Page:An Ainu-English-Japanese dictionary (including a grammar of the Ainu language).djvu/641

Rh With the numerals, however, is used in enumerating animals:—Thus:—, “two horses, three horses.”

But there appear to be quite a number of nouns, now regarded as singular, which inflection proves to be really plural by derivation. Thus:—

Also such as :—

The word “an article,” “a thing,” may well be compared with  the plural particle used in counting animals; and, “to possess” with , “possessors.” The  in this latter word sometimes appears as  and sometimes as , , or simple. The given often  and  in the above examples is seen to advantage in the word  which means “abundance.”

Pfizmaier, in his Erörterungen und Aufklärungen über Aino, quotes Dobrotvorsky as intimating that the Ainu language retains fragments of a plural formation in a few substantives, and quotes, “a foot” and “feet”; also , “a tooth,” and  “teeth” as examples. But on turning to Dobrotvorsky. [sic] I find he gives, нога, ношка, and even ногнноги [sic], i.e. “foot”; “a little foot” and “feet” for while  does