英语手册English Handbook

Compound words

Variant Pronunciations in words ending in

‘man’April 2012

Words ending in ‘man’

Contents Table

1 Word count Number of words

2 Use Frequency of use

3 Origin Word origin

4 Englishing The Great Stress Shift

5 Spelling Written variations

6 Pronunciation Variations in sound

7 History Historical use

8 Wordbuilding New words

9 Shortening Short forms

Intro

The breakdown here below can be used as a reference guide by teachers and students alike. It forms just one small part of a general analysis of the sound patterns of compound words in Modern English.

1 Word countup

Compound Words ending in ‘man’ Word count split by syllable and sound group

GroupsTwo

syllable words

Three syllable words

Four syllable words

Five syllable words

Six syllable words

Total

1 [stressed ‘a’] 14 15 2 - - 312 [DUAL SOUND] 5 3 1 - 93 [ DUAL SOUND] 6 3 1 1 - 114 [unstressed ‘a’] 57 22 3 - 82

Sub totals 82 43 7 1 -

Total 133

From this 4 way split word count, we can see at a glance which words currently have which sound for the ‘man’ ending. This gives the basic reference material as a starting point for further useful breakdown. The words have been classed into 4 groups based on the phonetic given in current online Webster dictionary entries, and these are set out below. Group 1 has all the words in which ‘man’ is sounded with a stressed ‘a’. Groups 2 & 3 have the two types of dual sound, and group 4 details all the words in which ‘man’ is sounded with an unstressed ‘a’ only. Words with the second word of the compound in bold show an established use of a ‘woman’ form.

Group 1: ‘man’ is sounded with a stressed ‘a’ onlyanchorman Everyman front-man hit-man minuteman stuntman superman yes-man night-watchman ape-man caveman conman family-man fancy-man handyman he-man leading-man

mailman middleman muscle-man newspaperman snowman weatherman righthand-man axe-man Spiderman gasman best-man taxman hatchet-man medicine-man 31

Group 2. Stressed ‘a’ is standard & unstressed ‘a’ is alternativeBusinessman cameraman doorman frogman madman serviceman spaceman milkman repairman 9

Group 3. Unstressed ‘a’ is standard & stressed ‘a’ is alternativecavalryman newsman oilman ombudsman plowman postman pressman signalman Walkman cattleman deliveryman 11

Group 4. ‘man’ is sounded with an unstressed ‘a’ only

19th & 20th century:crewman airman bandsman barman clansman frontiersman grounds-man infantryman lawman linesman longshoreman Norseman patrolman policeman swagman yachtsman 16Pre 19th century:batman batsman bushman congressman dustman laundryman oarsman showman sportsman tribesman washerman draftsman guardsman gunman highwayman liveryman marksman midshipman militiaman nurseryman swordsman warehouseman woodsman chairman clergyman freshman helmsman herdsman huntsman nobleman salesman spokesman statesman tradesman ferryman fisherman foreman henchman layman quarryman watchman boatman churchman countryman Dutchman fireman footman German hangman horseman Scotsman bowman craftsman Irishman Norman Welshman alderman Englishman freeman Frenchman Gentleman headman kinsman seaman workman juryman 66Total number of compound words: 133

Number of words with stressed ‘a’ [Group 1] : 31Number of words with dual sound ‘a’ [Groups 2 & 3]: 20Number of words with unstressed ‘a’ [Group 4]: 82

Note: Surnames with ‘man’ as the ending have not been included here as they typically have the unstressed ‘a’ sound such as in ‘Coleman’, ‘Shipman’, ‘Whitman’, & ‘Chapman’. Others with the double ‘n’ ‘mann’ ending can be treated the same such as in ‘Zimmermann’, and so on.

