Re: French verb conjugation: "je harcèle"? or "je harcelle"?

On Mar 27, 5:39 am, Nigel Greenwood <ndsg_m...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mar 27, 6:09 am, mb <azyth...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mar 26, 8:50 am, "Peter T. Daniels" <gramma...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

If membership in Group 1 or Group 2 is in fact arbitrary and
unpredictable, then it is indeed impossible to know how to spell the
3sg. of Brel's nonce verb "bruxel(l)er." If, however, French-speakers
agree on whether it's bruxelle or brux`ele, then there is _some_ rule
operating, which it is possible to determine

Your logic is leaking again. The correct premise you use, i.e. that
"group membership" for the treatment of some finite tenses is
basically unpredictable, cannot automatically be assumed to be the
sole factor that determines ...the form of the infinitive. As it
happens, it is not. Origin and knowledge of the origin are an
important factor at play here. The origin is Bruxelles, a city.

Spellings are not accessible to speakers.

Do you not understand the difference between synchrony and diachrony?

To calm things down a bit, here's an enjoyable clip of Brel

That's an oxymoron.
.

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