Re: Messy orthography (Re: Sound change rules for erosion)

JS Bangs scripsit:

> I would say a long time. German has four or five separate plurals
> that all maintain good currency, with only a slight tendency for
> simplification. Welsh has something like *nineteen* different plural
> forms. Native speakers have good memories, so while simplification is
> eventually inevitable, a reasonable number of plural formations are
> likely to survive for a very long time.
Or as in the case of Maori verb inflection, where essentially all
the verbs in the language except recent borrowings are irregular!
Simplification onto the regular endings is in progress.

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