in terms of number and in nominative, accusative and genitive cases. In noun phrases, the presence of the plural marker along with the classifier results in ill-formed structures. Whereas, the plural morpheme is obligatorily realized in definite noun phrases for the construction to be grammatical. Reduplication is a process that interacts with number in this language; the reduplicant along with the base is used to refer to a certain category in some contexts. Other findings suggest that, in coordination constructions, despite the fact that both elements are considered plural, if both of them belong to the same category (e.g., stationeries), the plural marker can also appear only on the second element. Regarding pragmatics, in order to observe politeness, the second person plural pronoun and the plural personal ending of the verb are used to address a person, which indicates inconsistency between the form and meaning of plural. In certain contexts, there are formal or notional inconsistencies regarding number agreement which can be due to politeness measures, genericity or animacy.
 
Extended abstract
1.Introduction
The category of number has been studied cross-linguistically from morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic perspectives, demonstrating its interaction with various linguistic features. This research investigates the representation of the number system in Gilaki (Lahijani variety) using a typological framework. The primary objective is to describe how the category of number is manifested across different linguistic structures and processes and analyze its interaction with semantic and pragmatic factors such as animacy, definiteness, and politeness, following Acquaviva & Daniel's (2020) model. This study can contribute to a deeper understanding of other linguistic aspects of Gilaki.
 
2. Theoretical Framework
This study adopts the typological framework proposed by Acquaviva & Daniel (2022), which systematically categorizes number-related phenomena across languages, emphasizing morphological marking, syntactic agreement, and semantic-pragmatic constraints, in order to examine its representation in pronouns, nominal phrases, and verbs. In this model, number is considered a multidimensional grammatical category and can interact with other linguistic features, including definiteness. Special attention is given to syntactic aspects of number, as well as cases of formal-semantic mismatches in number marking, such as the use of plural forms for politeness.
 
3. Methodology
This research employs a descriptive typological approach to number in Gilaki, based on Acquaviva & Daniel’s (2022) questionnaire. Data were collected from native Gilaki speakers’ natural speech. and based on the linguistic intuition of one of the authors. The study describes number marking in pronouns, nouns, and verbs, while also examining its interaction with classifiers, reduplication, and coordination. Semantic and pragmatic aspects, including honorific usage, genericity, and animacy are also analyzed.
 
4. Results and Discussion
Pronouns in Gilaki (Lahijani variety) exhibit distinct forms based on person, number, and case, though syncretism is observed in some cases, such as third-person plural forms. Singular nouns are unmarked, while plurals are marked with the suffix /on/. Gilaki’s plural marker attaches uniformly to nouns, irrespective of animacy. However, this affix is omitted with numerals unless the noun phrase is definite. Using numerals as predicates in Gilaki requires the presence of classifiers. When numerals modify nouns, classifiers must also be used with all numerals - including /jǝk/ (“one”) – contrasting with spoken Persian, where classifiers are restricted to numerals greater than one.  This study demonstrates that pluralization in Gilaki is not solely expressed through the plural marker /on/, but also involves additional strategies such as partial reduplication, a previously undocumented strategy in Gilaki. In this process, the base and its reduplicant together express plural-like reference, indicating a set of related items rather than simple plurality (e.g., kitab mitab "books and similar items").
The syntactic analysis of number also examines coordination. In coordinate structures, if the two conjuncts belong to the same semantic category and form a collocation, the plural marker may appear only on the second conjunct without a coordinating particle (e.g., qaʃuq tʃəngal-on "spoons and forks"), while the semantic scope extends to include the whole structure. For non-collocational pairs, a coordinator is necessarily required (e.g., mədad o dƷurab-on "pencil and socks"); however, plural marking can target only the second conjunct semantically.
In the domain of semantics and pragmatics, the focus lies primarily on meaning-form mismatches in number marking. Politeness represents one of the key contexts where this number agreement mismatch occurs. While Gilaki typically maintains person-number agreement between verbs and subjects, the plural form may be used to address a singular individual as a marker of respect, creating a form-meaning discrepancy. Another instance of form-meaning mismatch in Gilaki involves the use of singular nouns for generic reference, where a formally singular noun conveys a plural meaning. Furthermore, animacy plays a crucial role in the realization of generic reference in Gilaki. While verbal agreement with animate subjects is number-sensitive, such agreement becomes optional with inanimate subjects.
 
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