Macrokooppiset

Macrokooppiset is a term used in Finnish linguistics to describe a group of languages that have a grammatical system where the noun has a distinct form for singular and plural. In this system, the difference between a plural and a singular form is marked by a specific suffix or other grammatical feature.

The macrokooppiset languages belong to the Uralic language family and include Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. In these languages, the plural form is often used to indicate a group of individuals, while the singular form is used to indicate a single individual. For example, in Finnish, the word "mies" (man) becomes "miehet" (men) in the plural form.

The use of a distinct plural form is typical of many Uralic languages, and is a characteristic that distinguishes them from Indo-European languages, which often use other grammatical means to convey count information. The macrokooppiset languages are also notable for their use of cases, which are inflectional endings that indicate the grammatical function of a noun in a sentence.

The term "macrokooppiset" was coined by Finnish linguist Yrjö Toivonen in the 20th century to describe the specific type of plural formation found in these languages. It is derived from the Finnish words "malli" (example) and "koopus" (number), and literally means "large-number languages". The term is used to distinguish the Uralic languages from other languages that have different grammatical systems for forming plurals.