Re: THEORY: Storage Vs. Computation

Nik Taylor wrote:

> and "went" (originally the past tense of "wend")
Still the past tense, unless you have started to say "wended".

> irregularities tend to develop rapidly, in bursts,
Sound-change does seem to happen in a bursty fashion.  There's
one going on now in the U.S. --- the "Inner Cities Drag-Chain
Vowel Shift".  I suspect that in a century or so it will have
taken over the whole U.S. and maybe other Englishes as well.

> as with strong verbs
> in English - at one time predictable, but the language changed, and they
> became unpredictable, therefore irregular, and tend to be lost slowly
> and gradually.
Sometimes new ones get created:  [slEp] and [wEp] are very common,
though not standard, and we also have "dove", "shat", and (according
to And) "twug" = "realized, comprehended".

--
John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)