Re: poly: Egan's Diaspora

From: Carl Feynman <carlf@alum.mit.edu>
Date: Thu Mar 19 1998 - 12:32:50 PST

At 09:23 PM 3/19/98 +0100, Anders wrote:
>...evolution of languages (there
>seems to be some similar tendencies like the shortening of common
>words,

Note that shortening words is not a universal trait-- it can't be, because
otherwise all words would have disappeared by now. English increased its
average word length by adding lots of latinisms and affixes, from about
1400 to 1900. Mandarin has, in this century, begun to employ two-syllable
words, after centuries as a strictly monosyllabic language.

--CarlF
Received on Thu Mar 19 20:34:56 1998

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