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Re: OT: Silent last letters, pluralization, and possessive formation in English (was Re: Langmaker down since January?)

From:Eugene Oh <un.doing@...>
Date:Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 11:43
On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 11:40 AM, Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>
wrote:

> > > If it were me, I would spell the plural of "Illinois" as "Illinoises", > certainly not as "Illinoiss", and therefore the possessive plural as > "Illinoises'". Of course the rule seems sillily to be you don't add an > orthographic s if there's a silent one there already, so I'd presume > "Illinois'". That does, however, leave much to be desired. >
The problem of course being that the plural should be /ilinoiz/ and not /ilinoiz@s/ (I'm using the phonemic spelling because X-SAMPA would pose distinction difficulties). I say if the word ends in a silent 's', keep the spelling in the plural.
> > > I see that the Wikipedia entry for [[Apostrophe]] says: > > > > "For possessive plurals of words ending in silent x, z, or s, the few > > authorities that address the issue at all call for an added s, and > > require that the apostrophe precede the s: The Loucheux's homeland is > > in the Yukon; Compare the two Dumas's literary achievements. As usual > > in punctuation, the best advice is to respect soundly established > > practice, and beyond that to strive for simplicity, logic, and > > especially consistency." > > The inclusion of "silent x" there seems to imply that it is possible to > spell "box's" as "box'", which of course it isn't. The > apostrophe-for-possession rule only applies, to my knowledge, to plurals > and particular names, generally biblical or classical. > >
No it doesn't. "Box" doesn't have a silent 'x'. And the paragraph doesn't cover non-silent x's, z's and s's, or singulars. Also, the possessive of "chassis" is "chassis'" or, as many now begin to prefer, "chassis's". Eugene

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Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>