Word count split by syllable

Group 1: ‘man’ is sounded with a stressed ‘a’ only2 syllableEvery syllable of the compound is a word:front-man hit-man stuntman yes-man ape-man caveman conman he-man mailman snowman axe-man gasman best-man taxman 143 syllable: anchorman Everyman minuteman superman family-man fancy-man handyman leading-man middleman muscle-man weatherman Spiderman hatchet-man 13Every syllable of the compound is a word:night-watchman righthand-man 24 syllablenewspaperman medicine-man 2

Group 2. Stressed ‘a’ is standard & unstressed ‘a’ is alternative2 syllableEvery syllable of the compound is a word:doorman frogman madman spaceman milkman 53 syllableBusinessman serviceman repairman 34 syllableCameraman 1

Group 3. Unstressed ‘a’ is standard & stressed ‘a’ is alternative

2 syllableEvery syllable of the compound is a word:newsman oilman plowman postman pressman Walkman 63 syllableombudsman signalman cattleman 34 syllableCavalryman 15 syllabledeliveryman 1

Group 4. ‘man’ is sounded with an unstressed ‘a’ only

2 syllable

Every syllable of the compound is a word:Crewman airman bandsman barman clansman grounds-man lawman linesman Norseman swagman yachtsman batman batsman bushman dustman oarsman showman sportsman tribesman draftsman guardsman gunman marksman swordsman woodsman chairman freshman helmsman herdsman huntsman salesman spokesman statesman tradesman foreman henchman layman watchman boatman churchman Dutchman fireman footman German hangman horseman Scotsman bowman craftsman Norman Welshman freeman Frenchman headman kinsman seaman workman 573 syllablefrontiersman patrolman policeman congressman laundryman washerman liveryman midshipman clergyman nobleman ferryman fisherman quarryman countryman Irishman alderman Englishman Gentleman juryman 19Every syllable of the compound is a word:longshoreman highwayman warehouseman 34 syllableinfantryman militiaman nurseryman 3

2 syllable compounds: 82 of which all are made up of two words3 syllable compounds: 40 of which 5 are made up of three words4 syllable compounds: 7 of which 0 are made up of four words5 syllable words: 1Number of compound words: 133

2 Split by frequency of use.

The frequency-of-use categories below can serve as a general guide and breakdown, from which the dominant unstressed ‘a’ sound in ‘man’ can be taken as evidence of compound-words with a long

history of common use. However it does not follow that all words with the unstressed ‘a’ sound are in common use now, and hence the need for a rough split based on current frequency of use. In the ‘most common use’ category, of the 5 out of 7 words that have the unstressed ‘a’ only variant, all 5 predate the 19th century, and from this we can understand that their earlier historical influence has been significant and still ongoing.

Most common use Group 1mailmanGroup 2businessman madmanGroup3postmanGroup 4chairman spokesman gentleman policeman gunman fisherman workman

Common useGroup 1anchorman front-man hit-man stuntman superman yes-man conman family-man handyman middleman snowman gasman best-man taxman 16Group 2cameraman doorman serviceman spaceman repairman milkman 6

Group3oilman ombudsman Walkman deliveryman 4Group 4barman lawman linesman batsman congressman showman sportsman freshman salesman statesman foreman layman countryman Dutchman fireman German Scotsman craftsman Irishman Welshman Englishman Frenchman seaman 23

Less common use:Group 1Everyman minuteman night-watchman crewman juryman ape-man caveman fancy-man he-man leading-man muscle-man newspaperman weatherman right-hand-man axeman spiderman hatchet-man medicine-man 18Group 2frogmanGroup3cavalryman newsman plowman pressman signalman cattlemanGroup 4airman bandsman clansman frontiersman grounds man infantryman longshoreman Norseman patrolman swagman yachtsman batman bushman dustman laundryman oarsman tribesman washerman draftsman guardsman highwayman liveryman marksman midshipman militiaman nurseryman swordsman warehouseman woodsman clergyman helmsman herdsman huntsman nobleman tradesman ferryman henchman quarryman watchman boatman churchman footman hangman horseman bowman Norman alderman freeman headman kinsman 51

3 Origin

For hybrid compounds the Non-Germanic word is highlighted in bold. In this type of breakdown the compound can usefully represent the hybrid nature of the language as a whole, and thus work as handy reference material for word structure study.

