Re: USAGE: Language revival

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")

--
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anonymous
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