Morpheme replacement

[Isidore Dyen]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 
In general bound morphemes--i.e. affixes--are not a universal phenomenon.
Consider Chinese, whichn has, I have been given to understand, just one,
so that it is likely that there is a language with none. One can take a
frequency of bound forms, but it is not likely to get anywhere, because
the number of different instances varies considerably from language to
language and so does their distribution among words. Lexicon is trouble
enough.
 
On Mon, 13 Oct 1997, Mikael Parkvall wrote:
 
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> If I remember correctly, the items on the Swadesh list were said by Swadesh
> himself to be replaced at a rate of about 15 per milennium. Does anybody on
> the list have any idea regarding the differences between various types of
> items; in other words, would lexical morphemes be replaced at a higher rate
> than grammatical ones (not just those on the Swadesh list, but also bound
> morphemes), or vice versa? Or is there no difference at all between them?
>
>
> Mikael Parkvall
> parkvall at ling.su.se
>