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on 2/27/02 1:02 PM, Mike Wright at darwin@hidden.email wrote: > > One of the things I *don't* like about Rex's model is that there are > too many ways to say the same thing--the equivalent of "the father of > the bride" vs. "the bride's father", for example. This kind of > flexibility came into English, and some other languages, as imports > from unrelated or distantly related languages, not as part of the > organic growth of the language in isolation. I suspect that this kind > of flexibility will cause more confusion than it is worth, without > really adding any value. I assume you're referring to the sa/hu thing? Here's my thinking: Go xaw to pezo hu dwel zisa dom pake zi dwel ca. I see the man that lived in your house before you lived there. Otherwise, it has to be: Go xaw to dwel zisa dom pake zi dwel ca sa pezo. Which has got to be more confusing. How would Mandarin render something like that? > > I would prefer to see a relatively simple, internally consistent > grammar (including syntax, phonology, word structure, and prosody) > laid out in the abstract, then tested by plugging in lexical items in > realistic situations. (I'm now beginning my fifteenth year as a > professional computer programmer, so that's probably why the > design-implement-test-modify-test-... paradigm appeals to me.) This maybe is the way it's been done, but I'm only showing the simplified form first. I mean, I know what things are 'short' for when I do them, just as I know that in colloquial english, 'don't know' is short for 'I don't know.' > > Once a working model is built, then it could be "humanized". Full > formal syntax such as "Go txiq ke zi stu." could be supplemented by > reduced forms like "Txiq stu." (By the way, I have a heck of a time > saying "Go txiq ke zi stu." I keep wanting to say "Go txiq ke zi > *tsu*." I'm not sure why. Guess I need to practice. Where can I buy > the tapes?) -- >PLEASE NOTE MY NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: rmay@hidden.email > Rex F. May (Baloo) > Daily cartoon at: http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/baloo.asp > Buy my book at: http://www.kiva.net/~jonabook/gdummy.htm > Language site at: http://www.geocities.com/ceqli/Uploadexp.htm >Discuss my auxiliary language at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/txeqli/