pluralore

Pluralore is a theoretical term in linguistics referring to a hypothetical morpheme or set of mechanisms that encodes plurality at multiple levels within a single grammatical unit. It is used in discussions of morphology and semantics to explore how plurality can be represented beyond simple count marking, for example by simultaneously signaling reference plurality (how many entities) and distributive or collective readings of predicates.

The term is a neologism formed from the word plural and a conventional suffix -ore used in thought experiments to illustrate morpheme interaction. It is not widely attested in natural languages but appears in typological and theoretical papers as a convenient illustration of cross-cutting plurality.

In analyses, a pluralore system would allow a single form to influence noun syntax, determiner selection, verb agreement, and adjective scaling, producing readings such as “three red books” with a distributive interpretation (each book individually) or a collective interpretation (the set of books as a unit). The exact realization is hypothetical and would vary by language.

While not widely adopted, pluralore serves as a useful tool for exploring the boundaries between lexical semantics and morphosyntax, and for constructing cross-linguistic tests of how plural information is represented.

See also: plurality, distributive, mass noun, polysemy, morphosyntax interface.