hypercorrect pluralization of attributives

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Mar 29, 2009, at 5:21 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> The first of these I noticed was "the jobs market," sometime around
> 2002.

there's a considerable literature on english N+N compounds with a
plural in the first slot ("abstracts committee").  (i exclude here
cases where N1 is in fact a singular noun that is plural in form --
like "measles" or "linguistics" -- or an invariably plural noun --
like "eaves".)

there are all sorts of special cases.  for example, there are cases
where N1 is almost invariably plural, probably because the version
with the singular would allow a reading with the first word understood
as an adjective: "abstracts committee" rather than "abstract
committee". avoidance of ambiguity probably plays a role in some other
examples in my collection, though in these cases singular N1 would
also be possible and is in fact attested: "compounds research" (rather
than "compound research"), "antiques shop" (rather than "antique shop"
-- i posted on "antique(s)" here on ADS-L on 12/26/03), "mixed greens
salad" (rather than "mixed green salad"), "tops referral
service" (rather than "top referral service" -- the service refers men
to other men who will serve as a top in sexual encounters).

then there's a much-discussed class of cases where N1 is an irregular
plural.  from the abstract for
  Haskell, T.R., MacDonald, M.C., & Seidenberg, M.S. "Language
learning and innateness: Some implications of compounds research".
Cognitive Psychology, 47, 119-163. (2003):

In noun compounds in English, the modifying noun may be singular
(mouse-eater) or an irregularly inflected plural (mice-eater), but
regularly inflected plurals are dispreferred (*rats-eater).
.....

(this passage is not a discovery on Haskell et al.'s part, but a
summary of previous research.)

and then there are compounds where N1 is the name of a sports team.
there is considerable variation here between singular and plural N1:
"Yankee fan" or "Yankees fan".

there are still other examples that don't fall into any of these
types, but still seem unobjectionable to me.  the New York Times
provides weekly e-mail with movie reviews -- entitled "Movies
Update".  also: "chicken and sundried tomatoes curry", "games
hardware", and more.

there's more, but this should be enough to show that plural N1 is not
necessarily incorrect.

and there are plenty of instances of "jobs market" on the web.  i got
about 600 googlehits (dupes removed).

arnold

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