Trick or Treat

[Dennis R. Preston]

Larry sez:

What's especially odd here is the order, which if memory serves is
attributed by Cooper & Ross ("World Order", 1975) to a priority of
the phonology over the semantics.  The problem with the latter is
that it suggests "If I don't perform some mischief on you, you will
give me (have given me?) a treat", when of course the idea is the
other way around--so "Treat or trick" would make more sense.

He remembers right.

For folks who don't remember this article, it maintains that listed
or paired items in "freezes" or "fixed expressions" are ordered
'short' to 'long' and that this ordering applies to syllable weight
as well as number of syllables. 'Tall, dark, and handsome' has
'handsome' last since it's two syllables but 'dark' after 'tall'
since it's 4 phonemes long and 'tall' is only three. It applies to
'trick or treat,' since 'treat' has a long vowel and 'trick' a short
one. Compare 'men and women' to 'ladies and gentlemen' in which the
sexes are reversed but the phonological basis of the ordering rule is
preserved.

dInIs




>In a message dated 7/3/03 11:44:24 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:
>
>
>  > What's especially odd here is the order, which if memory serves is
>>  attributed by Cooper & Ross ("World Order", 1975) to a priority of
>>  the phonology over the semantics.  The problem with the latter is
>>  that it suggests "If I don't perform some mischief on you, you will
>>  give me (have given me?) a treat", when of course the idea is the
>  > other way around--so "Treat or trick" would make more sense
>>
>
>If so, after that the semantics were then sometimes reshuffled: when I was a
>child I remember adults saying to me, "OK, so show me your trick and I'll then
>give you your treat." We were then expected to sing a little song, do a
>tap-dance, or pull a rabbit out of the mailbox.

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
      Asian & African Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
e-mail: preston at msu.edu
phone: (517) 353-9290