Abstract
The present contribution deals with grammatical category of number of nouns in Czech. On the basis of empirical investigations, an introduction of a new semantic distinction is being proposed within the formal forms of nouns, namely the distinction of a simple quantitative meaning versus a pair/group meaning.
There are nouns in Czech that refer typically to a pair or to a (usual) group of entities and not just to a large amount of these entities (e.g. ruce 'arms', vlasy 'hair', or sirky 'matches'). These nouns are combined with set numerals rather than with the basic ones.
In the paper, arguments are presented supporting the view that the above mentioned subcategorization is grammaticalized. A brief outline of the expressions of the pair/group meaning in Czech as compared to some other languages (German, English, Slavonic languages) is also given.