Why ‘Bad Big Wolf’ Sounds Wrong

If you’re one of the three little pigs or Red Riding Hood, you might characterize a wolf as “big” and “bad.” But the order in which you say or write those adjectives makes a difference in how natural your speech comes across. People are more likely to say “big bad wolf” than “bad big wolf,” despite the individual words being identical. It’s the same reason we say “tic tac toe” and “tick tock” (as opposed to “tac tic toe” and “tock tick”). This linguistic concept is  ablaut reduplication, a phenomenon  that English speakers have internalized, though perhaps unknowingly.

First let’s quickly touch upon the word “ablaut,” which refers to a variation of vowels in words that have the same root or affix — think of the change in vowels between “sing” and “sung.” Then there’s the concept of reduplication, which is an act of doubling or repetition, as in “bye-bye.” The combination of these ideas gives us ablaut reduplication, which refers to repeated sounds that undergo vowel changes along the way.

When dealing with ablaut reduplication in English, vowels within each word are meant to follow a pattern: “I,” then “A,” and finally “O.” This is why we say “tic-tac-toe” in that order. (The phenomenon does appear in languages other than English, but they might follow a different vowel order, based on the natural flow of the dialect.) Not all reduplicated words contain different vowels (e.g., “willy-nilly” and “blah blah”), but when they do, the order of those words will naturally adhere to the “I-A-O” pattern.

Not all three vowels need to be present, though. For example, you can go straight from “I” to “O,” as in “flip-flop” and “Ping-Pong” (which sound a lot more natural than “flop-flip” or “pong-ping”). You can also omit the “O,” as in “flim-flam.” However, you won’t find many examples of ablaut reduplicated words that omit the “I.” It usually goes “I” to “A” (zig-zag), “I” to “O” (ding-dong), or “I” to “A” to “O” (tic tac toe).

Obviously we’ve left out two vowels — “E” and “U.” These tend to be less common when it comes to ablaut reduplication, with “U” almost never used in this type of pattern. However, “E” does make some appearances, often in lieu of “I,” such as in “seesaw” and “hee-haw.”

Why vowels tend to follow an “I-A-O” order remains an open debate among linguists without a definitive answer. Some theorize it has to do with the natural movement of the tongue, and others say it traces back to ancient languages of the Caucasus region. Even if you don’t remember the phrase “ablaut reduplication,” now you know there’s a reason “big bad wolf” just feels right.