word separation (was:Hobbits spoke ?)

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 21:15:34 -0000, caeruleancentaur
<caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:

>--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Rodlox <Rodlox@H...> wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 2:47 PM
>Subject: Re: Hobbits spoke ?
>
>
>
>>ahh, the old hyloid bone debate.  :)
>
>The name of that old bone is hyoid, not hyloid.
>
>
>>besides, "tarzan" isn't monosyllabic.  :)
>
>That may depend on how one understands "monosyllabic."  Some
>polysyllabic words are composed of two (or more) free form
>monosyllabic morphemes.  E.g., "oilcloth" is composed of two such
>morphemes.  "Tarzan" is a similar word, a compound of "tar," white,
>and "zan," skin.  That is how Mr. Burroughs defined it, if memory
>serves.  I guess it would depend on how much of a hiatus there was
>between the two parts of the word when spoken.
How much of what? There's no pronunciation of the word gap, though in
certain languages, certain circumstancial sound changes may depend on the
word boundaries. But 'oil cloth' and 'oilcloth' are the same.

There are writing systems that don't seperate words at all (e.g. Japanese or
Latin written by the Romans).

gry@s:
j. 'mach' wust

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