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Re: USAGE: THEORY/USAGE: irregular English plurals (was: RE:

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Monday, May 27, 2002, 15:50
And Rosta scripsit:

> If you are a young person living in Britain, > then many of these people you haven't heard saying 'oxes' are also > people you haven't heard saying 'ox'. This is because they don't talk > about them. But if you ask them what the plural is, that's when you'll > get 'oxes' as the answer.
But is this really meaningful? If you ask most people what the plural of /InsIgni/ is, most will undoubtedly reply /InsIgniz/; only the ones who actually *know* the word will say /InsIgni@/. Perhaps you are probing a population who simply don't know the word "ox" and are giving you the best plural they can. After all, if I ask you the past tense of /SEnd/, how likely are you to reply with the correct answer, /SEnt/? And if you do, is that knowledge, or analogy with /sEnd/:/sEnt/? -- John Cowan <jcowan@...> http://www.reutershealth.com I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_

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And Rosta <a-rosta@...>