When I was at the orthography (alphabet) conference in Kenya last month, one of the presenters (thanks, Helen Eaton!) showed us the slide that you see in the picture above. She asked us to take two minutes to note down whether these were written as one word, two words, or with a hyphen in English. There’s my challenge for you – two minutes, go!
Did you do it? How many do you think you got right? Scroll down to the comments on this post to see how you did. If you’re like me, you didn’t get a 100%!
When I went, one of the things we’d been wondering about in the writing of My Language was how to write our tone. (Remember my example of “the sheep returned, a sheep returned, it’s a sheep that returned, the sheep returns, a sheep returns, and it’s a sheep that returns,” all being pronounced the exact same except for changes in tone?) The other thing the guys I’ve been working with wanted me to learn more about was word breaks in compound words. And through the exercise you just did (you did do it, right?), I think we can all agree that it’s a bit complicated, even in a language that many of us have been reading for decades! What a reminder that there is still a lot of work to go in writing down My Language, which is just a step in the whole reason I’m here. Sira bili ka jan (“The road ahead of us is still long” in Jula, the trade language.). Thanks for your prayers as we’re in this for the long haul, as long as God keeps the doors open!
Some of the ones that have more than one answer, especially because they fall into different word classes (nouns verses verbs, for example) are disambiguated in speech by stress and intonation. The very unusual (highly marked) form “I can not come, if you would find that easier” in my speech, has a highly reduced vowel in ‘can’ [kɘn] and the ‘not’ has a lengthened vowel and high pitch on it to mark it emphatically. About the only way we can mark such things orthographically in English is either by separating normally joined words, like ‘cannot’ (although the default in the inability form is’can’t’) or by capitalization to ensure disambiguationː “I can NOT come, …” English with its limitations (not marking stress or intonation formally except in punctuation) is nonetheless cleverly manipulated by writers to mirror speech. Thanks for the interesting “puzzle”.
Good stimulating puzzle to tackle, Susie! You’re right (did I get that right?) I didn’t bat 100%! Blessings and wisdom to you as you continue your analysis of your language.
Here are the answers we were given. Again, thanks to Helen Eaton, for figuring this out and writing it all up, and thanks to Wiktionary, where she got her answers from!
1. Tomorrow is currently one word, but was written as two words until the 16th century and then with a hyphen until the early 20th century.
2. All three forms of well-being are currently acceptable. The hyphenated form is listed as standard.
3. Cannot as one word and can not as two words are both acceptable, but with different meanings. As one word, it is the full form of can’t. As two, it means ‘choose not to do something’, as in, “I can not come if you would find that easier.”
4. Do-gooder is hyphenated as standard, but the one-word form is an alternative spelling.
5. Blackbird as one word is a particular kind of bird, whereas a black bird – two words – is any bird which is black.
6. A lot is officially two words, but often seen as one! The one-word version is generally seen as non-standard, but it may be going the way of awhile and will be accepted as standard one day.
7. Anymore as one word is fine in American English, as in, “I don’t live there anymore,” but it is still two words in British English. It can also be two words in American English when used non-adverbially, as in, “Is there any more cake?”
8. Pickup as one word is a noun, with many meanings, including a kind of truck. As a noun it can also be hyphenated. As a verb, it is two words, as in, “I’ll go and pick up the shopping in the pickup.”
9. Overtime as one word is when you work beyond your normal hours (or play longer in a game when it is tied, for some dialects of English). As two words, over time is a prepositional phrase meaning ‘as time passes’, as in, “I have accumulated a lot of overtime over time.”
10. Wrongdoer is one word (and not hyphenated, unlike do-gooder!).