Chapter 4 - Somali Plural Nouns Formation

 Inventory on the plural of nouns : 
In Somali, there is not one, but four ways to form the plural of nouns :

1. By adding a vowel suffix to the end of the name, usually -o ; -yo ; -oyin or -yaal.
2. By reduplicating a monosyllabic noun.
3. By making a tonal change on the noun : prosodic plural.
4. By adding a complex suffix : irregular plural.

For a given noun, the mechanism used is always the same.
Another feature of Somali is that a number of nouns switch gender when they are plural.


 Detailed review of different types of plurals : 

• Type 1 - Feminine/Masculine, with -o ending
• Type 2 - Feminine/Masculine, with -oyin ending
• Type 3 - Masculine/Feminine, with -o or -yo ending
• Type 4 - Masculine/Feminine, with -yaal ending
• Type 5 - Masculine/Masculine, with -o or -yo ending
• Type 6 - Masculine/Masculine, with reduplication
• Type 7 - Masculine/Feminine, with tonal change
• Type 8 - Irregular plurals

 Type 1 - Feminine in singular, masculine in plural, with "-o" ending 
Singular does not end in /-o/.
Plural is formed by adding /-o/ or /-yo/ after /i/.

Singular (absolutive) has high tone on the last syllable.
Vowel loss occurs in plural if phonological conditions are met.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
káb	kabo	shoe
náag	naago	woman
irbád	irbado	needle
mindí	mindiyo	knife
nimrád	nimrado	numeral
gacán	gacmo	hand
galáb	galbo	afternoon
madág	madago or madko	fire-stick
qolóf	qolfo	husk

 Type 2 - Feminine in singular, masculine in plural, with "-oyin" ending 
Singular always ends in -o.
Plural is formed by adding /-oyin/.

Both singular and plural have final HL sequence on last two syllables.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
ayéeyo	ayeeyóoyin	grandmother
dáwo	dawóoyin	medicine
éeddo	eeddóoyin	maternal aunt
hóoyo	hooyóoyin	mother
magáalo	magaalóoyin	town
shéeko	sheekóoyin	story
tálo	talóoyin	decision
wáddo	waddóoyin	road

 Type 3 - Masculine in singular, feminine in plural, with "-o" ending 
Singular is always polysyllabic and does not end in -e.
Plural is formed by adding /-o/ and doubling last consonant if /b/, /d/, /dh/, /l/, /r/, /n/, /m/, or by adding /-yo/ after /i/, /x/, /c/, /q/, and sometimes after /s/ or /g/.
Divided into two subgroups on the basis of tonal behavior :

 Type 2a : 
This is the majority case.

Singular ends in HL sequence on last two moras
The last two moras can be either one or two syllables ; rest of singular is L.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
baabùur	baabuurro	truck
darìiq	dariiqyo	road
dísti	distiyo	cooking pot
dhínac	dhinacyo	side
muftax	muftaxyo	key
nácas	nacasyo	fool
sánnad	sannaddo	year
wáddan	waddammo	country

 Type 2b : 
Not more than 50 words in the language.

Singular has L tone throughout
However, L tone is exceptional in that the last syllable does not lower before a pause.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
abti	abtiyo	maternal uncle
durmaan	durmaanno	drum
gorgor	gorgorro	vulture
huudhi	huudhiyo	canoe
markhaati	markhaatiyo	witness
sambab	sambabbo	lung
suldaan	suldanno	sultan

 Type 4 - Masculine in singular, feminine in plural, with "-yaal" ending
Singular always ends in -e.
Plural is formed by adding /-yaal/ and changing final /e/ to /a/.

Singular has penultimate-syllable H.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
áabe	aabayaal	father
agaasíme	agaasimayaal	director
báre	barayaal	teacher
danjíre	danjirayaal	ambassador
fúre	furayaal	key
jáalle	jaallayaal	comrade
madaxwéyne	madaxweynayaal	president
túke	tukayaal	crow
xogháye	xoghayayaal	secretary

 Type 5 - Masculine in both singular and plural, with "-o" / "-yo" ending 
Singular ends with a consonant, or in -i.
Plural is formed by adding /-o/, or /-yo/ after /i/.

Singular (absolutive) ends in HL sequence on last two moras.
Vowel loss can occur in plural.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
gárab	garbo	shoulder blade
hílib	hilbo	meat
ílig	ilko	tooth
jílib	jilbo	knee
qódob	qodbo or qodobbo	article
xádhig	xadhko	rope
xáraf	xarfo	letter (of the alphabet)
béri	beryo	day
gúri	guryo	house
nàas	naaso	breast

 Type 6 - Masculine in both singular and plural, with reduplication 
Singular is always monosyllabic.
Plural is formed by reduplicating the last consonant, preceded by /a/.

Singular (absolutive) has HL pattern if syllable is long, otherwise H.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
áf	afaf	mouth, language
bùug	buugag	book
dáb	dabab	fire
mìis	miisas	table
nín	niman	men
sán	sanan	nose
tùug	tuugag	thief
wán	wanan	ram
xèer	xeerar	traditional law
xòor	xoorar	ratel (honey badger)

 Type 7 - Masculine in singular, feminine in plural, with tonal change 
This type is a small group.

Tone is final HL in singular ; final LH in plural.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
àwr	áwr	male camel
bálli	ballí	pond
Cárab	Caráb	Arab
díbi	dibí	bull
èy	éy	dog
mádax	madáx	head, chief
órgi	orgí	male goat
Soomáali	Soomaalí	Somali (person)
Xabáshi	Xabashí	Ethiopian
yèy	yéy	wolf

Many of these nouns have a regular plural, e.g. the noun èy "dog" can take the plural eyo.


 Type 8 - Irregular plurals 
 Arabic broken plurals 

From the examples given, it seems singular has final HL (moras), plural has final H.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
búnduq	banaadíiq	rifle
kúrsi	kuraasí	chair
márkab	maraakíib	ship
maxbùus	maxaabíis	prisoner

May often be given Somali plurals ; for example the noun kúrsi "chair" can be found with the plural form kursiyo.

 Rare plurals 
Addition of /-an/ or /-aan/ is cited.

From the examples given, it seems singular has final HL (moras), plural has final H.

Singular absolute	Plural absolute	Translation
úgax	ugxáan	egg
dhágax	dhagxán	stone
qálin	qalmáan	pen

May also be found with regular endings : úgax can be treated as a Type 5 noun, qálin can be treated as a Type 3 noun.


 An ordered chaos : 
After analyzing the different ways to form a plural in Somali, we now propose to "predict" the plural of a noun empirically : for behind the apparent chaos are hidden a few simple rules : bear to mind that a young Somali child is capable of giving the plural of any noun without mistake !

1. Don't bother if the noun is masculine or feminine : it doesn't matter at this stage.
2. In 90% of cases, a singular noun forms its plural by adding -o or -yo at the end !
3. If the singular noun already ends in -o, it forms its plural by adding -oyin.
4. If the singular noun ends in -e, it forms its plural by adding -yaal.
5. If the singular noun is monosyllabic, it generally forms its plural by reduplication.
6. The only difficult cases (no more than 5% of nouns) are nouns that form their plurals by changing the tone, or irregular plurals, but even then, there is often an alternative form in -o !

              Source: http://hooyo.web.free.fr