Re: Invention of the Alphabet

>>>>> "Harlan" == Harlan Messinger <hmessinger.removethis@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Harlan> That's a misconception. Many words in Chinese consist of
Harlan> multiple syllables/characters, such as Chong1guo2, the
Harlan> name for China,
>> Aren't Chong1 and guo2 themselves root-words?

Harlan> Yes.

Harlan> It's comparable to
>> "United Kingdom". Two words used together to refer to
>> something specific. Is "United Kingdom" one word? 2 words?

Harlan> Which proves that not every pair of words in English
Harlan> collapses into a single word. Which isn't saying much.

If you consider "United Kingdom" to be "2 words NOT collapsed into a
single word", then why would you consider "Zhong1 guo2" to be "2 words
COLLAPSED into a single word"?

You're so inconsistent, and mislead by the spacing.


Harlan> or ci2dian3, a word for "dictionary",
>> Isn't <ci2> a word? Isn't <dian3> a word? <ci2dian3> is just
>> a compound. Comparable to English "word list". Is "word list"
>> one word, or two?

Harlan> Your English is good enough that your oversight of terms
Harlan> like "vineyard", "cupboard", etc., must be intentional.

You're simply evading to answer my question: Is "word list" one word?


--
Lee Sau Dan 李守敦 ~{@nJX6X~}

E-mail: danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee
.

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