ring, rang, rung

[Wilson Gray]

An excellent point, Larry. Why didn't you mention this thirty years ago,
when I could have used it to blow Paul out of the saddle?
;-) Actually, Paul's a great friend. I wouldn't have shot him down,
even if I could have.
After lo! these many years, my memory may be incorrect as to how he used the
contrast, in any case.

Right, A Martinez is distinct from A Alvarez. Whew! For a second, there, I
thought that you'd gone "Horn Baron" on me, again. :-)

-Wilson

On 5/9/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: ring, rang, rung
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4:20 PM -0400 5/9/06, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> >FWIW, it was Paul Kiparsky in a lecture at the 'Tute back in the '70's
> who,
> >AFAIK, first pointed out the "The batter flied out" vs. *"The batter flew
> >out" dichotomy.
>
> I wonder if there really was a time when "The batter flew out" was
> impossible.  Since I read Pinker's account of why it is, I've been
> noticing it quite regularly.
>
> >He used it in support of the claim that, when "irregular"
> >verbs acquire a derived meaning, they become regular.
>
> I thought it was that given the way lexical phonology works, by the
> time "fly" (v.) is formed from "fly" (n.), it's too late for it to
> get the irregular past tense.  It's not the meaning as much the
> derivation.
>
> >
> >I'm with A in hoping that the use of "ring" cited is an artifact of the
> use
> >of a spellchecker.
> >
> >(BTW, does anyone else recall the C-list actor, A[sic] Martinez?)
>
> Not to be confused with the writer A Alvarez, presumably.
>
> Larry
>
> >
> >On 5/9/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >>Subject:      Re: ring, rang, rung
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>At 2:59 PM -0400 5/9/06, sagehen wrote:
> >>  >  >From Reynolds Price: /The good Priest's Son/ p. 64 --"Or so he
> felt,
> >>as the
> >>>promising waves spread out and rung his head and shoulders like orchid
> >>leis
> >>>in a 1950s Hawaiian movie."
> >>>It never would occur to me to use "rung" to mean  encircled, but  is
> >>there
> >>>a dialect in which that is permissible? This might, of course just be
> one
> >>>of those absurd spell-checker artifacts.
> >>>A. Murie
> >>>
> >>I've actually used this as a class exercise:  why is the past tense
> >>of the verb "to ring" meaning 'surround' RINGED rather than RANG?
> >>[or, I would assume, RUNG]  The point is analogous to the observation
> >>that the past tense of the denominal verb "grandstand" must be
> >>"grandstanded" rather than "grandstood", as Pinker discusses.  But
> >>now it turns out the "ring" fact may be wrong--like Pinker's point
> >>about how we have to say a batter "FLIED out" to left and not "FLEW
> >>out", when in fact many speakers, including sports announcers, do
> >>indeed say that the batter flew out to left.  So it's not too
> >>surprising if some (although I'm not among them) can talk about waves
> >>that rung (or rang) someone's head like leis.
> >>
> >>Do I hear SOTA?
> >>
> >>larry
> >>
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