pluralpaytanim

Pluralpaytanim is a term used in linguistics and among constructed-language communities to describe a plural-marking pattern in which the plural morpheme combines with another grammatical category to form a single marker. The concept is largely theoretical and is not widely attested as a feature of natural languages.

Definition and mechanism: The defining feature of pluralpaytanim is that plural marking encodes more than number alone, often merging plurality with definiteness, case, or animacy. The marker may be suffixal, prefixal, or involve internal vowel change, and it frequently shows morphophonemic allomorphy depending on surrounding phonology or syntax. In some variants, the plural marker attaches to the noun together with determiners, producing a compact form that simultaneously signals plural and the additional category.

Distribution and usage: The phenomenon occurs mainly in constructed languages and in speculative typology discussions. It is not established as a widespread cross-linguistic pattern in scholarly descriptions of natural languages.

Illustrative examples come from fictional languages such as Eldarin. In Eldarin, the noun sol meaning “house” takes the pluralpaytanim suffix -an to form solan, meaning “houses” (indefinite plural). When the same noun is definite, the plural marker changes to -ana, yielding solana, meaning “the houses” (definite plural). In a second Eldarin variant, a prefix ta- marks plurality together with definiteness, yielding ta-sol and ta-solan in corresponding environments; the exact forms vary by dialect.

See also: plural marking, grammaticalization, conlangs, typology.