LL-L 'Morphology' 2006.07.03 (08) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 03 July 2006 * Volume 08
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Morphology

Folks,

In a rare quiet minute in which I was able to indulge in thinking up linguistic
trivia  it occurred to me that in West Germanic languages the simple word "man"
and its respective equivalents comes with almost the full range of possibilities
of plural derivation:

-en
Dutch: man -> mannen

-e
Afrikaans: man -> manne

-er
German: Mann -> Männer

-s
Low Saxon: man -> mans (Mann -> Manns)

Umlauting only
Modern English: man -> men

Plural + "people," "folk," etc.
Modern English: man -> menfolk
Low Saxon: man -> mansluyd' (Mann -> Mannslüüd')

Notes:

(1)
Missing is the option of singular and plural forms being identical.  However,
this is not really an option given that it is reserved for certain animals
considered food; e.g., fish -> fish, sheep -> sheep, deer -> deer, shrimp ->
shrimp (but prawn -> prawns, crab -> crabs).  By and large, this is the system in
Low Saxon as well.  Is it a Saxon thing?

(2)
In this instance, you may argue that _-en_ and _-e_ are the same, since
Afrikaans, like many or most Dutch dialects, has change _-en_ to _-e_ (though
Dutch still spells it <en>).

(3)
Plural formation by umlauting only is often encountered in North Germanic
varieties (e.g., Danish _man_ -> _mænd_), and I wonder if "men" and "women" are
Scandinavian-induced.

(4)
Many Low Saxon dialects don't limit the addition of _-luyde_ ~ _-luyd'_ ~ _-luye_
~ _-luy_ ('people', 'folk') to _man_.  (This applies also to _vrou_ ~ _vru_
'woman', which may become either _vrouens_ ~ _vruens_ or _vrouensluyd'_ ~
_vruensluyd'_.)  In many compound nouns in which the last component is _-man_,
this _-man_ changes to _-luyd'_ (etc.) in the plural form; e.g.,

koupman -> koupluyd' (merchant(s))
amt(s)man -> amt(s)luyd' (official(s))
timmerman -> timmerluyd' (carpenter(s))
varensman -> varensluyd' (seafarer(s), sailor(s))
muerman -> muerluyd' (bricklayer(s))

These are or tend to be names of professionals, artisans, etc.  The plural forms
often connote the profession as a whole, in the olden days also for the
respective guilds.  Note that for instance _buman_ 'bogeyman' does not change to
*_buluyd'_ but to _bumans_.

Furthermore, it occurred to me that English "children" seems to represent another
case of double plural.  In Middle English the plural form _childer_ was common,
thus the _-er_ choice still common in German and Low Saxon for instance (_Kind_
-> _Kinder_, _Kind_ -> _Kinner_), as well as the default pluralizer in
Scandinavian.  It seems to me that later on the now defunct _-en_ morpheme was
added, hence *_child+er+en_ = "children," exactly as in Dutch: _kind_ ->
_kinderen_.  In some Lowe Saxon dialect double plural occurs with _-s_ in this
case: _kind_ -> _kinder_ ~ _kinders_ (<Kind> -> <Kinner> ~ <Kinners>).  Doesn't
this occur in Flemish as well?  And in Afrikaans?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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