Timeline for Is there a German word with exact same plural and singular form?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
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| Aug 8, 2016 at 10:55 | history | edited | tofro | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 7, 2016 at 15:08 | comment | added | tofro | An article as a sort of redundancy in language comes in pretty handy if you need to shout your conversation from one alpine mountain to the other (or from one sailing boat in a Baltic Sea storm to the other, for that matter) | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 14:43 | comment | added | PerlDuck | Good point. I'm a native German and as such familiar with all those exceptions. But from the bird's-eye view I wonder how people manage them. Admirable. Just think about the articles. They are of no use, follow no reasonable rules, other languages don't even know that concept, and yet they exist in German language. | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 14:31 | comment | added | tofro | One of the most fundamental "rule" German (like most languages) is based upon is "If it's too easy to misunderstand, too long-winded to use and too hard to learn, it's (in this order) not used". Evolution of a language is also "survival of the fittest" - And if a word or form is not fit for purpose, people will simply not use it anymore. | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 14:27 | comment | added | PerlDuck | I totally agree and can only think of words that have no plural or are only used in plural form, like "Liebe" or "Eltern". However, your "Maybe for exactly the reason […]" made me smile because it implies that German language is built on scientific rules. That would be great. :-) To my experience there are more exceptions than rules. Never mind. | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 14:18 | history | answered | tofro | CC BY-SA 3.0 |