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Re: USAGE: Language revival

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Wednesday, November 24, 1999, 22:44
John Cowan wrote:
> In other words, childrens first acquire the irregular "go:went" opposition, > then start to learn the rules and generate "go:goed", which is then > standardized back to "go:went" again, typically under pressure from > peers.
Well, here's my thought on that, the phase where children produce "go:goed" is a phase during which the rules are acquired. These rules are essential to recognize and produce less common forms, so that one can know the plural of "wug". But, once the rules are established, the child goes *back* to the "go:went" forms.
> "Sound change operates regularly to produce irregularity; > analogy operates irregularly to produce regularity."
Fair enough, tho it's a slight simplification, not taking into account forms like "caught", originally a regular verb, or the colloquial "squozen" (past participle of "squeeze", by analogy with "freeze/frozen") -- "Old linguists never die - they just come to voiceless stops." - anonymous http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Conlang/W.html http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor