Re: [tied] Re: Creole Romance?

30-06-03 13:15, tgpedersen wrote:

> Collapse of the noun paradigm. You might argue that the loss of those
> past tenses that are not based on the -l- participle in East and West
> Slavic is 'creole-like' in the Pedersenian sense (love that word,
> Holger sends his regards too, but suggests to avoid confusion it be
> written Pe'ersenian, which is OK since Fynsk, as should be well known
> in linguistics, is the language the angels speak sundays to please
> Our Lord), but then Polish has fused those forms with the inflected
> copula.

What about other categorial simplifications, such as the collapse of the
simple/complex distinction in adjectival declension, or the loss of the
dual number? New preterite endings from the cliticised copula are a
relatively recent development, preceded by several centuries during
which Polish had an analytic "passé composé" only. The imperfect and the
aorist became extinct very early. (Of the complex tenses, the pluperfect
has already dropped out of everyday use.)

> I guess what I'm saying is that 'creole-like' = 'user-
> friendliness' or learnability, the co-extensionailty stemming from
> the fact that this is why the language was invented (or 're-built')
> in the first place.

But restoring learnability and getting rid of excessive complexity are
ever-present factors in linguistic evolution, even in the absence of
significant external forces. That's what analogical change is all about.
Take Polish masculine noun stems with a final velar, where the Slavic
palatalisations gave rise to Old Polish alternations such as /g/ : /Z/ :
/dz/ (e.g. nom.sg. <wróg> 'enemy', loc. <wrodze>, voc. <wroz.e>). These
have now been eliminated by selecting different (non-palatalising)
inflectional endings (Modern Polish <wróg>, <wrogu>, <wrogu>, respectively).

> And this is also why English is such a success,
> once enough people mumble to obliterate any difference between acc.
> and dat., there's no need for memorising 'durch, für, gegen ...'
> (take the acc.) any more.

We're in the middle of this year's entrance exams in Poznan. The day
after tomorrow I'll start interviewing the candidates in the oral
examination. Alas to those who mumble in order to cover up the
deficiencies of their English! 'Enough of your creole, young man!' :-Z

Piotr