Group 1: ‘man’ is sounded with a stressed ‘a’ onlyanchorman Everyman front-man hit-man minuteman stuntman superman yes-man night-watchman ape-man caveman conman family-man fancy-man handyman he-man leading-man

mailman middleman muscle-man newspaperman snowman weatherman righthand-man axe-man Spiderman gasman best-man taxman hatchet-man medicine-man 13 out of 31 are hybrid

Group 2. Stressed ‘a’ is standard & unstressed ‘a’ is alternativeBusinessman cameraman doorman frogman madman serviceman spaceman milkman repairman 4 out of 9 are hybrid

Group 3. Unstressed ‘a’ is standard & stressed ‘a’ is alternativecavalryman newsman oilman ombudsman plowman postman pressman signalman Walkman cattleman deliveryman 6 out of 11 are hybrid

Group 4. ‘man’ is sounded with an unstressed ‘a’ only19th & 20th century:crewman airman bandsman barman clansman frontiersman grounds-man infantryman lawman linesman longshoreman Norseman patrolman policeman swagman yachtsman 9 out of 16 are hybrid Pre 19th century:batman batsman bushman congressman dustman laundryman oarsman showman sportsman tribesman washerman draftsman guardsman gunman highwayman liveryman marksman midshipman militiaman nurseryman swordsman warehouseman woodsman chairman clergyman freshman helmsman herdsman huntsman nobleman salesman spokesman statesman tradesman ferryman fisherman foreman henchman layman quarryman watchman boatman churchman countryman Dutchman fireman footman German hangman horseman Scotsman bowman craftsman Irishman Norman Welshman alderman Englishman freeman Frenchman Gentleman headman kinsman seaman workman juryman 16 out of 66 are hybrid

Total hybrid words: 48 out of 133

4 Englishing.--The Great Stress Shift

The tendency for the main stress to shift onto the first word in compounds is the natural result of their common use in spoken language contexts which then drive the change and thereby establish it as a general rule. In the period of changeover from one stress pattern to another, dual stresses are likely and often cause difficulty. For the words ending in ‘man’, those most likely to cause problems are those which have a common use adjective as the first word such as ‘superman’, ‘freshman’, ‘nobleman’, ‘freeman’, and ‘best-man’. Of these only ‘best-man’ has the dictionary entry with ‘man’ as the main stress word of the compound, and therefore this word is a good current example to test in context and thereby understand both the reasons for the stress shift and how the changeover process works in practice. The example of ‘best man’ :Compounds with adjectives such as ‘best man’ will tend to take shifting stress when used attributively.

1. Predicative use of the compound ‘best man’:The groom’s classmate is the best man. In such predicative usage, the typical ‘adjective plus noun structure’ stress pattern is unlikely to cause difficulty at the end of the sentence. 2. Attributive use of ‘best man’The best man speech was shocking!In such usage the ‘best man’ stress pattern of the compound typically changes to follow the well set historical model of firstly a dual pronunciation ‘best man - best man’ , and then changeover to a final ‘best man’ stress only, as shown in the table below:

Stage History Main stress change process by stage复合词变音化过程

1 19th C best man

Stages 2-& 3 --------- Dual stressSTANDARD ALTERNATIVE

2 20th C best man best man3 best man best man

4 best manNotes:1. best man dates from the early 19th century replacing groomsman.

The main reasons for change:[1] To avoid misunderstandingIn the above attributive usage of ‘best man’, firstly, a change is likely if the predicative use stress pattern for ‘best man’ results in ambiguity given the structural possibility of hearing ‘best’ as the adjective, and ‘man speech’ as the compound. Thus to avoid a rephrasing such as ‘the speech of the best man was shocking’, a stress shift gives a new compound made up of ‘best man’ as the first word and ‘speech’ as the second.

