Re: Your first "linguistic" memory

>> >If you know that "val" (whatever that is) \
>> >and FAL are different words,
>>
>> They are different all right, but is FAL really a Dutch word? Nobody
>> except conscripts (which we no longer have) you were then trained in
>> using that gun ever use it. I think this type of gun is no longer in
>> use now. So millions of native speakers have no idea what it is, and
>> don't want to know. It is not in the Van Dale dictionary. So is it a
>> Dutch word? I really don't know.

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 15:29:24 GMT: "Peter T. Daniels"
<grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: in sci.lang:
>So the Dutch manufacturers invented a trademark that couldn't be
>pronounced in Dutch?

Did I ever say, write or suggest that????????????

>That strikes me as highly unlikely. And most
>Americans know what "M-16," "AK-47," and "Uzi" mean even if we haven't
>the slightest idea what they look like or how to tell them apart. (Not
>to mention "Remington," "Smith and Wesson," "Colt," and many others.)

Not quite the same thing, seeing that here in NL, civilians may only
carry guns with special permits.

>> Not the point. The point is: how can such a distinction survive in a
>> language in which /s/ and /z/ may arguably not even be different
>> phonemes? They're not allophones either, because the difference can
>> only be explained by historic developments, not by phonetic context.
>
>I have no idea what you're talking about.

And I have no idea why not. I thought I was rather clear about it.

>And don't tell me that you understand "phoneme" if you can write a
>passage like that!

Phonemes are what make words sound different, and makes different
meanings recognizable. Other differences can exist, they are
allophonic, they follow from the vicinity of other phonemes
(assimilation), or from position (initial, medial, final etc.)

What do I misunderstand about "phoneme" so far?

Then a language has differences between words, that are not phonemic
and not allophonic, but they are just there for no apparent reason.
And they are passed on to new generations, although the difference
does not distinguish meaning in any way. Isn't that strange? Does it
mean I misunderstand phonemes when I find that remarkable?

Please explain.

>> Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, with the "Rijksdelen" Nederland, Aruba
>> and the Nederlandse Antillen. The (tiny) islands are Aruba, Bonaire,
>> Curaçau, St.Eustacius, (half of) St. Maarten, and Saba.
>>
>> Cf. Canada and Australia, which are not Great Britain, but are or were
>> under the same Queen.
>
>So the Caribbean islands have the same status as the mainland country
>itself?

Did I say that?

>The way Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Réunion are supposedly
>départements equivalent in status to any département in France itself?
>No passports, no visas, no immigration restrictions,

Yes.

>representation in
>Parliament superior to that of any of the divisions within the
>Rijksdelen?

No.

--
Ruud Harmsen - http://rudhar.com

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