Words in English public website
Ling/Engl 215 course information
Rice University
Prof. S. Kemmer

Classical Plurals

Kinds of irregular plural situations that arose from borrowing Latinate words along with their plurals

Variation between classical and nativized plural

Semantic split, cases of divergence of two related meanings
antennae vs. antennas
Variation as part of changing of what counts as the standard form

singular plural millennium millennia vs. millenniums
millennia memoranda vs. memorandums

markedness reversal, i.e. change of what counts as the basic form

singular plural criterion criteria


Last modified 20 Aug 13