Usefulness and Clarity
As noted above, the only limits to free word-building in Interlingua are clarity and usefulness. These concepts are touched upon here:
Any number of words could be formed by stringing roots and affixes together, but some would be more useful than others. For example, the English word rainer means a person who rains, but most people would be surprised that it is included in English dictionaries. The corresponding Interlingua word pluviator is unlikely to appear in a dictionary because of its lack of utility. Interlingua, like any traditional language, could build up large numbers of these words, but this would be undesirable.
Gode stressed the principle of clarity in free word-building. As Gode noted, the noun marinero (mariner) can be formed from the adjective marin, because its meaning is clear. The noun marina meaning navy cannot be formed, because its meaning would not be clear from the adjective and suffix that gave rise to it.
Read more about this topic: Free Word-building In Interlingua
Famous quotes containing the words usefulness and, usefulness and/or clarity:
“There has been and always will be plenty of arguments about the usefulness and harm of the spreading of the Bible. In my view the Bible will continue to cause harm when used in a dogmatic and fantastic manner; it will do good when used for didactic purposes and with sensitivity.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)
“How to attain sufficient clarity of thought to meet the terrifying issues now facing us, before it is too late, is ... important. Of one thing I feel reasonably sure: we can’t stop to discuss whether the table has or hasn’t legs when the house is burning down over our heads. Nor do the classics per se seem to furnish the kind of education which fits people to cope with a fast-changing civilization.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)