A people is any population of people regarded collectively as a collective whole. In the modern world, people are groups of people with similar culture, beliefs and objectives who share a common life experience. People may be grouped into different categories according to their cultural background and/or socio-economic status, such as poor, middle class, upper or lower educated, etc. This way, grouping people will make it easier for them to understand and relate to each other more effectively.
The process of naming persons after identifying them from a database is known as Ethnicity and Identity Development (IEID). In most cases, persons are assigned this code of identification based on the principle of blood quantum. According to this principle, persons with the same surname, birthdate and ethnic group are automatically entitled to the same monetary benefits and social benefits. However, some Ethnicity and Identity Development cases may involve criminal prosecution. For instance, if an ethnic group has a higher rate of crimes, more persons will be named in criminal proceedings.
For the purpose of IEID, people can be grouped into many groups, depending on their ethnicity, language, cultural beliefs, heritage, nationality, sexual orientation, and so on. For example, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Indonesian, Indian, Puerto Rican, Spanish, Pakistani, and so on. Some people may have multiple ancestors from the same ethnic group. In such cases, people can be assigned an array of people nouns to symbolize the different branches of the family tree.
The first part of the hierarchy is the plural persons, which include all people who have at least one ethnic identity. Another group is the singular persons, which include all people who have at least one ethnic identity but no other cultural affiliation. Another type is the multiple ethnic group, which includes all people who have at least one cultural heritage or language. Finally, there are the supergroups, which are the people who have at least two cultural backgrounds or language and multiple ethnic identities.
In most modern languages, the plurals of people nouns are usually either elision or approximation. For example, Spanish gratera, German schauz, and Chinese tuo. Adjectives that indicate the number of ethnic groups or languages are also usually plural.
The nouns describing a single ethnic group, like “Chinese” or “Indian”, can also be plural. However, in those languages, all persons within an ethnic group are referred to as one person. On the other hand, persons who belong to different ethnic groups are usually considered to be one person. That is why sometimes the phrases “all blacks” or “all Indians” refer to the same persons (respective of their actual ethnic backgrounds), while at other times they are used to denote separate races or ethnicities. Similarly, the phrases “all Italians” or “all Jews” refer to single people, irrespective of their cultural background and ethnic affiliation.