Other examples in which a stress shift will change the meaning are ‘superman’, ‘freeman’, ‘nobleman’, & ‘freshman’. Thus compare the following pairs:

1. He’s a super man2. He’s a superman.

1. He’s a free man now2. He’s a freeman of this city

1. He’s a noble man2. He’s a nobleman.

1. We need a fresh man for this job.2. We need a freshman for this job

[2] To suit common speech patternsSecondly, such change in stress position can be understood as a simple adjustment to suit the speech pattern of the sentence. This type of change can best be understood by reading Nursery Rhymes. For example ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich man, Poor man, Beggar man Thief’ shows how ‘rich man’ & ‘poor man’ follow the ‘stressed then unstressed syllable’ speech pattern of the first part of the rhyme, thus giving ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich man, Poor man, Beggar man Thief’. If we take out ‘Rich man’ and put ‘best man’ in its place and then try to read from the top, the rhythm of the whole rhyme will be upset:

‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich man, best man, Beggar man Thief’Thus, ‘best man’ will change to ‘best man’.

5 Spelling

Although there are no fixed rules for spelling, most compound words listed in dictionaries are written together as if one word. The noun function phrasal verbs are always either hyphenated or written as one word for example, ‘blowup’ & ‘break-in’. New compound nouns are most likely to be written apart or hyphenated. A glance through the list of words that are recent compounds from the 19th and 20th centuries shows the different types of spelling. Generally, compounds that are written together as if one word show a history of common use.

anchorman Everyman front-man hit-man minuteman stuntman superman yes-man night-watchman ape-man caveman conman family man fancy man handyman he-man leading-man mailman middleman newspaperman snowman weatherman right-hand-man axe man Spiderman gasman best-man taxman hatchet-man muscleman medicine-man

Compounds that are written apart are the most difficult to identify when reading and cause further problems when used attributively in front of others giving 3, 4, & 5 word compounds as a result. This use of such longer structures has been steadily increasing over the last 50 years and is now well established in both speech and writing. However, since they are made-up creations, unlike the established 2 word compounds, they can’t be looked up in a dictionary. Therefore knowledge of their structure is a must in order to be able to interpret and pronounce them correctly. Effectively they can be understood as being a ‘short form’, or a paraphrase of longer traditional grammatical structures. [See footnote 1]

6 Variant pronunciations—Sound differences

1. General analysis:Study of the dictionary record back to the 17th century shows that sound change in unstressed vowels has been a typical feature of the multisyllabic words in general and the Latinate and Greek part of English vocab in particular, but rare in compound words. Changes that have led to variant pronunciations throughout this time have certainly been influenced by the common ‘stressed word followed by unstressed word’ pattern of everyday speech, proverbs, nursery rhymes, poetry, song, and so on. However into this pattern, the compound words do not easily fit unless the two parts are separable as in the phrasal verbs, or joined by an unstressed linking vowel in nouns. For example, ‘size down’ will fit the pattern in ‘size it down’ [SUS] , but not so easily in the noun form ‘a sizedown’ [SS]. Inseparable ‘downsize’ as in ‘downsize it’ [SSU] also has two stressed syllables side by side. In order to fit such compounds into the common speech

pattern the second word has to be reduced while at the same time keeping the vowel sound intact. In speech therefore the second word is sounded with less force which when combined with a reduced or mute final consonant, creates the effect of an unstressed syllable and thereby restores the original pattern [SU]. Thus the second word of a compound can be classed as having ‘secondary’ stress on the strength of its vowel, but in a speech pattern analysis it will be classed as an unstressed word. Thus, the monosyllabic words of the compound have been and still are typically resistant to vowel reduction. The difference in behavior of unstressed vowels as a function of word length can be understood by comparing the two parts of a compound in which one part is multisyllabic and the other not. Thus, see for example the compound ‘cameraman’. [‘camera’ + ‘man’. See footnote 2]

