Re: How to minimize "words" (was "Re: isolating conlangs")
| From: | <morphemeaddict@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, February 26, 2007, 6:28 |
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In a message dated 2/26/2007 12:11:36 AM Central Standard Time,
philip.newton@GMAIL.COM writes:
> As I remember what I'd read, the individual characters
> have no real meaning in themselves; they merely represent one syllable
> each of the multi-syllable word. (Character dictionary makers have
> "defined" the individual characters to each mean "butterfly",
> "spider", etc.; however, as they're only used in those words and never
> alone, they're more like bound morphemes if anything, and probably not
> even morphemes of their own at all.)
>
>
Individual characters do have their own meanings.
You're right that there are some characters that only occur in specific
words, acting like bound morphemes, but they may have had wider use in the past.
stevo
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