Re: [tied] Middle English Plurals

> >> English followed one possible path, German followed
> >> another, also a natural one. One reason for the
> >> difference may have been that OHG had the other variant
> >> of the strong masculine plural ending, <-a> from
> >> unextended *-o:z, which was less characteristic and
> >> therefore its selective advantage was weaker than that of
> >> OE -as, but such developments may simply be due to a kind
> >> of random evolutionary drift without a clear motivation.
>
> > "Random evolutionary drift"? Perhaps you should run your
> > definition of terms past Darwin first? Or else, if you
> > persist in your metaphor, you should offer an explanation
> > of how "survival of the fittest" enters into your picture
> > of linguistic change.
>
> Perhaps instead you should learn some modern evolutionary
> theory. Random genetic drift is now understood to be of
> great importance.
>

"Survival of the fittest" doesn't sound nice, admitted, but has it
been abolished? When did that happen?

Torsten