Re: average syllables per word?

alypius wrote:
> In the process of conlanging, how does one know what is a
> realistic average ratio of syllables per word--ie, in comparison with
> naturally evolved tongues?
Oh, I'd guess anywhere from about just over one to around 4 or 5.
Actually, that would be of "roots", remember, some languages allow for
looooong series of affixes and/or incorporation.  My suggestion would
be, work out the number of possible syllables; a language which allows
only about 200 syllables (including tone if applicable) would *have* to
have a lot of 2- and 3-syllable roots (thus, an average perhaps around
2.5 or so), while a language which, like English, allows tens of
thousands of syllables would have a lot of 1-syllable roots (averaging
around, say 1.3 syllables).

> If I counted correctly, the above paragraph has 54 words and 90 syllables (I
> counted "ie" as 2 words), giving an average of 1.7 syllables per word.
Ah, but look at what the longer words were - *borrowed* vocab.  In
English, native vocabulary tends to be mostly one- and two-syllable
words, whereas borrowed vocab tends to consist of longer words.  Compare
the following sentences (examples from The English Languages, by Tom
McArthur):

The cunning old fox sat under the tree, waiting for the silly crow to
start singing and drop the cheese.
  All native; 20 words, 25 syllables (1.25 syll/word)

He picked up the gem, inspected it carefully, put it in his pocket, and
escaped before anyone could stop him.
  17 native; 3 Latin; 29 syllables (1.45)

Most of the students who were involved in the project were enrolled for
one semester in the world history course.
  13 native; 6 Latin; 1 Greek; 28 syllables (1.4)

In order to test their hypothesis, the investigators conducted a series
of complex experiments that were rigorously planned and executed.
  9 native; 10 Latin; 1 Greek; 41 syllables (2.05)

Abundant evidence exists, in both histological and radiological terms,
of increased osteoblastic and osteoclastic activity, as indicated by
ossesous rarefaction.
  7 native; 9 Latin; 4 Greek (note that, except for "both" all the
native terms are prepositions and conjunctions); 53 syllables (2.65)

You can imitate this in your conlang, have the original language be
mostly monosyllabic, with heavy borrowing from a polysyllabic language
in certain fields (such as science), or mostly pollsyllabic, with a
monosyllabic language contributing in certain fields.

--
Happy that Nation, - fortunate that age, whose history is not diverting
-- Benjamin Franklin
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