Re: Negation

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Arnaud Fournet" <fournet.arnaud@...>
wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...>
> >
> > On 2008-12-05 12:15, Arnaud Fournet wrote:
> >
> >> I've never read that somebody proposed that short words should be
> >> considered more probably inherited than long ones !?
> >> Is there a theory on that ?
> >
> > Let us have a look at the parapgaph above. It contains the following
> > monosyllabic words:
> >
> > I, have, read, that [conj.], short, words, should, be, more, than,

long,

> > ones, is, there, a, on, that [pron.]
> >
> > The following words are polysyllabic:
> >
> > never, somebody, proposed, considered, probably, inherited, theory
> >
> > In which group is there a larger proportion of inherited words?
> >
> > Piotr
> >
> ============
>
> Good joke, M. Gasiorowski.
>
> Now you translate that sentence in French,
> and I let you explain me which words are inherited.
>
> "je n'ai jamais lu que quelqu'un ait proposé que les mots courts

devraient

> être considérés plus probablement hérités que les longs".
>
> As far as I can see, all words are inherited or made with inherited
> morphemes.

On the contrary - consider the words with 3 or more syllables:
proposé, considérés, probablement, hérités. They're all borrowed from
Latin rather than inherited.

Richard.