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--- In westasianconlangs@yahoogroups.com, "David J. Peterson" <dedalvs@g...> wrote: > Anthony wrote: > << > How many phonemes must a language which uses radicals possess in order > to form sufficient triradicals? > >> > > Well, if you admit for the possibility of any kind of root (including > three of the same consonant in a row [Arabic has at least one: /j j j/, > which forms the verb "to use the letter yaa"]), then it's simply a > matter of multiplying it out. Let's say your low end is 20: > > 20 x 20 x 20 = 8,000 > > That's a fair number of roots, and quite possibly "enough". However, > rules on forming triradicals may cut that number down, so you may > want to increase the number of phonemes, and, with each phoneme > you add, the number increases significantly. > > How many phonemes were you thinking having? 'Yayaya'? > > -David > ******************************************************************* > "A male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a." > "No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn." > > -Jim Morrison > > http://dedalvs.free.fr/