Re Discrete Infinity

[David Tuggy]

In what way are original sentences (or even original clauses) rare? How 
often will any of the sentences in Aya's post, or this one, have been 
produced in the history of the world? And even if some of them ever 
were, would that mean that Aya copied them, rather than producing them 
as, for her, effectively original sentences?

--David Tuggy

A. Katz wrote:
> It seems we are all agreed that the issue isn't infinity. As far as I can
> see, it's indeterminate length. Despite the fact that no person has ever
> uttered an infinitely long utterance -- nor ever will -- and despite the
> fact that the inventory of actually spoken sentences throughout the
> history of any language is also a finite number, the upper bound on
> whatever that finite number is is indeterminate. That is what gives us 
> the
> freedom to say something original. Granted, original sentences are rare,
> but the possibility of having them crop up is a very big deal. It allows
> us to express new ideas, if and when they occur to us.
>
>
> Best,
>
>      --Aya
>