Re: English syllable structure (was, for some reason: Re: Llirine: How to creat a language)

Quoting Tristan Alexander McLeay <anstouh@...>:

> On Sat, 8 Dec 2001, Elliott Lash wrote:
>
> >  Tristan Alexander McLeay <anstouh@...> writes:
> >
> > > On Sat, 8 Dec 2001, Elliott Lash wrote:
> > >
> > > > Um....you can't say "She went to bank" you HAVE to say "She went
> to
> > > > a/the bank"
> > >
> > > No, `she went to bank' is completely valid, but `bank' is not a
> noun, it's
> > > a verb, means something like `make a transaction at a bank' in that
> sence,
> > > although it can also mean something else, cf. `you can bank on
> that'.
> >
> > I would never read or hear the sentence as the first example: "She
> > went to make a transaction at a bank" and the second example is
> > incomprehensible to me..which makes it seem like it's either archaic
> > or something I haven't learned yet (and I'm an English L1
> > speaker..living in New York).
>
> Archaic, I think. Meant to mention that, but I forgot. Also sounds
> British, but a lot of archaisms do...
I dunno.  Sometimes it can go the other way.  Like, the
third season of the year in Britain is Autumn, while in
America we have preserved the dominant term used in the
17th century: Fall.  Rhoticness could also be seen as an
archaism, from a British stance.

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>
                     "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
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