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Number
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Nouns bear the grammatical feature number, which has two values in Frisian: singular and plural. Actually, dealing with number boils down to a treatment of the plural; the singular is always morphologically unmarked, since as a rule the bare stem and the singular of Frisian nouns have the same form. It is worth mentioning that Modern West Frisian does not show any sign of a dual. This is different for North Frisian, spoken in the north of Germany, at least with respect to pronouns. For some information, see the extra The North Frisian dual.

The plural is primarily expressed by suffixation. There are two regular and productive suffixes: -en and -s, which are usually distributed according to the criterion whether or not the final syllable of the singular bears stress. Examples are par pear > parren and apel apple > apels. The criterion also holds for complex words, although some suffixes select their own plural ending. It is tempting to assume that also the final schwa of so many Frisian nouns belongs to this stock. These nouns show the otherwise unexpected ending -en, for example in tsjerke church > tsjerken. Some historical phonological processes caused a vowel change in the stem: breaking (e.g. foet foot > fuotten) and shortening (e.g. lân land > lannen) in particular have left their marks on Frisian plural formation on a fairly large scale. Lengthening is rare, and can be attributed to Dutch influence. To some extent, there is variation between the regular suffixes. The noun earm arm, for example, can both have earmen and earms as its plural form. The latter plural is impossible in Dutch; the differences with Dutch are summarized in a special section.

Another peculiarity of Frisian is the possibilty of double plurals, although this only happens to a limited extent. An example is red-en-s, of the singular reed skate. The suffix -e (i.e. bean bean > beane) and what could be called a zero suffix (skiep sheep > skiep) also belong to the irregular plural formation. Also vowel change is possible: ko cow > kij. As can be seen, part of these irregular plurals resemble the English cognates, and there are more examples of this kind. More irregularity can be found in the plurals of the words man man and frou woman and their compounds, which may show a plural element -lju (next to regular -en).

Loans partly form a separate system in plural formation, since they may inherit endings from their Greek, Latin or French origin. Separate systems can also be found in minor Frisian varieties; the dialect of the island of Schiermonnikoog is especially interesting since it has maintained the older three-way gender system.

Finally, some typical uses will be discussed. One of them is measure nouns, which sometimes do not show a plural ending although this could be expected on semantic grounds. An example is trije mingel/*mingels molke three litres of milk. Something comparable is the collective use of singular nouns referring to animals, for instance in der rôt sit yn 'e weet the rat.SG sit-3SG in the wheat there are rats in the wheat. Another peculiarity are the socalled pluralia tantum, i.e. plurals without a singular, as mûzels measles (cf. *mûzel). Finally, some attention will be paid to the formation of singulatives from mass nouns, for example by way of diminutive formation, as in ark tools > arkje tool.

extra
The North Frisian dual

Most of the North Frisian varieties had a dual which was in use up to the 19th century. The variety of Heligoland and the southern varieties on the mainland do not have this (at least, there is no record of its existence). On the other hand, in some areas the dual persisted up to the mid 20th century, especially in Sölring, the variety of the island Sylt. (See Hoekstra (2011) for myths around the dual in its final period). The general form of the dual was the following:

Table 1
Person Nominative dual Object dual
1 wat onk
2 jat   jonk

(with possible alternation of the vowel throughout the varieties, for example unk/junk for Sölring object forms).

The dual was also used in an 'inclusory construction' as in Wat an Carline we.two and Carline Carline and me). Sölring had a third-person dual form, which led to a slightly different paradigm and obviously was a rather recent innovation:

Table 2
Person Nominative dual Object dual
1 wat unk
2 at junk
3 jat -

Hoekstra (2011) gives a detailed overview of the dual in North Frisian, including a discussion about the origin of the Sölring third-person dual. He also mentions some myths that emerged around the phenomenon, probably due to its curiosity.

[This extra is written by Hauke Heyen (Kiel)]

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[+]Regular plural formation

The regular plural is formed by adding one of the suffixes -en or -s to the noun. The general rule for the distribution of these endings is as follows: the suffix -s appears after nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or a syllable consisting of a schwa plus sonorant (-el, -er, -en, -em). The plural suffix -en appears elsewhere.

The following examples with the ending -s all have more than one syllable, with stress on the first one:

Table 3
Singular with unstressed final syllable Plural with -s
tuba tuba tubas
jierdei [jIdi] birthday jierdeis
domeny vicar domenys
auto car auto's
oehoe eagle owl oehoes
Aldegea (name of a village) Aldegeas
merje mare merjes
rûzje fight rûzjes
leppel spoon leppels
sipel onion sipels
fiter shoe string fiters
otter otter otters
koken kitchen kokens
rekken bill rekkens
biezem broom biezems
lichem body lichems
extra
Exceptions

The nouns kristen christian and heiden heathen have a plural ending -en (kristenen, heidenen), possibly under the influence of the language of the Church, which is almost exclusively Dutch. If heiden means gipsy; uncultivated, bad person, then it has a regular plural heidens.

