Consider these 'word forming' prefixes:
pro- word-forming element meaning "forward, forth, toward the front" (as in proclaim, proceed);
con-word-forming element meaning "together, with," sometimes merely intensive
Consider, forexample: 'inconsequential".
Imagine your society is preliterate. The sequence above is too long, I claim. Word forming prefixes was an enforcement by Latin as a purely literary device, meaning you needed parchment to assemble the meaning. Oral societies have never seen the written word, they do not do written grammar math in their head.
So, for example, Spanish verbs starting with P have pro and per in which many of the basic stems are repeated. and compound versions are common. The reach of a word, it ability to stay the eyes of the reader for as long as needed was based on position-order correspondence, on parchment or stone. The reader can go backwards and assemble the thing or action on paper, decoding the sequence of word forming prefixes. Oral societies do not do this.
Verbs beginning with G has a total of about 50 for good writing and talking. G does not start a word forming prefix, so there is no spurious bunch of G verbs.. If we skipped the word forming modifiers and just kept basic root we get about a thousand or a bit more, based on G as an example. Still way more than an oral society can keep straight. Much worse if we add all the word formers.
But speech was the issue being solved, as the translation dictionary was produced. The local vernacular can go through the code book and be understood in the native dictionary language, which was not meant to be vocal. With the dictionary, a trader could change context, select the 60 words he needs for the local vernacular. It was suddenly like having Google translate. The dictionary thus having preventatives making oral culture difficult. When spoken it seemed too expansive for the local everyday stuff of life. It was mostly reserved for the church or a thousand years.
Verbs beginning with G has a total of about 50 for good writing and talking. G does not start a word forming prefix, so there is no spurious bunch of G verbs.. If we skipped the word forming modifiers and just kept basic root we get about a thousand or a bit more, based on G as an example. Still way more than an oral society can keep straight. Much worse if we add all the word formers.
But speech was the issue being solved, as the translation dictionary was produced. The local vernacular can go through the code book and be understood in the native dictionary language, which was not meant to be vocal. With the dictionary, a trader could change context, select the 60 words he needs for the local vernacular. It was suddenly like having Google translate. The dictionary thus having preventatives making oral culture difficult. When spoken it seemed too expansive for the local everyday stuff of life. It was mostly reserved for the church or a thousand years.
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