neutersingular

Neutersingular is a linguistic term used to describe a grammatical category that combines neuter gender and singular number in a single form within a language’s nominal or pronominal system. The term, formed from neuter and singular, is used in typological and theoretical discussions to describe data where a single marker encodes both features rather than having separate neuter and singular affixes or pronouns.

In practice, neutersingular forms appear most often in pronouns, determiners, or nouns that reference inanimate or semantically neutral referents. A neutersingular pronoun would correspond to singular neuter referents and would not appear in plural, or would participate in a marked neuter-singular alignment. Some languages exhibit syncretism between neuter and singular that analysts describe as a neutersingular pattern, while others view such forms as a special case of broader alignment systems.

Example: in a hypothetical language, the determiner ti might be used only with singular neuter nouns, serving as a neutersingular marker, while the plural or non-neuter forms require different markers. This illustrates how a single form can fulfill both gender and number functions in a tightly scoped morphology.

Critics argue that the label can obscure underlying morpho-syntactic processes, and that contemporary typology often treats gender and number as separate features. Others maintain that neutersingular provides a useful shorthand for describing parsimonious agreement patterns and cross-language variation.

See also: grammatical gender, neuter, singular, pronoun, determiner, morphosyntax, syncretism.