A few nouns, in which final -je derives from the suffix -inge historically, may have kept the original ending -en, sometimes next to the synchronically regular ending -s: penje penny > penjen/penjes; skelje shilling > skeljen/skeljes; dealje plank, deal > dealjen/dealjes. Compare also the following pluralia tantum with a similar historical background: skealjen/skealjes scales; twiljen twins; raanjen tricks, pranks; Alderheljen All Saints, All Hallows.

Furthermore, the word widdo widow has widdo's as well as the plural form widdowen. In the South-East of the language area the plural of hynder horse is hyns (with truncation of -er).

After a stressed syllable, the ending is -en:

Table 4
Singular with stressed final syllable Plural
krie crow krieën
aai egg aaien
liuw lion liuwen
boer farmer boeren
tsjil wheel tsjillen
sok sock sokken
rút window-pane ruten
ring ring ringen
kers candle; cherry kersen
skúf slide skuven

Thus far, the examples presented nicely fit the main pattern that -en follows stressed syllables and -s is attached to unstressed ones. However, there is a class of exceptions. In contrast to nouns ending in schwa plus sonorant, which regularly take -s, nouns with a final schwa plus obstruent take -en:

Table 5
Singular with final schwa + obstruent Plural
jilmes alms jilmesen
sokses sucker soksesen
trekpot [trɛpət] teapot trekpotten [trɛpətən]
andert answer anderten
swédrik thymus swédriken
estrik floor tile estriken

In fact, this patterns with the stress criterion, which can also be translated into an instruction that addition of a plural morpheme may not lead to a constant or even higher sonority. After an obstruent, the sonority would not decrease by a following /s/, however. That may be the reason why -en is selected instead.

[+]The plural of complex words

Prefixed and compound nouns have the same plural ending as their head, i.e. as their right-hand element. Suffixations usually form their plural according to the same rules as simplex words. Some suffixes may, however, select a plural ending contrary to the general rule.

The idea of such a selection is significant in order to explain an otherwise important exception to the stress rule. This exception is the many nouns that have a final schwa (but not those ending in -je): one would expect the suffix -s, but they rather take -en:

Table 6
Singular ending in -e `Plural
tsjerke church tsjerken
râne edge rânen
hikke gate hikken
tine tooth (of a fork) tinen
lodde spade lodden
bokse (trouser-)leg boksen
tynge message tyngen
holle head hollen

This behaviour may be explained if it is assumed that the ending -e has suffix-like properties. It also seems to determine the gender of these nouns, which is common, and as a suffix it might also select the plural ending -en. That -e selects the plural ending -en and is not simply truncated before the plural suffix (as, for example, in the case of diminutive formation), is shown by an example as rigele row, line > rigelen. If -e had been truncated here, the plural ending would have been -s.

Loan words with a final schwa which have become naturalized get the ending -en as well. Others keep the ending -s with which they are imported, and there is also a large mixed category where speakers waver:

Table 7
Loans with final schwa Plural
masine machine masinen
ballade ballead balladen
metoade method metoaden
fitamine vitamine fitaminen
kassette cassette kassetten/kassettes
antinne aerial, antenna antinnen/antinnes
sonate sonata sonaten/sonates
kojoate coyote kojoates
file traffic jam files
dame lady dames

Proper names that end in a schwa, such as Jelle or Oebele, when used as count nouns, get the plural ending -s, in accordance with the general rule:

1
Wy ha trije Jelles / Oebeles yn 'e famylje
we have three Jelle-PL / Oebele-PL in the family
Our family counts three members with the name Jelle / Oebele

The kinship terms pake grandfather and beppe grandmother, that function as proper names as well, waver between -s and -en, if they are used as count nouns: paken/pakes and beppen/beppes. Another exception is jonge boy, which has jonges as plural form, possibly under influence of Dutch jongen-s boy-PL, or under analogical pressure of famke girl > famkes.

Most other suffixes ending in a schwa select the plural ending -en as well, but a few also irregularly take the suffix -s:

Table 8
Suffix Reference Singular Plural
-e -e deade dead man/woman deaden
-te -te sykte illness sykten
-tme -tme berchtme moantain range berchtmen
-ske -ske kammeraatske (girl)friend kammeraatskes
-ert -ert leffert coward lefferts
-e -e fioeliste female violin player fioelistes

In the last case, the ending -s may have been chosen for semantic reasons; the plural ending -en would obscure the difference between male fioelist and female fioeliste.

