Re: USAGE: Language revival

> Date:         Wed, 24 Nov 1999 09:45:23 -0500
> From: John Cowan <jcowan@...>
> The neogrammarian maxim was:
>
>         "Sound change operates regularly to produce irregularity;
>         analogy operates irregularly to produce regularity."
Well, it was probably a better starting point than what went before;
however, as has been discussed here before, we now know that it does
not completely describe reality:

Speech communities will sometimes abandon a sound change when it has
only been applied to some parts of the lexicon. And likewise, they
will change regular form into irregular ones by analogy.

But perhaps it is not necessary for a maxim to be totally correct.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)