Although compounds are by definition multisyllabic, they are structurally different to other words because each syllable is also a word in 2 syllable compounds, and sometimes in 3 syllable words, and therefore they behave differently in context. Thus, ‘highwayman’ and ‘camera’ can both be classed as 3 syllable words, however the vowels in ‘highwayman’ are all stressed and so each part of the compound has to be assigned a stress level as either ‘main’, ‘secondary’, or ‘tertiary’. Thus ‘highwayman’ can be classed as a three syllable, three word compound with main stress on the first word, secondary stress on the second word, and tertiary stress on the last word, whereas ‘camera’ is a 3 syllable word in which the 1st syllable is the only one that is stressed and the others can be classed as unstressed. If the ‘a’ in the third stress ‘man’ part of ‘highwayman’ is de-stressed then this part of the compound can then be classed as ‘unstressed’. There are many examples of this type of de-stressing in compounds ending in ‘man’, and although the historical reason for it has not been explained, it is most likely due to a combination of factors, namely the ‘stressed word followed by unstressed word’ pattern influence together with a high rate of use in everyday speech. Furthermore, the large number of words, the similarity of the plural sound of ‘men’ to that of the unstressed ‘man’, & lastly, the use of common surnames ending in ‘man’ are also likely to have had a big influence.

However, in the single syllable part of any compound that does not have the main stress, for example in ‘fast’ of ’breakfast’, ‘wards’ of ‘forwards’, ‘land’ of ‘headland’, ‘& ‘man’ of ‘cameraman’, the ‘a’ can in theory easily be de-stressed, but in practice the stressed vowel has to be used when such words stand alone. This influence can be understood as a strong counter tendency that will clearly hold back any change in the compound. Thus historically there have been few examples of such change.

Those words that have changed can therefore be thought of as exceptional and will usually have a dual sound, and create persistent variant pronunciations. Thus in the word ‘man’ as the second word of a compound, although the de-stressed sound of the ‘a’ has become standardized in many words and also influences the sound in others, the stressed ‘a’ sound can still be used and is typically heard in all new words. The persistence of this type of dual sound can be compared to that found in the ‘a’ of the Germanic ‘are’, ‘was’, ‘can’, ‘shall’, ‘have’, ‘had‘, has’, ‘as’, ‘and’, ‘a’, ‘an’, & ‘at’ which can all be sounded with either a stressed or unstressed ‘a’ in standard connected speech unless they are otherwise stressed to fit structurally, for emphasis or for special effect, in which cases the stressed ‘a’ has to be used. In standard speech the unstressed variants have long been the preferred sound.

2. The variant pronunciations of the ‘man’ ending in compound wordsThe variant pronunciations of the vowel sound ‘a’ in ‘man’ detailed in dictionary entries often cause uncertainty over which one to use, and therefore the following breakdown of the current dual sound entries can give some guidance on which variant to choose for the words in Groups 2 & 3 below:

Group 2. Stressed ‘a’ is standard & unstressed ‘a’ is alternativeMost common use: Businessman madmanCommon use: cameraman doorman serviceman spaceman milkman repairmanLess common use: frogmanGroup 3. Unstressed ‘a’ is standard & stressed ‘a’ is alternative

Most common use: postmanCommon use: oilman ombudsman Walkman deliverymanLess common use: cavalryman newsman plowman pressman signalman cattleman

Stage History sound change process by stages ------ 发音变化过程1 Stressed ‘a’ sound ONLY: [man] [ mæn ]

Stages 2-& 3 --------- DUAL soundSTANDARD ALTERNATIVE

2 [man] [ mæn ] [ mən ]3 [ mən ] [man] [ mæn ]

4 Unstressed sound ONLY : [ mən ]

KeyWebster: [US English phonetic]: Stressed sound of ‘a’ [man]

Unstressed sound of ‘a’ [mən]

Oxford: [British English phonetic] Stressed sound of ‘a’ [mæn]Unstressed sound of ‘a’ [mən]

