تعدد جموع المفرد الواحد في العربية : الأسباب و الوظائف

Abstract EN

This article aims to study the multiple plurals of one singular in Arabic, trying to identify the reasons of such a multiplicity and its functions.

the singular in our case is every singular whose plural forms are several, be it of “one” as in “sward” and “eye” or gender as in “flower” and “dates”.

it has three types, viz.

singular in form and meaning, having one meaning and one form as in “sward”, “star” and “flower”.

the second type is singular, having more than one meaning and one form as in “eye”, “house” and “sea” and the third type is singular, having one meaning, but several forms, and having one linguistic root as in zaman and azmaan, taghin and taghiah.

the study concludes with a number of findings including : 1.

the multiplicity of plural of one singular in Arabic is due to multiplicity of the meanings of a ward, multiplicity of its origins, forms, names, using it for describing human and nonhuman, and scientificity, etc.

2.

the multiplicity of plural in arabic has several functions including differentiation between the meanings of the singular, its origins, forms, names, etc.

and between human and nonhuman, etc.