| It is well known that attributive nouns are singular in premodification as shown in such an expression like my eleven-year-old son. However, our computer-aided analysis reveals that to the above rule there are such exceptions as 30 years experience and his six-months-pregnant wife. This paper explores what factors produce the above exceptions, in other words, expressions with a plural form of attributive nouns.
Our analysis shows that the plural form is likely to occur in the following expressions/contexts: (1) expressions denoting term of experience; (2) expressions denoting pregnancy; (3) expressions with several instead of numerals; (4) contexts showing the death of a baby.
It is claimed that plural forms in (1) can be produced by omission of an apostrophe from genitive plural forms on the basis of our statistical data. It is exemplified that plural forms in (2) can occur when the speaker regards pregnancy as a progressing event. It is claimed that the sense of uncertainty causes the occurrence of plural forms in (3), since the word several implies indefiniteness. It is suggested that plural forms in (4) can occur when the speaker considers the death of a baby too early and wishes the pitiful accident canceled.
|