The suffix -ier takes the irregular plural -s if it denotes a human being, but has the regular ending -en if it refers to a thing. Compare:

Table 9
Singular Plural
bankier banker bankiers
koerier courier koeriers
portier porter, doorkeeper portiers
portier door portieren
fisier vizier fisiers
fisier visor fisieren
formulier form formulieren

An exception is ofsier officer > ofsieren.

The final conclusion can be that most Frisian plurals form a trochaic pattern. Striking exceptions are nouns ending in a schwa plus obstruent, as exemplified above.

[+]Vowel changes in the stem

A considerable number of nouns having a centralizing diphthong as their stem show breaking of this vowel in the plural form ending in -en. Breaking refers to the transition of /iə/ to /jI/, of /Iə/ to /jɛ/, of /uə/ to /wo/ and /oə/ to /wa/. Furthermore, there is the single case /yə/ > /jö/ in flues membrane; fleece > fljuzzen.

In the table below some examples of the main patterns will be given. Breaking is reflected in the orthography in the case of /uə/ > /wo/, spelled as <oe> - <uo>. If the broken vowel is followed by a single consonant, this is doubled in the spelling of the plural. Below, the broken vowel is emphasized:

Table 10
Breaking Singular Plural
/iə/ > /jI/ trie(d) thread triedden
priem knitting needle priemmen
trien tear triennen
hier hair hierren
kies molar kiezzen
/Iə/ > /jɛ/ heak hook heakken
peal pole peallen
beam tree beammen
tean toe teannen
feart canal fearten
sleat ditch sleatten
/uə/ > /wo/ hoed hat huodden
stoel chair stuollen
spoen chip of wood spuonnen
toer tower tuorren
goes goose guozzen
foet foot fuotten
/oə/ > /wa/ koal cabbage; cole koallen
hoarn horn hoarnen
soan son soannen
doar door doarren
hoas stockings hoazzen
/yə/ > /jö/ flues membrane; fleece fljuzzen

It should be noted that breaking is not applied consistently. Shortening, by which long vowels may turn into short ones, again before -en, is irregular in a similar fashion. A selection follows below; all possible changes are represented, as are the possible final consonants, which was also the case in the table of breaking above:

Table 11
Shortening Singular Plural
/u:/ > /u/ (or /y/) mûs mouse mûzen
hûs house huzen
/e:/ > /I/ beest beast; animal; cow bisten
/ɛ:/ > /ɛ/ mês knife messen
heak hook (dial.) heakken
/ɔ:/ > /ɔ/ hân hand hannen
stôk stick stokken
rôt rat rotten
/a:/ > /a/ kaam comb kammen
slaab bib slabben
baarch pig bargen

The pronunciation /hɛ:k/ for heak hook can be found in the east of the language area (more details can be found in shortening).

Dutch had a historical rule of lengthening in open syllable which in a number of words of that language has led to a vowel alternation in the plural form. Usually, the Frisian vowel is left unchanged in comparable cases. For example, the plural of Dutch dak /dak/ roof is lengthened to daken /da:kən/, where the plural of the homophonous singular remains short in Frisian: dak /dak/ > dakken /dakŋ̩/.

Still, a few nouns in Frisian show lengthening of the stem in the plural:

Table 12
Lengthening Singular Plural
/I/ > /e:/ lid member leden
/ɛ/ > /e:/ gebed prayer gebeden(s)
/ɔ/ > /oə/ god god goaden
gebod command geboaden(s)

These lengthenings must have occurred under Dutch influence (note the religous or administrative context of the concepts involved). It also applies to foreign, and expecially scientific, words like neutron neutron > neutroanen, demon demon > demoanen or gen gen > genen. On the plural of foreign words ending in -or, see point 4 in the list below.

Finally, it should be stressed that the vowel changes dealt with above have an additional feature: they occur as a side-effect of the marking of the plural by a plural suffix. This is different with a few (rare) cases in which vowel change is the sole marker of plurality. These will be dealt with in the section on irregular plural formation below.

extra
The plural of lid

The plural of the noun lid only lengthens to leden if it has the meaning member, clearly under Dutch influence. There is another word lid lid, cover that pluralizes in a regular way: lidden. The word lid can also mean part of the body, limb. In that case, the plural is also irregular, i.e. lea, a contraction of Old Frisian litha (in those days a regular plural of singular lith).

