Accents, umlauts etc.

[Resurrection Man]

The English language is quite remarkable in the different meanings the same set of letters can have. Sometimes a noun, sometimes a verb, sometimes an adjective etc. It is, I believe, the only language where cryptic crosswords can be set.

[Paul Sherratt]

Simon,
You can't fool me. I see you behind that tree.

[Roehre]

....It is, I believe, the only language where cryptic crosswords can be set.

I don't know about other languages, but cryptic crosswords can be found in French, German, Italian and Dutch newspapers and periodicals as well.

[Simon]

Yes, I wasn't sure what RM meant here, Roehre. I've never tried to set cryptic crosswords in any of the other languages that I know, but although it's possible, nonetheless I should imagine that it's a lot easier to set such puzzles in English!

[vinteuil]

George Perec's 300-page novel La disparition (1969) is a lipogram, written without ever using the letter "e". It has been translated into English by Gilbert Adair under the title A Void (1994), wiki tells us

Perec followed this in 1972 with the novella "Les Revenentes" - in which the only vowel used is the "e"....

[Resurrection Man]

I don't know about other languages, but cryptic crosswords can be found in French, German, Italian and Dutch newspapers and periodicals as well.

Ah..another theory bites the dust

[jean]

The absence of inflexional endings does, however, mean that rhymes are harder to come by in English, and are perhaps the more valued therefore.

[Simon]

The absence of inflexional endings does, however, mean that rhymes are harder to come by in English, and are perhaps the more valued therefore.

Yes, indeed, Jean. No wonder Schiller et al managed some good stuff for composers to set!

The English disadvantage of rhyme in this manner is, I'd suggest, balanced by the vast array of nouns, adjectives and verbs of widely differing form and sound - often meaning the same thing or with subtle nuances - drawn from the many influences that English has been subject to over the centuries. Thereby making our poetry so magnificent!

PS I'll never forget my puzzlement, as a kid leaning French, when I found out they had no word for shallow! That, and similar things, began/commenced/started/initiated my abiding interest in language.

It just occurs to me - how big is a French thesaurus? Has anyone got one? I can't recall ever having seen one, never mind having used one.

[amateur51]

Perec followed this in 1972 with the novella "Les Revenentes" - in which the only vowel used is the "e"....

But in French that is three letters, I presume, using the acute & grave accents, plus the feminine endings as appropriate,