Re: THEORY: Question: Bound Morphemes

At 19:46 02/07/99 +0200, you wrote:
>I have a question. (Perhaps a stupid one).
>
>In English, some bound morphemes are written as affixes, but others=20
>are written as seperate words (like the articles 'a' and 'the'). But=20
>aren't all bound morphemes in English (including the articles) really=20
>affixes? If not, what rule states that they should be written=20
>separately?
>
        I think you can consider them as affixes, just as in French I consider the
so-called "subject pronouns" as mere prefixes. "je": I, "tu": you
(singular) and "il(s)": he, they (masculine) are never used seperately as
pronouns (except "je" in the expression "je soussign=E9", but it's a
fossilized use) and don't carry any stress (stressed forms are "moi, toi,
lui, eux").
        They used to be real pronouns (for a long moment, "je" and "moi" could be
switched) but I think they are not anymore. Why we write them seperately is
just a matter of tradition, like in English "a" and "the" I think (doesn't
"the" come from a demonstrative pronoun by the way?). Writing is very
traditionalist I think, and often after one century after design or
redesign, it doesn't follow the reality of a language anymore.

>I'm asking because I have stumbled onto another problem with my=20
>transcription of Boreanesian. I'm not sure whether to write the=20
>determiners seperately (like English articles even though they are=20
>bound morphemes) or as prefixes (because they are bound).
>
        It depends if your script is recent (they've just designed it) or if it is
old. If it's recent, just follow the feeling of the speakers. If they see
those determiners as bound, they will write them bound. If they don't see
them as bound, they will write them separately. If the script is old, it
will reflect the reality of the language when it was designed (or
redesigned), or it will reflect the reality of the language the last time
there was a major redesign of it. So try and know what was the language at
that time, and if at that time, the determiners were unbound forms that
became bound over times, just have them written separately.

        Hope that helps.

>Thanks,
>-kristian- 8)
>
>
                                                        Christophe Grandsire
                                                |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.

"Reality is just another point of view."

homepage : http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepage/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html