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Re: irregularities

From:Dan Seriff <microtonal@...>
Date:Tuesday, June 5, 2001, 17:12
Tom Tadfor Little wrote:

> Most people probably underestimate the amount of irregularity in languages. > We tend to think of a few common irregular verbs, and then presume that > everything else, from root structure on up, is pretty logical. A certain > vigilance is required if one wants to make a conlang realistically quirky.
If I remember my numbers correctly, English has 168 irregular verbs. And those are just the ones we use *now*. There are all sorts of archaic irregulars that are no longer used but heavily attested. My favorite irregular series in English: think-thought bring-brought buy-bought work-wrought (the old usage) I like them primarily because they are so transparently cognate with German: denken-dachte-gedacht bringen-brachte-gebracht (kaufen and arbeiten are no longer part of the series) I think that I'll add a web page about irregular verbs in English and German when I've got the time. -- Daniel Seriff microtonal@sericap.com http://members.tripod.com/microtonal Honesty means never having to say "Please don't flush me down the toilet!" - Bob the Dinosaur

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