diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/AbstractCompilerMojo.java b/maven-plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/AbstractCompilerMojo.java
index a54487c84d..c63db84bbe 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/AbstractCompilerMojo.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/AbstractCompilerMojo.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
 /**
@@ -157,7 +158,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractCompilerMojo
      *
      * @parameter
      */
-    private LinkedHashMap compilerArguments;
+    private Map compilerArguments;
 
     /**
      * Used to control the name of the output file when compiling a set of
@@ -276,7 +277,8 @@ public void execute()
 
         compilerConfiguration.setSourceEncoding( encoding );
 
-        compilerConfiguration.setCustomCompilerArguments( compilerArguments );
+        compilerConfiguration
+            .setCustomCompilerArguments( compilerArguments == null ? null : new LinkedHashMap( compilerArguments ) );
 
         compilerConfiguration.setFork( fork );