Re: Most developed conlang

In a message dated 4/18/2007 12:26:51 PM Central Daylight Time,
markjreed@MAIL.COM writes:


> Uhm, huh?  "develop", as a verb, is certainly a "black box word" at
> this point, but "development" is "develop" + "-ment".   The suffix
> -ment may not be universally productive, but the meaning of sticking
> it on the end of a verb is nevertheless predictable.  (This thing I'm
> typing may not be a "communicatement", but even though that word
> doesn't actually exist in the English lexicon, its intended meaning is
> transparent.)  To be sure there are affix uses in English that result
> in words with meanings that would not be predicted from the component
> parts, but "development" is not such a case.
>
"-ment" is not a predictably productive suffix, and it cannot be applied to
words arbitrarily.  The fact that this suffix has a predictable meaning is
irrelevant.  "Develop" and "development" must count as two words.

stevo   </HTML>

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