Re: THEORY: derivation question

"Raymond A. Brown" wrote:

> No it ain't common here.  'Dwarfs' is what our dictionaries say and als=
o
> what most Brits say.  On the other hand, we mostly say 'leaves' althoug=
h
> some computer geeks (not me) say 'leafs' when they mean terminal nodes =
of
> tree data structures (the same people who distinguish between 'mice'
> [rodents] and 'mouses' [things you control pointers with, click etc] - =
a
> needless distinction IMHO as I've never yet come across anyone who
> misundertood me when I've used 'mice' for both plurals :)
About computer stuff, I've notice most of my fellow say _mouse_ /maws/ fo=
r what I
call _rat=F3n_ /rra'ton/ when reffering to the pointing device... but no =
one
missunderstand me (we all will say _rat=F3n_ /rra'ton/ when reffering to =
the
rodent).  There are many such pairs: a Spanish word and an English borrow=
ing,
some of them are excangable: _mause_/_rat=F3n_, some of them will only ge=
neraly
understood when using the borrowing _(micro)chip_/_pastilla_ [integrated
circuits] or _byte_/_octeto_ [set of binary digits].  The plural of _mous=
e_
/maws/ is _mouses_ /'mawses/ which is a regular spanish plural, but the p=
lural of
_byte_ /bajt/ is _bytes_ /bajts/ an irregular ... well, a regular spanish=
 plural
used in borrowins that end in consonants: _chips_, _robots_, _casettes_ /=
ka'sets/
(also _casetes_ /ka'setes/).

Some other thing I've found on computer jargon is _caracter_ /karak'terr/=
 (plural
_caracteres_ /karak'teres/) when reffering to a letter, digit, etc. (byte=
 stored
character, or char), instead of the standard Spanish _car=E1cter_ /ka'rak=
terr/
(irregular plural _caracteres_ /karak'teres/) still used when reffering t=
o
personality/characteristics or playing characters.  (The regular incorrec=
t plural
_car=E1cteres_ /ka'rakteres/ is also used, but not too often.)

If there where not a strong influence of an Academia de la Lengua, nor
requirement form universities for writing in correct Spanish, I would exp=
ect the
language to evolve, making _caracter_ (pl. _caracteres_) for the computer=
 word
and _car=E1cter_ (pl. _car=E1cteres_) for the other concepts, and words l=
ike _mouse_
/maws/, _byte_ /bajt/, _chip_ /tSip/, _board_ /borrD/, _driver_ /drajBer/=
, CD-ROM
/siDi'rrom/, casette /ka'set/, diskette /dis'ket/, wavelets /gwej'Blets/.=
.. a
pattern: orthography is the same as the original language (usually Englis=
h), and
pronunciation is borrowed but addpated into Spanish paterns... (well, the=
re are
people who say /maUZ/, /baIt_h/, /tSIp_h/, /'draIvr=3D/, etc.)

--
Carlos Eugenio Thompson Pinz=F3n
  ITEC-Telecom, Colombia

  cthompso@alpha.telecom-co.net
  http://alpha.telecom-co.net/~cthompso/

Di mi beh em je lok mi ju je kom lon vu am je