Plurale tantum

A plurale tantum (Latin for "plural only"; plural form: pluralia tantum or pluralia tanta) is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to a single object. These are used in English for objects that function as pairs or sets (spectacles, trousers, pants, scissors, clothes, electronics, bagpipes, genitals).

Many languages have pluralia tantum, such as the Latin word kalendae, the Russian word den'gi [деньги] ("money"), the Swedish word inälvor ("intestines"), or the Dutch word hersenen ("brain"). A bilingual example is the Latin word fasces which was brought into English; when referring to the symbol of authority, it is a plurale tantum noun in both languages.

English usage

In English, some plurale tantum nouns have a singular form, but one that is used only attributively. Phrases such as "trouser presses" and "scissor kick" contain the singular form, though it is considered non-standard to say "a trouser" or "a scissor" on their own. This accords with the strong preference for singular nouns in attributive positions in English; however, some words are used in the plural form even as attributive nouns (e.g. "clothes peg", "glasses case").

Tantum

Tantum is a small settlement located in the southwest corner of the island Brava, Cape Verde. It is one of the southernmost settlements in Cape Verde. It is situated in the mountains near the south coast, 6 km southwest of the island capital Nova Sintra.

References

Plurale

Plurale is an album by Italian singer Mina, distributed back to back with album Singolare.

Track listing

Live Performance

El porompompero :

Live Version - Mina Live '78

Michelle: Italian version Live TV '67, album Signori... Mina! vol. 1

Trivia

An album titled Mina was released for the English market in 1978 which included the six English songs founds in Singulare as well as English versions of others Mina's songs translated by Norman Newell. The album cover of Mina was a cropped image of the one on Singulare.