Languages are self-optimizing
It’s interesting to note the evolution of the Spanish (romance) word para. It has fairly limited usage as “for … a purpose”, with a person as an object, or as a helper with some verbs, but non-native speakers often become confused by the subtle differences in usage between it and the more general por. The particle para probably evolved from the Latin word pro also meaning “for.” You can still see the Latin preserved as the prefix of some English words, such as “proscribe,” “promiscuous,” and of course “pro-bono.”
Today in Spain, however, para is not spoken with two syllables. Since there are no other Spanish words to be confused with pa’, the single-syllable prefix is preferred in everyday usage. So, writing “I have a gift for you” becomes Tengo un regalo pa’ ti instead of Tengo un regalo para ti. Pushed by the increasing pressure of fast, modern life, syllables drop off non-ambiguous words where they’re no longer needed. This is one way Spanish, or any language with an alphabet, optimizes itself to the pressure of information flow.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 20th, 2005 at 1:03 am and is tagged with two syllables, spanish romance, ambiguous words, everyday usage, native speakers, word pro, spanish words, pa ti, latin word, information flow, subtle differences, verbs, syllable, regalo, prefix, particle, alphabet, evolution, spain, languages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.