33 Collective Plural
In English the plural is usually indicated with an ‘s’ or ‘es’ suffix on the noun. However, in some words the plural is marked by changing the vowel sound, as in ‘tooth’/’teeth;’ in some words the plural is marked by a different suffix as in ‘child’/’children;’ and in some words the plural is the same as the singular, as in ‘deer’ and ‘sheep.’
The Klallam plural differs in several important ways from the European plural. The Klallam plural is both simpler and more complicated than English. Klallam is simpler in that the plural is not usually required. It is more complicated in that it is not marked by a simple suffix; there are a greater variety of ways the plural is marked in Klallam.
There is an important difference in meaning between the English plural and the Klallam plural. The Klallam plural is really a ‘collective plural’ because it is used to refer to a ‘collection’ or ‘group’ or ‘bunch’ of items taken together. So, for example, the word sqəy̓áx̣aʔ is usually translated ‘dogs,’ but a more precise translation would be ‘bunch of dogs’ or ‘group of dogs.’