Re: CHAT: EU allumettes (was: Re: THEORY/CHAT: Talmy, Jackendoff and Matchboxes

Trebor Jung said:
> Mark L. wrote:
>
> "I'll get right on it as soon as y'all have completed the requirements
> document (where I can find the specification of "optimal grammar")."
>
> What I was actually thinking of was surveying the EU languages to find
> whether a feature should be included or not: Do most languages have
> prepositions or postpositions or case suffixes etc.? What about articles?
> And participles? etc. etc. etc. If X is really unnecessary and difficult
> for
> speakers of languages without X (like articles), they won't be included
> then. But I guess that's too subjective...?

Doing the math in my head for the EU20, as it were, I reckon you'd wind up
with a form of pidgin at best (and an empty set of included features, at
worst), and it'll still be very different from Maltese. If that's what you
want, it would be easier just to start with a pidgin or creole that
already exists.


-- Mark