Abstract
The article deals with the category of dual in the Slavonic languages. Its aim is to explore the inner semantic and paradigmatic structure of the dual category and to offer a plausible explanation for the way in which these two aspects, semantics and paradigm of the dual, interact.
The core assumption is that the category of dual is a prototype category with a center and peripheral members. One may expect that the core members of a category are the most resistant to regressive changes, which may ultimately lead to the complete loss of a grammatical category.
Thus, the loss of the dual category in the Slavonic languages allows us to reveal its inner organization and its core semantics.