In praise of linguistic innovation

[John Dingley]

Surely more than "procurators fiscal"!

Wikipedia gives some more, all of which are standard for me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural#Plurals_of_compound_nouns

John Dingley

Quoting John Dunn <j.dunn at SLAVONIC.ARTS.GLA.AC.UK>:

> I don't know if ¬ã ¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬â¬à¬Ø¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬Ö¬Þ [s den'rozhden'em] is
> ¬à¬Ò¬í¬é¬ß¬Ñ¬ñ ¬Ò¬Ö¬Ù¬Ô¬â¬Þ¬à¬ä¬ß¬à¬ã¬ä¬î [obychnaja bezgramotnost'].  The
> re-analysis of the phrase as a single word is not perhaps that unusual: it
> can be argued that something similar happens with English birthday (with no
> grammatical implications, but with consequences for spelling and
> pronunciation), with Italian compleanno (with grammatical implications for
> the formation of the plural) and, perhaps most relevantly, in the languages
> formerly known as Serbo-Croat with ro©¢endan (with implications for the
> declension).  In Russian a simllar (though not, I agree, an identical)
> re-analysis takes place with the sequence name + patronymic: ¬Á ¬ä¬à¬Ý¬î¬Ü¬à
> ¬é¬ä¬à ¬Ò¬í¬Ý ¬å ¬ª¬Ó¬Ñ¬ß ¬ª¬Ó¬Ñ¬ß¬í¬é¬Ñ [Ja tol'ko chto byl u Ivan
> Ivanycha], which you may or may not wish to consider ¬à¬Ò¬í¬é¬ß¬Ñ¬ñ
> ¬Ò¬Ö¬Ù¬é¬Ô¬â¬Þ¬à¬ä¬ß¬à¬ã¬ä¬î.
>
> Still, if ¬ã ¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬â¬à¬Ø¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬Ö¬Þ can triumph over both what appears at
> least to the likes of us to be a transparent grammatical structure and the
> massed ranks of the defenders of linguistic orthodoxy, this might well be an
> achievement worthy of note.  Except for one troubling thought: in these days
> when, as we have just seen, no-one quite knows any more what is or is not a
> parody, might it not be the case that those who continue to use ‹
> ¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬â¬à¬Ø¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬Ö¬Þ even after reaching the age of grammatical
> discretion do so precisely because their elders and betters consider it
> 'wrong'?  After all, the deliberate flouting of traditional norms is not
> exactly a rarity in present-day Russian.
>
> John Dunn.
>
> P.S. I am old enough to remember the days when Rugby Union commentators
> routinely referred to 'lines-out'; now only 'line-outs' is heard, and while
> someone is sure to leap in to prove me wrong,  I suspect that the only
> surviving English compound noun that adds the plural ending to the first part
> is 'procurator(s) fiscal'.
>
> ________________________________________
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of STEPHEN MARDER [asured at VERIZON.NET]
> Sent: 07 October 2010 16:10
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Subject: [SEELANGS]
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Bradley Agnew Gorski <bradleygorski at GMAIL.COM>
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Sent: Thu, October 7, 2010 9:47:50 AM
> Subject: [SEELANGS]
>
> Irina and others:
>
> I'm interested in a follow-up question: Do children then congratulate each
> other (and their parents) with the words, "¬ã ¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬â¬à¬Ø¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬Ú¬Ö¬Þ"?
>
> Bradley
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
>
>
> Yes -- and no. A forum posting summarizes the situation thusly:
>
> ¬¯¬Ö ¬Þ¬à¬Ô¬å ¬ß¬Ö ¬à¬Ò¬â¬Ñ¬ä¬Ú¬ä¬î ¬Ó¬ß¬Ú¬Þ¬Ñ¬ß¬Ú¬Ö ¬ß¬Ñ ¬à¬Õ¬Ú¬ß
> ¬Ý¬Ú¬ß¬Ô¬Ó¬Ú¬ã¬ä¬Ú¬é¬Ö¬ã¬Ü¬Ú¬Û ¬Ü¬Ñ¬Ù¬å¬ã: ¬Ó ¬á¬à¬ã¬Ý¬Ö¬Õ¬ß¬Ö¬Ö ¬Ó¬â¬Ö¬Þ¬ñ
> ¬Ó
> ¬Þ¬à¬Ý¬à¬Õ¬×¬Ø¬ß¬à¬Û ¬ã¬â¬Ö¬Õ¬Ö ¬ã¬ä¬Ñ¬Ý¬à ¬á¬â¬Ú¬ß¬ñ¬ä¬à ¬Ô¬à¬Ó¬à¬â¬Ú¬ä¬î
> "¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬â¬à¬Ø¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬Ú¬Ö" (¬à¬Õ¬ß¬Ú¬Þ ¬ã¬Ý¬à¬Ó¬à¬Þ ¬ã¬â¬Ö¬Õ¬ß¬Ö¬Ô¬à
> ¬â¬à¬Õ¬Ñ!). ¬³¬à¬à¬ä¬Ó¬Ö¬ä¬ã¬ä¬Ó¬Ö¬ß¬ß¬à, ¬Ú ¬á¬à¬Ù¬Õ¬â¬Ñ¬Ó¬Ý¬ñ¬ð¬ä
> ¬ä¬Ö¬á¬Ö¬â¬î ¬ß¬Ö ¬ã "¬Õ¬ß¬×¬Þ ¬â¬à¬Ø¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬Ú¬ñ", ¬Ñ ¬ã
> "¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬î¬â¬à¬Ø¬Õ¬Ö¬ß¬Ú¬Ö¬Þ". ¬¥¬å¬Þ¬Ñ¬ð ¬Ó¬ã¬× ¬Ø¬Ö, ¬é¬ä¬à ¬ï¬ä¬à ¬ß¬Ö
> ¬ß¬à¬Ó¬à¬ñ¬Ù, ¬Ñ ¬à¬Ò¬í¬é¬ß¬Ñ¬ñ ¬Ò¬Ö¬Ù¬Ô¬â¬Ñ¬Þ¬à¬ä¬ß¬à¬ã¬ä¬î.
> ¬´¬à¬é¬ß¬à ¬ä¬Ñ¬Ü¬Ñ¬ñ ¬Ø¬Ö, ¬Ü¬Ñ¬Ü ¬Ô¬à¬Ó¬à¬â¬Ú¬ä¬î "¬Ó
> ¬Õ¬Ó¬å¬ç¬ä¬í¬ã¬ñ¬é¬ß¬à¬Õ¬Ö¬Ó¬ñ¬ä¬à¬Þ ¬Ô¬à¬Õ¬å" ¬Ó¬Þ¬Ö¬ã¬ä¬à
> ¬á¬â¬Ñ¬Ó¬Ú¬Ý¬î¬ß¬à¬Ô¬à "¬Ó
> ¬Õ¬Ó¬Ö ¬ä¬í¬ã¬ñ¬é¬Ú ¬Õ¬Ö¬Ó¬ñ¬ä¬à¬Þ ¬Ô¬à¬Õ¬å". ¬¥¬â¬å¬Ù¬î¬ñ, ¬ã¬â¬à¬é¬ß¬à
> ¬Ú¬ã¬á¬â¬Ñ¬Ó¬Ý¬ñ¬Ö¬Þ¬ã¬ñ! (
> http://comport.region.kz/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19679 )
>
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