Abstract
Background: There has been extensive research on both reciprocals and pluralia tantum (or plural forms of nouns in general) but the relation between both realms has not been specifically addressed yet. The basis of the analysis is 1) the distinction between a) one-action reciprocals and b) two-action reciprocals (prát se 'fight', líbat se 'kiss', milovat se 'make love' versus nenávidět se 'hate each other', navštěvovat se 'visit each other', milovat se 'love each other') and 2) within pluralia tantum, the distinction between a) pair names like brýle 'glasses', nůžky 'scissors', kleště 'pliers' and b) pair names like ruce 'hands', boty 'shoes', brusle 'skates'.
Purpose: The paper introduces and answers the question whether there is analogy between some types of denotations of reciprocal verbs and some types of denotations of pluralia tantum, and whether it is reflected in language in some way.
Results: The authors arrive at the conclusion that the analogy between both language realms under comparison can indeed be assumed, yet it has its limits.
Discussion: Based on an analysis of various language means related to both realms - especially the adverbs spolu 'together' and navzájem/vzájemně 'each other', multiplicative numerals like dvakrát 'twice', set numerals like dvoje 'two sets of', the noun pár 'pair', and summative numerals like čtvero 'four in total' - some degree of analogy can be assumed 1) between the denotations of one-action reciprocals (líbat se 'kiss') and the denotations of nouns like brýle 'glasses', 2) between the denotations of two-action reciprocals (navštěvovat se 'visit each other') and the denotations of nouns like boty 'shoes', 3) between the adverb spolu 'together' and set numerals like dvoje 'two sets of', 4) between the adverb navzájem/vzájemně 'each other' and the noun pár 'pair', 5) between multiplicative numerals like dvakrát 'twice' and summative numerals like čtvero 'four in total'.