From these groupings we can understand the current dual sounds as showing words in changeover from an original single sound of ‘a’ as stressed ‘a’ to a final single sound of ‘a’ as unstressed ‘a’ . This changeover can be understood as a 4 stage process of change as set out in the table above which also gives a model starting point for understanding such variants in proper historical context.Given that the words currently in Group 2 have some history of usage with the unstressed ‘a’ sound, and are likely to move on to Group 3 in future, using the unstressed ‘a’ variant can be understood as the progressive choice. Words currently in Group 3 can be understood as having a longer history of usage with the unstressed ‘a’ and can be understood as effectively at stage 4, and a choice made accordingly. A good understanding of the current breakdown and process is the best guide to understanding and interpreting the future changes as they happen. The words classed currently in Group 1 can also be understood as transitional and therefore likely to have dual pronunciation in future.

Group1 wordsanchorman Everyman front-man hit-man minuteman stuntman superman yes-man night-watchman ape-man caveman conman family-man fancy-man handyman he-man leading-man mailman middleman muscle-man newspaperman snowman weatherman righthand-man axe-man Spiderman gasman best-man taxman hatchet-man medicine-man

Furthermore, understanding the earlier treatment of these words will give the overall historical background. All the pre 19th century compound words with ‘man’ given by Walker’s 1797 dictionary have the stressed sound of ‘a’ in ‘man’ as the standard, but in his general notes on pronunciation Walker states that this ‘a’ when unstressed…..‘might be written ‘mun’ in ‘nobleman’ ‘husbandman’, ‘woman’, and so on. ‘ The entries that he gives for all such compounds can therefore be understood as dual sound and classed accordingly as either stage 2 or 3 at that time. Walker’s list of words with dual sound:

juryman madman milkman plowman dustman sportsman highwayman liveryman marksman midshipman swordsman woodsman chairman clergyman herdsman huntsman nobleman salesman spokesman statesman tradesman ferryman fisherman foreman layman quarryman watchman churchman countryman fireman footman hangman horseman bowman freeman gentleman headsman kinsman seaman workman [words that still have a stressed sound for the ‘a’ in ‘man’ are highlighted in bold] John Walker’s ‘Critical Pronouncing Dictionary & Expositor of the English Language’, 2nd Edition 1797.

Words ending in ‘man’ Dual Sound words Current status [2012]

WORDAmerican English

British English Histor

yCurrent

Frequency of use

NotesSTAGE Differences between British and

American usage: Some differences are likely in the period of changeover but it is unusual to find older words such as ‘madman’, ‘plowman’ and ‘milkman’ that are different.

businesman 2 2 19th C Most commonmadman 2 4 14th CDoorman 2 4 19th C

common

repairman 2 1 19th Ccameraman 2 1 20th Cserviceman 2 4 19th Cspaceman 2 1 20th Cmilkman 2 4 17th Cfrogman 2 4 20th C Less common

postman 3 4 19th C Most commonoilman 3 1 20th C

commonombudsman 3 3 20th CWalkman 3 4 20th Cdeliveryman 3 ? 19th Cnewsman 3 1 17th C

Less common

signalman 3 4 18th Cplowman 3 4 13th Ccattleman 3 4 19th Ccavalryman 3 4 19th Cpressman 3 1 17th C

7 History

20th century Compound Words ending in ‘man’. The sound of the ‘a’ in ‘man’ is the stressed sound of the letter ‘a’ as heard in the words, ‘can’, ‘fan’, ‘man’, ‘pan’, ‘ran’, ‘tan’ & so on.anchorman Everyman front man hit man

minuteman stuntman superman yes-man

night watchman crewman

19th century & 20th centuryCompound Words ending in ‘man’. Dual Sound of the ‘a’: From the words in this section we can understand the current dual sounds as showing words in changeover from an original single sound of stressed ‘a’ to a final single sound of unstressed ‘a’ .

