Re: Re : Re: Long Languages

Adam Walker wrote:
> So what's wrong with homophones?
Depends on the number of homophones.  In Mandarin Chinese, there were a
great many homophones, creating many ambiguities, so to handle this,
compound words were used; this happened in all the Chinese languages,
but most of all in Mandarin, so much so, that something like 2/3 of the
everyday vocabulary is now disyllabic.

> I have quite a few in Graavgaaln even
> though it has a huge phonolgy and is very flexable about combining them.
I have a number of them in Waty=E1=EDsa as well, even tho the vocabulary =
is
quite small.  The only one I can think of off the top of my head is
_klu_, which can mean "stab" or "foot".  Of course, they're different
classes (verb and noun), and are thus not truly homophonous, as
different inflections are used.

--=20
"It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father
was hanged." - Irish proverb
http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files
http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-name: NikTailor