Editing Expletive infixation (section)

== Rules of formation in English ==
Judgments of which formations of expletive infixation are acceptable are remarkably consistent.<ref name="McCarthy">{{cite journal | last = McCarthy | first = John J. | authorlink = John McCarthy (linguist) | year = 1982 | title = Prosodic Structure and Expletive Infixation | journal = Language | volume = 58 | issue = 3 | pages = 574–590 | doi = 10.2307/413849 | jstor = 413849| url = https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1062&context=linguist_faculty_pubs }}</ref> This suggests that the rules for the placement of the expletive are not arbitrary, but instead derive from fundamental aspects of [[English phonology]].{{explain|reason=Why only English phonology? Does it occur in other languages?|date=January 2017}}

A simple rule is that the insertion occurs at a [[syllable]] boundary, usually just before the primary [[stressed syllable]].<ref name="McMillan" /> Thus, one hears ''abso-fuckin'-lutely'' rather than *''ab-fuckin'-solutely''. This rule is insufficient to describe examples such as ''un-fuckin'-believable'', however, so that some modifications to this rule are proposed, such as [[morpheme]] boundaries taking precedence over stress. Counterexamples to this exception do exist: ''unbe-fuckin'-lievable''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Citations:unbefuckinglievable#English|title=Citations:unbefuckinglievable – Wiktionary|work=wiktionary.org|date=29 January 2021 }}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=[[WP:CIRCULAR]]|date=January 2017}}

A more fundamental theory due to [[John McCarthy (linguist)|John McCarthy]] is based on [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]].<ref name="McCarthy" /> Its basic principle is that "the metrical stress tree of the host is minimally restructured to accommodate the stress tree of the infix". For example, although ''unbelievable'' and ''irresponsible'' have identical stress patterns and the first syllable of each is a separate morpheme, the preferred insertion points are different: ''un-fuckin'-believable'', but ''irre-fuckin'-sponsible''. McCarthy explains this by saying they have different prosodic structures: un(be((lieva)ble)) but (irre)((sponsi)ble). The infix cannot fall between the syllables ''ir'' and ''re'' because they form a single [[foot (prosody)|prosodic foot]].