free variation in pronunciation

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 01:37 PM 4/3/01 +0800, Larry Horn wrote:

>I argued in my "spitten image" ADS paper in January that this is true for
>a number of -ed/-en variants, including these:
>
>                 graven image (vs. They engraved this image)
>         (new-)mown lawn (vs. I've mowed that lawn)
>         (un)proven allegation (vs. You haven't proved that allegation)
>         (store-)boughten clothes (vs. Have you bought any new clothes?)
>         (clean-)shaven face (vs. Have you shaved your face?)
>
>larry

I'm reminded of a hand-written sign a club put up at a basketball game a
hundred years ago when I was in high school:  Boughten Cookies for
Sale.  The h.s. English teacher tore it down as "ungrammatical."    But she
probably wouldn't have liked "Store-bought Cookies for Sale" either, prig
that she was (one of my favorite prigs though).

_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm