Re: USAGE: Language revival

Don Blaheta wrote:

> That's not true at all.  Once learned, we can remember these irregular
> forms, but we still have to learn them in the first place.
Exactly so.  I was rejecting Ed's claim that we'd rather memorize
than compute in all cases.  Per contra, we memorize a modest number
of irregular forms, but we compute the regular ones, just as you say.

> [W]e'll be
> forced to generalise from one example (e.g. "dwarf") in order to get
> that word's other forms (hmm, I guess the plural must be "dwarves").
Indeed, that seems to be what happened in Tolkien's head, creating
"dwarves" by analogy with "elves", although "dwarfs" was and is the
standard form: the plural of "achondroplastic dwarf" is still
definitely "achondroplastic dwarfs".  But the popularity of the L.R.
has imposed "dwarves" as an alternative plural, specifically in
"fairy-story" contexts.

--

John Cowan      http://www.reutershealth.com            jcowan@reutershealth.com
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! / Schliess eurer Aug vor heiliger Schau
Den er genoss vom Honig-Tau / Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.
                -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)