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

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_

Reply