Ablaut reduplication and adjective order - rules native English speakers "know" inherently

LadyStanley

Registered User
Sep 22, 2004
106,300
19,369
Sin City
The language rules we know – but don’t know we know

“Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver 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.”
...
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 has to go I, A, O. If there are two words then the first is I and the second is either A or O. Mish-mash, chit-chat, dilly-dally, shilly-shally, tip top, hip-hop, flip-flop, tic tac, sing song, ding dong, King Kong, ping pong.

So, Big Bad Wolf is an example of the latter while Little Red Riding Hood is the former.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tweed

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad