SV: odd word of the day

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Fra: palistudy@yahoogroups.com [mailto:palistudy@yahoogroups.com] På vegne
af rett
Sendt: 1. november 2005 20:48
Til: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Emne: Re: [palistudy] odd word of the day

Hi Ole,

A couple more quick questions, still very much at beginner's level:

>... it signals a very important factor in language development, that of
>elision of syllables for the sake of economy, when a particular lexeme
>has no competion from other words.

By 'no competition from other words' do you mean that the elided form
doesn't lead to a new homophone (as often occurs after sound changes)?

Yes!

If so does this mean that the type of ellision you are describing is a
change that takes place separately from any regular sound changes of the
sort encompassed by the expression 'there are no exceptions to sound
changes'? (since the issue of homophony conflict would seem to allow or
prevent changes in the case of ellision).

No language tolerates a large amount of homophones, and speakers would try
to compensate one way or the other for phonetic changes generating a large
amount of homophones that would affect the semantics of the language. That
explains the phonology of many words of Pali.


Best Regards,
Ole Pind


best regards,

/Rett


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