From: G&P
Message: 61881
Date: 2008-12-05
>>>> other things
being equal words get shorter and shorter rather
>>>> than longer and longer
>>>If this
principle were true, we'd be left with only short words like /u/
>>>after 200
000 years. but as Latin shows, .
>>You'll find
exceptions in French also .. But the basic point is still
>>correct - in
general words tend to get shorter.
>>The mistake is
to think that a strong tendency is a hard-and-fast invariable
>>rule.
>I wonder what you are
trying to say, Peter.
Piotr pointed to a general tendency. You responded as if it were an unvarying rule. I said it is a mistake to think a strong tendency is a hard-and-fast invariable rule.
That’s what I was trying to say. I hope I have now said it.
Peter