Well, 'lesser used' may not be English, but as far as I know it is a term, and there is a difference between 'less used languages' and 'lesser used languages'
A lesser used language is a minority language, e.g. in the UK Welsh is a lesser used language. And you can discuss rights to use that language in various situations (cf. USA, France,.. only one language accepted for offical use- goes back to "une nation, une langue") A less used language is just a language with not so many speaker: Danish e.g. is a less used language. Bente Maegaard On 10 Feb 2005 at 14:27, Somers, Harold wrote: > > This posting on behalf of YW, whose posting bounced. > > ________________________________ > > > From: Yorick WIlks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu Feb 10, 2005 2:23:17 PM Europe/London > > I cringe too but I think it may be right as "lesser" is (necessarily) > an adverb modifying an adjective. The only guide I can remember in > these things is the old adage (seeing as English doesnt have proper > rules like French and German) that "it is important to remember that > the lesser spotted finch is actually larger than the greater spotted > finch". It probably wasnt "finch" either and was a letter to the Times > not a real adage. Yorick Wilks > > > > -- Bente Maegaard, Director, Center for Sprogteknologi Univ. of Copenhagen, Njalsgade 80, DK-2300 Copenhagen S Tel: +45 35 32 90 74, Fax: +45 35 32 90 89 URL: www.cst.dk _______________________________________________ Mt-list mailing list
