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Re: Language comparison

From:Chris Bates <chris.maths_student@...>
Date:Monday, January 10, 2005, 9:58
> >Exactly my point. > >So, dropping that compulsory agreement for something that's more >useful as a "checksum" (other computer analogy) should yield a higher >bitrate for the same amount of content and certainty-via-redundancy. > > >
But in truth that agreement can sometimes make things more compact. For example, from basque: ematen diot ema-ten di-o-t give-imperfective 3rd.abs.pres-3rd.dat-3rd.erg I am giving it to him(/her/it) Compare these two. Now, diot = I am ..... it to him. Which is shorter? :) See my point? Basque only shows verbal agreement, no case or gender agreement in adjectives etc, but sometimes the verbs are pretty compact. Of course, sometimes they're massive: gustatzen zitzaizkizuen gusta-tzen zitzai-zki-zu-e-n please-imperfective 3rd.abs-plur-you-plur-past "They pleased to you all" You (all) liked them *shrugs* Sometimes it's more compact, sometimes it's much longer. I was just pointing out that agreement can make things shorter sometimes. I think it's all a balancing act really.