Versatility?

[Sherman Wilcox]

On 20 Mar 2011, at 15:26, Pamela Munro wrote:

> The first time the observation about the analyzability of /rooster/ 
> was made here, I thought, sure, I know the ending -/ster/, but what is 
> /roo/?

I routinely ask my students to analyze helicopter. No one can. Everyone 
thinks the word has an -/er/ suffix. Some of them come up with /heli-/ 
having to do with the sun, but then they can't figure out what the sun 
has to do with helicopters, or what -/copt/- might mean. Something that 
chops the sun's rays?

-- 
Sherman Wilcox, Professor
Department of Linguistics
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 871131