Re: Gweydr and English Lax Vowels

> On an English note, it occurred to me: I don't recall learning this
> rule about consonant doubling in school (e.g. sin > sinning, not
> sining).  Since it's a purely orthographic rule, though, I would
> have *had* to have learned it in school (if not there, where else?).
> Plus, I don't recall having trouble with this.  Every English-speaking
> child goes through the inappropriate regular past tense phase
> ("hurted", "hitted", "cutted", "keeped", etc.), but I don't recall
> having trouble with the consonant doubling.  It seems like a
> pretty solid rule.  Does this gel with other English speakers'
> experiences?
>
> -David
I recall specifically learning it. The rule I was taught: If a verb has a long
vowel, drop the "e" if present and add the ending; if a verb has a short vowel,
double the consonant before adding the ending. Of course, I was also taught the
English definition of "long vowel" (pine, beat, pate, tote, cute) and "short
vowel" (pin, pet, pat, pot, put), which of course has little to do with the
linguistic notions. :D Dang Great Vowel Shift!

My recollection of Child Language Acquisition is that the bulk of the
hypercorrection phase ("hurted," "hitted," "getted") takes place early enough
in language learning that most children aren't literate, especially not yet
writing. One possible example of hypercorrection in writing, though, is the
common use of <loose> for <lose> ("I'm loosing my mind!"), since <lose> should
(by the long vowel rule) rhyme with <dose>. I see adults making this error.

-- Paul