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Re: OT: English and schizophrenia

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Sunday, August 5, 2001, 2:02
Danny Wier scripsit:

> (Dyslexia is highest in English-speaking countries, I read.)
It hardly exists in countries that use sensible orthographies. But that's not really a defect of the *language* as such, and it can be fixed.
> In fact, the author George Bernard Shaw once spelled "fish" like this: GHOTI. GH > from "cough", O from "women", TI from "nation".
Humph. GH is never /f/ initial, the spelling of "women" is unique, and "ti" is /S/ *only* in "-tion". Hardly a fair example. Better to refer to the eight (or is it nine?) ways to pronounce "-ough".
> There are dozens of verbs like that. Also, you got the weird plurals: "cat" > becomes "cats", but "mouse" becomes "mice", "goose" becomes "geese", while > "sheep" remains "sheep" and "fish" is still "fish". And "child" is not "childs", > but "children".
And that's just about *all* the irregular plurals: I think there are a total of 10-15. As for strong verbs, we have maybe a hundred left, whereas in German IIRC about 40% of all verbs are strong, and many of the weak ones are mildly irregular. German plurals are 99% irregular, and in 9 different patterns!
> The floor is now open. Please watch your step.
"Check your assumptions. In fact, check your assumptions at the door." --Miles Vorkosigan -- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore --Douglas Hofstadter

Replies

Thomas R. Wier <artabanos@...>
Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Muke Tever <alrivera@...>
Tristan Alexander McLeay <zsau@...>