> Welsh nouns can be either singular or plural. (This is a marked > simplification over Homeric Greek, which has a dual number to indicate > two of something, or even over Russian, which puts two, three, and > four into a special class when counting.) What are you going to call "deuddwrn", "dwyglust", "dwyfraich", "deulin", etc? (I'll allow you "dwylaw" as a plural, I suppose.) > 4.5. The Number 'One' > --------------------- > > The Welsh word for the number 'one' is 'un' (if you'll pardon my > French), pronounced (roughly) 'een'. It precedes the noun it > modifies, and causes a limited soft mutation in exactly the same > places that 'y' does, i.e., for feminine, singular nouns: > > un fasged one basket > un mab one son ...yr un BEN a^'i ewythr medrus (?) mae ef o'r un FEDDWL a^ ni (?) > > Of course, it is not used with plural nouns! aethant i'r un YSGOLION a^ ni (?) Nigel Love S.A. Institute of Pedantry ************************ Nigel Love Linguistics Cape Town NLOVE@BEATTIE.UCT.AC.ZA ************************