Jul. 11th, 2003 01:10 pm
More perfect than perfect
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muckefuckThere's a language phenomenon which people in the field call overcorrection. This generally occurs when there is a distinction made in the standard form of a language that doesn't come naturally to some speakers. They aim for the norm, but sometimes overshoot it, correcting "errors" that aren't there. For instance, generations of schoolkids had it drilled in their heads that it's "You and I", not "Me and you", so now they (and their descendents) use "I" even when "I" is prescriptively appropriate--to the point where "between you and I" is becoming accepted usage (despite being fingernails on a chalkboard to grammar snobs like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caitalainn).
Overcorrection can also happen between languages. German has no distinction resembling the w/v distinction of English, so some German speakers regularly substitute v for w. In fact, this is a stereotypical feature of a German accent and many Germans try so hard to avoid it that they end up replacing almost all v's with w. (When I was a student in Germany, we teased Germans who did this by saying "There's a wiolent wampire inwading my willage.") My all-time favourite example of overcorrection comes from Germany, in fact. In the Rhineland, the distinction between sch (approximately English sh) and the "Ich-Laut" or "soft ch" (approximately English h in Hubert or human) is often weak or nonexistent. A German chemist once testified on sci.lang that he once heard a Rhenist colleague say "elektriche Zwichenchischt" for "elektrische Zwischenschicht" ("electric intermediate layer").
Today, I stumbled across what I think is a new example of overcorrection in current English. First, the "error". There's a growing tendency for past participial adjectives to lose the common -ed ending in certain compounds and collocations. This probably began in compounds like iced tea where the final d is assimilated to the initial t of tea. I have known a few people who clearly say /aIsttiI/, but, since geminate/long consonants aren't a usual feature of English, most simplify this to /aIstiI/. As a result, the spelling ice tea has been steadily gaining ground for years now. The change went on to affect other stop clusters (e.g. ice coffee) and even stop-fricative clusters (e.g. can food).
Now for the overcorrection: mixed tape. We always called 'em "mix tapes" (or "scams", though the later included all copied tapes, including single albums recorded in sequence), i.e. tapes of (music) mixes. My guess is that this started with people who know it's "mixed drink", not "mix drink" and wanted to avoid making the same "mistake" with "mix tape". But there's already 4,000+ hits in Google (ah, such a resource for the lazy lexicographer!) vs. c. 80,000 for "mix tape".
caitalainn).Overcorrection can also happen between languages. German has no distinction resembling the w/v distinction of English, so some German speakers regularly substitute v for w. In fact, this is a stereotypical feature of a German accent and many Germans try so hard to avoid it that they end up replacing almost all v's with w. (When I was a student in Germany, we teased Germans who did this by saying "There's a wiolent wampire inwading my willage.") My all-time favourite example of overcorrection comes from Germany, in fact. In the Rhineland, the distinction between sch (approximately English sh) and the "Ich-Laut" or "soft ch" (approximately English h in Hubert or human) is often weak or nonexistent. A German chemist once testified on sci.lang that he once heard a Rhenist colleague say "elektriche Zwichenchischt" for "elektrische Zwischenschicht" ("electric intermediate layer").
Today, I stumbled across what I think is a new example of overcorrection in current English. First, the "error". There's a growing tendency for past participial adjectives to lose the common -ed ending in certain compounds and collocations. This probably began in compounds like iced tea where the final d is assimilated to the initial t of tea. I have known a few people who clearly say /aIsttiI/, but, since geminate/long consonants aren't a usual feature of English, most simplify this to /aIstiI/. As a result, the spelling ice tea has been steadily gaining ground for years now. The change went on to affect other stop clusters (e.g. ice coffee) and even stop-fricative clusters (e.g. can food).
Now for the overcorrection: mixed tape. We always called 'em "mix tapes" (or "scams", though the later included all copied tapes, including single albums recorded in sequence), i.e. tapes of (music) mixes. My guess is that this started with people who know it's "mixed drink", not "mix drink" and wanted to avoid making the same "mistake" with "mix tape". But there's already 4,000+ hits in Google (ah, such a resource for the lazy lexicographer!) vs. c. 80,000 for "mix tape".
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I try so hard not to correct other people's grammar and spelling outside of work. It's very difficult.
no subject
To combat this, I try to hang out with people whose grammar doesn't need correcting, or who LIKE it. (J, for some reason, thinks it's cute when I poke him and say "whom." He's a freak.)