Tmesis¶
tmesis · syntax · validated
A text that splits a word in two and inserts other material between the halves, as in "abso-bloody-lutely".
Provenance¶
- Source: Traditional; a classical rhetorical figure
- Attribution:
traditional— classical or folk; no single origin to name - Checkability:
self— decidable from the text and its parameters alone - Attested:
codified— formulated as a rule by a tradition rather than declared by an author
Details¶
- Kind: both
- Languages: en, de, fr
- Requires:
tokens,lexicon.words - Deterministic: yes
- In other languages: Tmesis (de), Tmèse (fr)
Notes¶
German declared on what the checker actually tests: a hyphen-joined run whose outer parts rejoin as a lexicon word. German compounding gives that operation more material than English does — Fern-seltsam-seher splits Fernseher at a real seam — so the mechanism transfers even though the definition's example quotes an English colloquial idiom. Separable-verb prefixes are the other thing called tmesis in German grammatical description, and they are outside this row: er machte die Tür auf carries no hyphen, so the checker does not see it and reports too_few_splits. Deciding that case needs the part-of-speech capability no pack provides, the same one homosyntaxism is blocked on.
Prompt hint¶
Split words apart and wedge other words inside them.
Parameters¶
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
minimum |
integer | 1 |
How many valid word-splits the text must carry. |
Examples¶
abso-bloody-lutely¶
en — this text satisfies the procedure.
abso-bloody-lutely
Source: Traditional; the standard English example of tmesis
halves-do-not-rejoin¶
en — this text does not satisfy the procedure.
cats-really-dogs
Source: constructed counterexample; cats and dogs do not rejoin into a word
fern-seltsam-seher¶
de — this text satisfies the procedure.
Fern-seltsam-seher
Source: constructed example; Fern-seher rejoins as Fernseher, a real compound
haelften-fuegen-sich-nicht¶
de — this text does not satisfy the procedure.
Katze-lustig-Hund
Source: constructed counterexample; Katze and Hund do not rejoin into a word
extra-vraiment-ordinaire¶
fr — this text satisfies the procedure.
extra-vraiment-ordinaire
Source: constructed example; extra-ordinaire rejoins as extraordinaire, a word the lexicon knows
les-moities-ne-se-rejoignent-pas¶
fr — this text does not satisfy the procedure.
chat-vraiment-chien
Source: constructed counterexample; chat and chien do not rejoin into a word