23481
The ending of the first line of the first paragraph in the newspaper article
titled
[さくら市の歩み一冊に](http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/tochigi/news/20150326-OYTNT50467.html)
reads

... さくら市の記念誌を文星芸大（宇都宮市）のデザイン専攻の学生たちが制作した。

My understanding is that that means:  
_The students who majored in design at Bunsei University made a commemorative
book about Sakura City._

What is gained by saying "学生たち" instead of just "学生"? Can't "学生" be plural
without the "たち"?

If I were to re-arrange the sentence as such:

デザイン専攻の学生たちが記念誌を作成した。

would it then be ok to replace "学生たち" with just "学生"?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-26T21:49:46.490
23476
2015-03-27T03:22:55.047
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
9509
question
kanji plurals
Why is "学生" made "plural" in this newspaper article?
Although in some contexts `学生` can be plural (in fact the way you propose to
change the sentence MAY be read that way), as both @istrasci and @dainichi
stated, it could lead to confusion as it could mean either one or many
students. Adding the `たち` confirms that it refers to **more that one** student
and removes this ambiguity.

>   * デザイン専攻の学生が記念誌を作成した。
>     * The design student(s) created a memorial magazine.
>   * デザイン専攻の学生たちが記念誌を作成した。
>     * The design students created a memorial magazine.
>
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2015-03-27T00:24:00.553
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answer
I am going to say that is mainly because it was newspaper article writing,
which is expected to be rather precise by the general public. It is just not
written the same way we speak.

Even if 「たち」 had not been used, well over 90% of the readers would have
understood it to be plural from the context. 90%, however, is not a good
enough number for a newspaper.

> "What is gained by saying "学生たち" instead of just "学生"?"

That remaining 10% that I mentioned above. In addition, the publisher only
gains if the articles are written in professional manners.

> "Can't "学生" be plural without the "たち"?"

Sure can. It is just y'all J-learners who often talk about "singular vs.
plural", not us J-speakers.

In my case, I did not even know the words 「[単数]{たんすう}= "singular"」 and
「[複数]{ふくすう}= "plural"」 until I started learning _**English**_ in junior high
school. I am pretty sure most other J-speakers were like that as kids.

> "If I were to re-arrange the sentence as such:
>
> デザイン専攻の学生たちが記念誌を作成した。
>
> would it then be ok to replace "学生たち" with just "学生"?"

It would be more than just O.K. if it were another type of writing such as an
email to a friend, but in a newspaper article, most people would expect 「たち」
to be there as we have discussed.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-27T00:30:27.927
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2015-03-27T00:30:27.927
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer
If it were 学生 without たち in the first sentence, I would probably interpret it
as a single student, until "専門スタッフ3人と学生約20人" in the middle of the article. At
that point, I would notice the ambiguity and probably think the article is
poorly-written.

I assume a 68-page book can be designed by a single college student who majors
in design, so the plurality was not obvious to me by context. If there are
more than one student, I expect the writer to include at least one clue that
indicates that fact. Of course, たち is not necessary at all, as long as there
is something else which implies the plurality, such as 全員で or 共同で.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-27T03:22:55.047
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answer