Talk:spaceman

Pronunciation

Is this ever with a schwa, or is it always a full vowel? Lollipop (talk) 20:38, 24 September 2018 (UTC) ... an alt account of —Soap—

I have decided to add the pronunciation. My impression of this word is that it's a childish word, commonly used by young children who have not yet learned the wider rule of forming agent nouns by adding -er, and that is why adults seldom use this word unless they are consciously imitating children's speech. This may explain why the suffix is given its full pronunciation of /mæn/ rather than contracting to /mən/ as in watchman, henchman, etc. That is all just speculation .... but what matters is the pronunciation, and I have yet to hear it with a schwa in any context, so I am adding it with the /æ/. —Soap— 23:44, 7 June 2020 (UTC)