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    Number
    quickinfo

    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