synonyms

[phygelus]

Apparently "armature" and "gagbit" are the same word in Chinese.

Comments

[vakratunda]

I have heard that the rule is that all simple words are monosyllables, and even with the tones there are a limited number of monosyllables so that every statement of any length in spoken Chinese is a multivalued pun that is known from context. And of course, the ideograms are different, there is no ambiguity like this in the written language. But each monosyllable is one ideogram. Unless I am mistaken in part or whole, here: I am often mistaken.

There are a number of features of ancient languages that seem to presuppose a written language as ancient as (if not artificially developed alongside the) spoken language, like the triliteral roots of the semitic languages, or the way the individual sounds of sanskrit are learned.

If in ancient times there was a single relatively small population speaking a single language that split and drifted apart and evolved into what we have now, about how long would that take?

A gagbit is like one of those S&M thingies, right?

.

[phygelus]

Well, I learned this from deciphering chenglish, and doing reverse lookups in an online dictionary. The word is two ideograms.

I don't know how long it would take for modern languages to have diverged from a single common language. I'd be pretty skeptical of linguists' estimates, too.

I'm sure the bdsm folks use gagbits; they use everything else. It's horse tackle.

[phygelus]

The Chinese are such a pleasure to do business with I have half a mind to spend some time learning whatever dialect they speak in Shanghai.