Path: ...!news.nobody.at!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!news.szaf.org!inka.de!mips.inka.de!.POSTED.localhost!not-for-mail From: Christian Weisgerber Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang Subject: Re: PTD was the most-respected of the AUE regulars ... Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2024 17:29:10 -0000 (UTC) Message-ID: References: Injection-Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2024 17:29:10 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: lorvorc.mips.inka.de; posting-host="localhost:::1"; logging-data="95911"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@mips.inka.de" User-Agent: slrn/1.0.3 (FreeBSD) Bytes: 1894 Lines: 21 On 2024-07-26, Steve Hayes wrote: > On Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:41:13 -0700, HenHanna >> The instance I remember most was when he (PTD) opined that Most >>Chinese words consisted of 2 Chinese characters. It's not wrong just because PTD said it. Over on Language Log, the eminent sinologist Victor Mair also keeps pointing out that the Chinese thinking that a Chinese character/syllable equals a word is just not true and that most of the Chinese lexicon is made from a combinations of two morphemes and rendered in two characters. > In his own field he had some useful information, but outside his field > he could be very dogmatic about things that he simply got wrong. But what _is_ PTD's area of actual expertise? Writing systems, I guess, supported by the fact that he co-edited a book on the topic? Semitic languages, maybe--or am I already misled by my own total ignorance there? -- Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de