Re: [tied] Stative/Perfect; Indo-European /r/

> > Curious that such an unusual language
> > would become the current most widely spoken language in the

world, in

> > terms of geographical extent and numbers of speakers as a second
> > language.
>
> Not really so curious. It only shows that a neat spelling system

is not

> as important as whatever gives a language its political and

cultural

> prestige. The army and the navy behind it, for example ;)
>

The main reason is it's so heavily creolised (because of the
Nordwestblock and pre-Celtic component?) and therefore without the
inflectional complications which beset its self-prestigious
competitors, French with its numerous verbal forms, not to mention
the complicated noun paradigms of German (it seems only Slavs find
German uncomplicated
;-).


Torsten