A little more haplology.

[David Kaufman]

According to my dictionary, to verb is "lighten" which I guess means the correct verb form is "It is lightening"--referring perhaps to the sky being lit up by a flash.  But I too have always found this lightning/lightening thing confusing in English.  This is one of those situations in English when I wish our grammar were more like many Native languages: "lightning" or "lightening" (with no subject) which gets the point across with no need to distinguish noun or verb!

-Dave

----- Original Message -----
From: R. Rankin
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 7:39 AM
To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
Subject: A little more haplology.

To see what you yourself do about haplological (?) situations, figure out what you do with the noun/verb 'lightning' in English.  Consider:

thunder
to thunder
It is thundering outside.

lightning
to lightning
It is __________ outside.

I've always choked on "lightninging" but said it when occasion arose.  Some of my students say "It is lightning outside" invoking haplology.  A few alter the stem to "lighten" and say "It is lightening outside".  My wife won't say it at all.

Of course "thipipi" may be easier to say.  And I think the "Merry Christmas" term, literally "happy pickings", has two "pi" syllables in a row.  Not to mention the fact that the phenomenon of reduplication out to desensitize Dakotan speakers to haplology.

Bob
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