[+]Variation of -en and -s

Nouns ending in a liquid ( /l/ or /r/) plus /m/ may take the plural -en as well as -s. The former occurs more in the West of the province, the latter more in the East. Compare:

Table 13
Singular Plural
swolm ulcer swolmen/swolms
psalm psalm psalmen/psalms
helm helmet helmen/helms
skelm rascal skelmen/skelms
earm arm earmen/earms
stoarm storm stoarmen/stoarms
noarm norm noarmen/noarms
foarm form foarmen/foarms
term intestine termen/terms
wjirm worm wjirmen/wjirms
skerm screen skermen/skerms
berm verge, roadside bermen/berms

This variation is due to the fact that nouns ending in -lm and -rm may undergo schwa insertion; more information on its phonological aspects can be found in schwa insertions in coda clusters and especially in word-final sequences of a liquid and a nasal. The result of this process may have been lexicalized in the East, thus leading to underlying forms like /swoləm/ for swolm ulcer or /tɛrəm/ for term intestine. As a consequence, like all nouns ending in schwa + sonorant, they get the plural ending -s.

A similar variation between the two plural endings is found with nouns ending in the sequence -eil:

Table 14
Singular Plural
neil nail neilen/neils
fleil flail fleilen/fleils
dweil mop dweilen/dweils
seil sail seilen/seils

Again, the eastern variants with -s may have undergone schwa insertion between the glide, i.e. the second part of the diphthong /ai/ and /l/.

extra
Metathesis

Fleil flail has a variant flalje, with metathesis of /j/ and /l/. The same metathesis is also found in raljes rails.

Another case of variation is to be found in nouns of more than one syllable ending in -ing. They can take the plural -en or -s. Compare:

Table 15
Singular in -ing Plural
hjerring herring hjerringen/hjerrings
feriening club, organization ferieningen/ferienings
ketting chain kettingen/kettings
riedling riddle riedlingen/riedlings
feroaring change feroaringen/feroarings
oersetting translation oersettingen/oersettings

This variation can probably be ascribed to a conflict between a morphological criterion (the suffix -ing, or -ling, selecting the ending -en) and the regular phonology-based rule of adding -s to an unstressed syllable. If -ing itself is preceded by an unstressed syllable, i.e. if it gets secondary stress, it always has a full vowel underlyingly. Nouns in which -ing appears in this stress configuration then appear to have a strong preference for the plural ending -en:

Table 16
Singular Plural
iepening opening iepeningen
tekening drawing tekeningen
wrakseling struggle wrakselingen
utering utterance uteringen

In these examples, the syllable with -ing is always preceded by a syllable containing a schwa, cf. tekening /te:kənIŋ/ drawing.

A semantic exception to the possibility of variation are those nouns that denote a human being or an animal. These always take the plural ending -en. Compare:

Table 17
Singular Plural
kening king keningen
wytsing viking wytsingen
haadling chieftain haadlingen
learling pupil learlingen
deadeling wet, wimp deadelingen
hokling yearling (heifer/calf) hoklingen
wezeling weasel wezelingen

A few, mostly archaic, nouns have the suffixal variant -inge. These nouns invariably take the plural ending -en. Examples are printinge printing > printingen and rispinge harvest > rispingen.

extra
Wavering

It should be noted that the -s-plural with nouns ending in -ing is in a state of flux, so that for some speakers the stress condition (no secondary stress) and the semantic condition (no human reference) may be less rigid than described here. Moreover, in Standard Frisian the -s-ending is sometimes preferred to the -en-ending, because of the fact that Dutch always has the plural ending -en in these cases.

There is some debate about the linguistic background of the variation. Veen (1984-2011: -ing I, II; -ling I) ascribes it to a different pronunciation of the suffix, as [Iŋ] or [əŋ], respectively. The former would opt for -en, the latter for -s (see also Riemersma (1979:33)). This is criticized by Hoekstra (2011:288), who states that the suffix builds an unstressed syllable anyway. As an alternative, he assumes that the plural ending -en is selected by the suffix.

The uncertainty about the choice of the plural ending can also be read off from the two dialect maps in Paardekooper (1992:62). Both endings can be found across the whole language area, possibly with a slight bias for -en in the west and -s in the east.

[+]Some differences with Dutch in the choice of the plural ending

Dutch has the same two plural suffixes -en and -s and the same major distribution rule as Frisian. Nevertheless, the two languages show a number of differences in the choice of the plural ending:

  1. A number of nouns ending in a schwa + sonorant in Dutch can have the ending -en, mostly next to regular -s. The two plural forms often show stylistic or semantic differentiation. The Frisian counterparts invariably have the ending -s. Compare:
    Table 18
    Frisian singular Frisian plural Dutch singular Dutch plural
    wûnder miracle wûnders wonder wonderen