numerale

Numerale is a term used in linguistics to denote the word class that includes numerals—words that express quantity, order, or multiplicity. The label is common in German- and Italian-language grammars, where numerals are treated as a distinct subclass within adjectives or determiners. Depending on the language, Numerale may behave syntactically like ordinary adjectives, like determiners, or as a separate closed class with its own inflectional patterns.

Types of numerale include cardinal numerals (one, two, three), ordinal numerals (first, second), multiplicative numerals (double, triple), and fractional or distributive numerals such as half, both, or each. In English, numerals usually function as adjectives that modify a noun (three apples) and typically do not agree with gender or case. In languages with richer inflection, numerals may inflect for case, number, or gender to agree with the noun, and in some languages they pair with classifiers or follow different word orders, as in classifier-based systems and languages that place numerals before or after the noun.

Numerale interacts with other categories, such as determiners, adjectives, and quantifiers, and participates in the morphology of number systems that range from decimal to vigesimal. Some languages count in a straightforward, analytic fashion, while others build large numerals from smaller components. The study of numerale thus sheds light on how language encodes quantity, order, and counting in syntax and morphology.

See also: Numeral, Classifier (linguistics), Determiner, Quantifier.