Re: THEORY: final features, moras, and roots [was: it's what I do]

DOUGLAS KOLLER:

> > "Kan" is found in words
> > referring to Chinese things, such as in _kanpooyaku_ 'traditional Chinese
> > medicine'. My Japanese prof told me that it is the same root in _Kankoku_
> > 'Korea'. She said kanji were introduced to Japan through Korea, so "kanji"
> > actually means "Korean character". This could be true, but I have my
> > doubts.
>
>You should. Though those characters are pronounced the same both in Japanese
>and Chinese, they are quite different.
That's precisely why I doubt her. However, it is obvious that just because
two words share a character doesn't mean that they share the same origin.
It is also highly likely that two roots with a common origin are not
written with a single character, though I don't know of any examples. I
just find it hard to believe that a language could exist for centuries
without writing, and then have the orthographers get every (or even most)
roots correctly assigned in the proper relations.

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Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
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