Re: Double minimal pairs

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On 9/2/08, J R <tanuef@...> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 5:29 AM, Herman Miller <hmiller@...> wrote:
>
>> I found an interesting coincidence as I was working on the Tirelat
>> vocabulary: a pair of words that's a minimal pair in both English and
>> Tirelat.
>>
>> żuki ['dzuki] "drain" (n.)
>> žuki ['Zuki]  "train" (i.e. railroad train)
>>
>> How likely is this in unrelated languages? Is it possible that when I went
>> to come up with a word for "drain" that the older word for "train" came to
>> mind? Or is it just one of those coincidences that's likely to come up
>> with
>> a large enough vocabulary?
>
>
> Don't know about the mathematical probabilities, but I imagine it's very
> possible that the older word came to mind. I've caught myself on a number of
> occasions recreating a word that I had forgotten about, with the same or
> nearly the same form. And sometimes, related words "accidentally" will have
> similar forms. It may be because I remember some older words subconsciously,
> or perhaps whatever associations made me choose the original form are still
> active.
>
>
>> Does anyone have examples of minimal pairs like this from their own
>> languages (which translate to minimal pairs in an unrelated language)? Now
>> I'll have to see if I've got any other examples of this.
>>
>
> Josh Roth
>
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Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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