language with least homophones

Homophones   Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:27 pm GMT
Do you agree that Russian is the language with the least homophones? Well, there might be some obscure languages with less, but Russian is the major one with the least.
Croc,   Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:32 pm GMT
what's a homophone?
blanc   Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:12 pm GMT
Homophones are words that sound the same.
PARISIEN   Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:04 pm GMT
Russian: I do not know, my level of expertise is quite low in Slavic languages.

As for those I know, Italian and Spanish carefully avoid homophones (I cannot think of any *), while French and English have plenty of them.

No clue about what conclusion can be drawn.

* oh yes, here's one: It. "sei" = (you) "are" and "six".
cocreta   Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:22 pm GMT
A few homophones in Spanish: baso-vaso, callado-cayado , vaca-baca, ve-be, oí-hoy, he-e, ha-a, vis-bis.
truth vérité   Wed Aug 19, 2009 2:43 pm GMT
PARISIEN I'm sorry but according to your posts your general level of expertise in languages is very low...
Chato   Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:23 pm GMT
<<oí-hoy>>

Oí and Hoy do not sound the same, the first one has the entonation in the last vowel ( í ), and the second one is pronounce in just one sound.
PARISIEN   Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:51 pm GMT
<< PARISIEN I'm sorry but according to your posts your general level of expertise in languages is very low... >>

-- Prove your point, unless you want to prove you are a cunt.
Thanks.
Woozle   Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:21 pm GMT
As has been discussed at length since the Sarkozy slip last year, 'con' and 'cunt' are completely different insults in French and English.
cocreta   Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:44 pm GMT
I forgot a typical Spanish homophone: cómo (how) -como ( I eat).
the fucking asshole   Thu Aug 20, 2009 6:40 am GMT
Russian homophones:

нравится, нравиться - nravit'sya, nravitsya
код, кот - kod, kot
pravda   Thu Aug 20, 2009 10:39 am GMT
Italian homophones

dà/da - a/ha né/ne fa/fa are homophones

c'è /ce tè/te ho/o è/e pèsca/pésca bòtte/botte are NOt homophones because the e and o may be open or closed
Gur   Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:29 pm GMT
pain - pains -peint - peints - pin - pins - peins
saint coeur - saints coeurs - cinq heures
sein - seins - saint - saints - ceint - ceints - seing - seings - sain - sains
hareng - harengs - à rang - à rangs
ai - aie - aies - ait - aient - es - est - ais - haie - haies
au - aux - eau - eaux - haut - hauts
c'est - s'est - sait - sais - saie - saies
car - cars - quart - quarts
cent - cents - s'en - sang - sangs - sens - sent - c'en - sans
compte - comptes - conte - contes - comte - comtes
con - cons - qu'on
cour - cours - court - courts
su - sus - sue - sues

... + many, many, MANY more. French is the homophone champion.
marook   Fri Aug 21, 2009 8:09 pm GMT
It's very common in Hebrew:
al (על) (on) - al (אל) (like don't)
ken (כן) (yes) - ken (קן) (nest)
lo (לא) (no) - lo (לו) (to him)
kol (כול) (every) - kol (קול) (voice)
davar (דבר) (something) - davar (דוור) (postman)
af (אף) (nose) - af (עף) (fly)
az (עז) (strong) - az (אז) (then)
ki (כי) (because) - ki (קיא) (spew)
iti (איטי) (slow) - iti (איתי) (with me)
lakh (לך) (to you) - lakh (לח) (humid)
zara (זרה) (foreigner (female)) - zara (זרע) (sow)
raza (רזה) (skinny woman) - raza (רזה) (he became thinner)
tas (טס) (fly) - tas (טס) (tray)
dama (דמה) (her blood) - dama (דמע) (he shed tears)
sav (סב) (grandfather) - sav (סב) (he turned around)
yara (ירא) (he feared) - yara (ירה) (he shot)
lama (למה) (why) - lama (למה) (llama)
kal (קל) (easy) - kal (קל) (light)
sam (שם) (he put) - sam (סם) (drug)
sar (שר) (minister) - sar (סר) (he turned aside)
et (עט) (pen) - et (את) (shovel)
im (אם) (if) - im (עם) (with)
PB   Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:07 pm GMT
It's true that French si probably the language with the most homophones, a lot of the times you know what the other person is saying based on the context.