1. Standard sound is stressed ‘a’ and the alternative is unstressed ‘a’. businessman 19th cameraman 20th doorman 19th

frogman 20th madman 14th serviceman 19th

spaceman 20th repairman 19thmilkman-17th

2. Standard sound is unstressed ‘a’ and the alternative is stressed ‘a’.

cavalryman 19th newsman 17th oilman 19th ombudsman 20th

plowman 13th postman 19th pressman 17th signalman 18th

Walkman 20thcattleman 19th deliveryman19th

19th century

1. Compound Words ending in ‘man’. Sound of the ‘a’ is unstressed ‘a’ which is the sound of ‘a’ in the words, ‘along’, ‘among’, ‘alone’, ‘about’, ‘another’, ‘ago’ & so on.airman bandsman barman clansman frontiersman grounds man infantryman lawman linesman longshoreman Norseman patrolman policeman swagman yachtsman 2. Compound Words ending in ‘man’. The sound of the ‘a’ in ‘man’ is the stressed sound of the letter ‘a’ as heard in the words, ‘can’, ‘fan’, ‘man’, ‘pan’, ‘ran’, ‘tan’ & so on.ape-man caveman conman family-man fancy-man handyman he-man leading-man mailman middleman newspaperman snowman weatherman right-hand-man axe-man Spiderman gasman best-man taxman hatchet-man muscleman medicine-man12th century to 18th centuryCompound Words ending in ‘man’. Sound of the ‘a’ is unstressed ‘a’ which is the sound of ‘a’ in the words, ‘along’, ‘among’, ‘alone’, ‘about’, ‘another’, ‘ago’ & so on.18th century batman batsman bushman congressman dustman laundryman oarsman showman sportsman tribesman washerman17th centurydraftsman guardsman gunman highwayman liveryman marksman midshipman militiaman nurseryman swordsman warehouseman woodsman 16th centurychairman, clergyman statesman freshman helmsman herdsman huntsman nobleman salesman spokesman statesman tradesman 15th centuryferryman fisherman foreman henchman layman quarryman watchman 14th centuryboatman churchman countryman Dutchman fireman footman German hangman horseman Scotsman 13th centurybowman craftsman Irishman Norman Welshman

12th centuryalderman Englishman freeman Frenchman gentleman headman kinsman seaman workman

8 New words. Made-to-suit compounds, still often called ‘ad hoc’ forms, are common in everyday speech, and so new words are likely to come up in spoken or printed material contexts. Some useful guidelines on new compounds are set out below:

Guidelines for 2 word compounds:1. The first word of the compound takes the main stress.2. The ‘man’ part of the compound takes the secondary stress, and thus the ‘a’ sound is a ‘stressed ‘a’. 3. For spelling there are no fixed rules but generally new compounds are written apart and thereafter may be hyphenated and finally written together. Thus for example we can compare the current ‘cavalryman’ with the 1913 Webster record which had it hyphenated as ‘cavalry-man’ . 4. Compounds which have adjectives as the first word such as ‘best man’ will tend to take shifting stress when used attributively. [See: 4 Great Stress Shift]. 5. The use of ‘man’ with the sense of ‘fan’ or simply to express preference is also common, as in ‘a football man’ instead of ‘a football fan’, and ‘a DIY man’ meaning a man who prefers to do household jobs himself, rather than pay a professional to do them. 6. Some examples of recent words are: Action-man mega-man adman pizza-man earthmanGuidelines for 3 word compounds: [See ‘best man speech’ in 4 Great Stress Shift]

9 Shortening

Although the unstressed ‘a’ can be understood as a shortening, the words ending in ‘man’ that are currently heard with this vowel unstressed are not usually classed as shortenings. However

since the final consonant ‘n’ is also reduced when it doesn’t link, then the combined effect of a reduced vowel and a reduced consonant clearly shortens the syllable. When the word or words preceding ‘man’ can also be shortened then the effect is greater: Thus, for example in ‘postman’, the ‘t’ of ‘post’ can not link to the ‘m’ of ‘man’, and therefore it is silent:

pos[t]m[a][n] Thus, in ‘here’s the postman’, ‘postman’ can easily be heard as ‘posma’ [ˈpəʊsmə] . Other compounds with unstressed vowels that are typically not sounded are set out below:

med[e]cine man

deliv[e]ryman

liv[e]ryman

cam[e]raman

ev[e]ryman

nurs[e]ryman

fam[i]ly man

p[o]liceman

Footnotes [1] Compound word difficulties

3 word compounds

corruption clampdown listDisaster Management Office oil spill disaster

peak viewing time privacy protection record street vendor ban

4 word compoundsfreight train drivers strikePeak viewing time figures

Oil spill disaster victims

There is often confusion about the different ways of writing compound words, and so firstly the terms used to define them are given below:

