The Phonemic Principle, Middle Bulgarian

David L. White dlwhite at texas.net
Tue Nov 28 16:44:48 UTC 2000


        I agree with what Dr. Connolly (sp?) and Mr. Friessen have said.  In
particular, there is no reason to believe that semantic or grammatical
categorization affects phonetic implementation, which is essentially what
seems to have been asserted.  If we get (in a few cases) fewer phonemes by
assuming that it does, we do so at the cost of complicating phonetic
implementation by having it "reach back" to other levels, so that any
supposed gains in simplicity ("Occam's Razor" and all that) are, as so often
happens, illusory.
        Do inferential perfects occur in Middle Bulgarian, or are they
modern?  It occurred to me, as I was driving away on vacation, that perhaps
the Turkic influence in question came from the Bulgarsway back, not from the
Ottoman Turks.  Indeed, I was half-expecting to find myself  roundly berated
for my ignorance-cum-arrogance when I got back.  So far, so good. Maybe I
(coincidentally) got it right the first time.

                                                        Dr. David L. White



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