There are some =
phrases in the English language that just sound right, you know? =
"Tick tock" has a much better flow than "tock tick," =
and "chat chit" — as opposed to "chit chat" =
— feels downright wrong.
Like, we’d =
never say we played "pong ping" while listening to "hop =
hip" and eating a "Kat Kit" after watching "Kong =
King," even though that sounds like a great =
time.
But have you =
ever thought about WHY all of that is? Is it simply because =
we’re used to saying those things a certain way? Or is it a language =
rule that we don’t realize that we know?
According to =
BBC writer Mark Forsyth, it’s the latter. There’s a little thing called =
"the rule of ablaut reduplication," he wrote, that governs how =
we order words. "Reduplication in linguistics is when you =
repeat a word, sometimes with an altered consonant (lovey-dovey, =
fuddy-duddy, nitty-gritty), and sometimes with an altered vowel: =
bish-bash-bosh, ding-dang-dong."
If there are =
three words, then the order of vowel sound must go “I”, =
“A”, “O”. If there are two words then the first =
is I and the second is either A or O," he added. Other =
examples Forsyth cites are mish-mash, dilly-dally, shilly-shally, tip =
top, flip-flop, tic-tac-toe, sing song, and ding =
dong.
It’s kind of =
like the new "I before E, except after C," except with =
a much fancier name.
But that’s not =
all! Forsyth has also pointed out another rule of English that most =
people likely don’t think twice about – the proper order of =
adjectives.
“Ever =
wonder why it’s Little Red Riding Hood? Adjectives in English =
absolutely have to be in this order: =
opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose, then Noun," =
Forsyth writes. That’s why you’d never ask if anyone’s afraid of the =
"Bad Big Wolf."
"You can =
have a lovely little old rectangular green steel whittling knife. But if =
you mess with that word order in the slightest, you’ll sound like =
a maniac. It’s an odd thing that every English speaker uses that =
list, but almost none of us could write it out.” =
Until now! =
You’ve been faithfully following a rule of English, and you probably =
didn’t even know it! Bet you feel all smug and erudite now, don’t =
you?
[copied from BBC report]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin =
[email protected] =
www.grif.net =
"Jesus =
Knows Me, This I =
Love!"