Why do languages break their rules so much? (e.g. irregular verbs)
In: 10
Because in natural languages, rules are constructed afterwards. If you look at the distribution of irregular word, you’ll find that 80% of irregular verbs are found among the 20% of the most used, whereas the remaining 80% only make up 20% of irregular verbs. In fact, i have yet to encounter a language where “to be”, one of the most common verbs in any language, is regular.
This is because languages don’t start out following rules. We make them up later on to make them easier. Everything starts out irregular, but only some of the most used verbs get to retain their irregularity, because people are more likely to remember the irregular forms in common words. For less common words, the irregular forms are eventually forgotten, and people create the regular forms instead.
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