Definitions:

1 . Established compound word: a compound word that can be looked up in the dictionary

2 Ad hoc or ‘made-up’ compound word: a compound word that can’t be looked up in a dictionary

3 Joinedup compound word: a compound word that is written as one word.

4 Hyphenated compound word: a compound word that uses a hyphen to join the two words together.

5 Split compound: a compound in which the words are written apart.As an everyday means of expression the compound has steadily been replacing other constructions. For example, compare the following pairs of sentences:

Example 1

1. The voter turn-out was low. (5 words)2. The number of voters that turned out was low. (9 words)

Example 2

1. The voter turn-out statistics are nearly finished. (8 words)2. The statistics about how many people turned out to vote are nearly finished. (13 words)

Example 3

1. The voter turn-out statistic breakdown is nearly finished. (8 words)2. The statistical breakdown of how many people turned out to vote is nearly finished. (14 words)

The meaning of each sentence is the same but clearly the structure is very different. If we now add another word, the traditional construction becomes even longer.

Example 41. The voter turn-out statistic breakdown expert is nearly finished. (10 words)2. The expert who deals with the statistical breakdown of how many people have turned out to vote is nearly finished. (20 words)

When we compare these pairs of sentences for length we can understand why the compound has been pushing out the other ways of expression. This explains why the written constructions have changed. If we now compare how long it takes to say each of the sentences, we can also understand how the compound has influenced the spoken word. All this makes logical sense given

the world of Radio and Television broadcasts that have to fit into a given time, and Newspapers and magazines that have to fit words into limited space.

[2] The treatment of unstressed vowels in compounds.

In the multisyllabic part of the compound, ‘camera’, the unstressed ‘e’ has dropped out in standard connected speech. [See Webster: [1.ˈkam-rə, 2. ˈka-mər-ə] & Oxford: [ˈkæm(ə)rə] ] .

However, in the single syllable part ‘man’, the vowel can be de-stressed but if it were to drop out it would turn the word into a consonant cluster ‘mn’ that could not easily stand alone except as an acronym and be pronounced accordingly.

In the few words that do have this cluster in English, the ‘n’ is silent when the ‘mn’ ends a syllable such as in ‘autumn’, ‘condemn’, ‘damn’, ‘column’, ‘hymn’, & ‘solemn’, and typically sounded when the ‘m’ ends one syllable and the ‘n’ begins the next one as in ‘ca-lum-ny’, ‘am-nes-i-a’, ‘am-nes-ty’, ‘chim-ney’, ‘in-dem-ni-ty’, ‘in-som-ni-a’, ‘gym-nast’, ‘om-ni-po-tent’, & ‘rem-nant’. The best example to show the process of de-stressing and final dropout to leave such a consonant cluster is the last word in the above list ‘remnant’ which historically can be understood as the Englished form of the Old French ‘remanant’. As a result of stress shift to the 1st syllable, either directly or by step, the French sound of this word changed and the first ‘a’ of ‘remanant’ eventually dropped out thus leaving ‘remnant’ which was later spelt as it was sounded and entered the written language thus. It is a good example of a word that escaped the later attempts by scholars to restore original Latin spellings of words adopted from French.

In ‘Re-ma-nant’, none of the syllables are words and thus the de-stressing of the vowels is unlikely to be checked by any strong counter tendency. Thus, clearly sound change in words is also

a function of the intelligibility of their individual syllables.