26 THE NOUN.
ojif "uncle;" oba, " aunt."
ani, " elder brother ; " -- ane, " elder sister." 0^0/0, "younger brother;" imoto, "younger sister."
11 39. What we call the singular number is occasionally indicated by the use of the word hltotsu or ichi, " one," thus:
hako hltotsu j " one box."
ichi-nen, " one year."
H 40. The idea of plurality, universality or variety is oc- casionally indicated by doubling the word, thus : ho-bo, " everywhere ; " from ho, " side." iro-iro, "all sorts;" from iro, "sort" (properly "colour").
kuni-gtini, "various countries;" from kuni, "country." tokoro-dokoro, "many places," "here and there;"
from tokoro, " place."
As seen by these examples, the second member of such compounds almost always takes the nigori, when it com- mences by a consonant capable of doing so.
11 41. Another method of expressing plurality is by agglu- tinating certain particles, viz. gata, tachi, shti, (often pro- nounced shi) domo and ra, to the end of the word, thus :
okusama-gata, " ladies ;" from okusama, "a lady," " my lady."
shikwan-tachi, "officials;" ,, shikwan, "an official." onna-shu, "women;" ,, onna, " a woman."
onna-domo, "women;" ,, " a woman."
kuruma-ya-ra, " jinrikisha-men " from " kuruma-ya "a jinrikisha-man."
