Stupefication

[Randy Alexander]

Thanks for these clear explanations!

Randy

On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 2:13 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:
> On Aug 29, 2011, at 8:29 AM, i wrote:
>
>> for complex historical reasons, verbs in -EFY (only a few of which are at all common) have derived nouns in -EFACTION:
>> liquefaction, putrefaction, rarefaction, stupefaction.
>> plus: satisfaction (satisy), petrifaction (petrify). Â and rarifaction as a variant of rarefaction.
>>
>> then: -IFY verbs normally have derived nouns in -IFICATION, so there's pressure to bring these odd ones into line, and in fact all of them have -IFICATION variants. Â for petrifaction, NOAD2 lists petrification as just a variant (and i prefer it, despite the title of George Bernard Shaw's silly one-act play, "Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction"). Â for the rest, -IFICATION is a non-standard variant, but very very common (in ghits):
>> liquification, putrification, rarification, stupification; even satisfication.
>
> to complete the spelling complications, all of the following in -EFICATION are attested, most in substantial numbers:
>
> liquefication, putrefication, rarefication, petrefication, stupefication
>
> (these have the E of the -EFY verb, but the regular -FICATION rather than the exceptional -FACTION)
>
> arnold
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Randy Alexander
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