Among the many cases of pluralia tantum, one particular subclass of verb phrases has specific properties that cannot be accounted for within the theoretical framework of collective numerals. This study claims that it is in fact an extension of a former adverbial -s, which served first in coining adverbs, then for items such as nicknames, exclamatives and ritual formulae, and finally ended up as a lexicalization mark in building verb phrases with expressive content.
CLIL theme: 3147 -- SCIENCES HUMAINES ET SOCIALES, LETTRES -- Lettres et Sciences du langage -- Linguistique, Sciences du langage