LINGUIST List 9.438

Sun Mar 22 1998

Sum: "-mt" in English

Editor for this issue: Anita Huang <anitalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. alan harris, -mt

It seems that orthographically the only word in English to end in '-mt'
is "(un)dreamt." Perhaps the "missing" '-p- was a scriptural error, but 
more likely it was the seemingly productive spelling rule that added '-t' to 
the base form to get the past participle (if you will permit a little 
prescriptive gibberish). All other forms, according to all persons who 
responded, are abbrev.'s. . .cheers, ach
 ===============================================================
 Alan C. Harris, Ph. D. TELNOS: main off: 818-677-2853
 Professor, Communication/Linguistics direct off: 818-677-2874
 Speech Communication Department
 California State University, Northridge home: 818-366-3165
 SPCH CSUN FAX: 818-677-2663 
 Northridge, CA 91330-8257 INTERNET email: ALAN.HARRISCSUN.EDU 
 WWW homepage: http://www.csun.edu/~vcspc005
 ===============================================================