Re: VMs: Two Questions

["Robert Antony Hicks" <rob_hicks_vms@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Q2 - Would the frequency of mandatory words such as the verb "to be" and 
> it's variants be approximately equal from language to language?

No.  You assume that 'to be' is mandatory, and in fact it is not.  Chinese, 
for example, only uses an equivalent to 'to be' when assigning a concrete 
definition (e.g. he IS a farmer), but not when assigning an abstract quality 
(e.g. he very tall, not he IS very tall). Latin, as another example, largely 
avoids the verb 'to be', instead placing such information in verb endings.  
In fact, just about the only consistent parts of speech shared by all 
languages are nouns and verbs.  Everything else tends to be highly variable.

Rob



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