Notice what your teeth and tongue and jaw do as you say them…. For example say the following words out loud: The rule of ablaut reduplication basically helps us say these types of words much more easily.
But the vowel change in these words needs to be in a particular order and this order is based on where the sound comes from in our mouths!
When this happens they create new word forms with particular meanings such as swishy-swashy or mish-mash. Reduplication refers to the duplication of the other letters in the word.Īblaut reduplication also called vowel gradation is a linguistic process by which vowels change in repeated and similar words. This rule of the English language is one that most native speakers know without knowing, meaning if you asked an English speaker what ablaut reduplication was they would probably have no idea, nor would they be able to give you the reason for why you don’t say “tock tick” but instead say “tick-tock.”Īblaut refers to the change or shift of the vowel The rule refers to vowel changes in similar words and the order with which those vowels are said based on where the sounds are produced by the placement of the tongue – from the front to the back of the mouth.
We say tick-tock and not tock-tick because of the ablaut reduplication rule. But why does it matter which order they are written or said in? Have you ever stopped to wonder why we say tick-tock and not tock-tick? Or why it is flip-flop instead of flop-flip or ping-pong instead of pong-ping? The word “tock” means the same thing as “tick.” The sound of an actual clock doesn’t tick and tock it sounds the same with each click! The words sound different when we say them because each has a slightly different combination of vowels! One has a short ‘i’ sound and the other has a short ‘o’.