On Sun, 03 Apr 2011 10:28:16 -0700, David Wheeler, Ph.D. wrote: >Canceled in US & APA Style >From: > http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/03/spelling-success-in-apa-style.html [snip] >Apparently, US is only place that does not double the last "l" if Wikipedia is >to be >believed. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(spelling)
Well, there more to Wikipedia on this point, in the entry on American and British spelling differences (yadda-yadda). There are certain words in British English that have double consonants while U.S. English has a single consonant, and vice versa; see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#Doubled_consonants Quoting from the entry: |The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled in both |American and British spelling when adding a suffix beginning with a |vowel, for example strip/stripped, which prevents confusion with |stripe/striped and shows the difference in pronunciation (see digraph). |Generally, this occurs only when the word's final syllable is stressed |and when it also ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant. |In British English, however, a final -l is often doubled even when the |final syllable is unstressed.[90] This exception is no longer usual in |American English, apparently because of Noah Webster.[91] |The -ll- spellings are nevertheless still regarded as acceptable |variants by both Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage |dictionaries. | |The British English doubling is required for all inflections (-ed, -ing, |-er, -est) and for the noun suffixes -er and -or. Therefore, British English |usage is cancelled, counsellor, cruellest, modelling, quarrelled, signalling, |traveller, and travelling. Americans usually use canceled, counselor, |cruelest, modeling, quarreled, signaling, traveler, and traveling. | |The word parallel keeps a single -l- in British English, as in American |English (paralleling, unparalleled), to avoid the unappealing cluster -llell-. | |Words with two vowels before a final l are also spelled with -ll- in |British English before a suffix when the first vowel either acts as a |consonant (equalling and initialled; in the United States, equaling or |initialed), or belongs to a separate syllable (British fu•el•ling and di•alled; |American fu•el•ing and di•aled). | |British woollen is a further exception due to the double vowel (American: |woolen). Also, wooly is accepted in American English, though woolly |dominates in both systems.[92] In summary, if one is looking for universal rules in a language like English, one is likely to be dismayed by the larger number of exceptions or variation in rules. Which use is ultimately correct? Well, what ever rules that the local powers that be claim are correct. Hundreds of years from now linguists might find the justifications for using a particular form because it is "correct" mildly amusing because such a decision is so dependent upon temporal and spatial context as well as whose dictionary one claims is definitive. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=9771 or send a blank email to leave-9771-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
