Irregularity: What does it mean?

[Pal]

I am not writing an essay but posing a genuine question: What is generally meant by "irregularity"? When people talk about "irregular languages", in general what assumptions have they or from what perspectives do they give judgments?

Or is there not a generally accepted concept of "irregularity" in linguistics and philology, and interlocutors usually rely on their gut-feelings, so that one actually might have meant different things with the same word on different occasions?

It would be great too if you can refer us to any coherent scheme of measurement. Thank you.

[Speakeasy]

While I found your question intriguing, I find myself ill-equipped to participate in a discussion of it. Perhaps the sources of information listed below might be of some help. If I have misunderstood the question, please accept my apologies and ignore my reply.

Group A

What is the most irregular language? - Quora
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-irregular-language

What are the most regular & irregular languages? - Duolingo
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/23961483/What-are-the-most-regular-irregular-languages

Group B

Regular Language - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_language

Non-regular Languages
https://www.cs.wcupa.edu/rkline/fcs/re-pump.html

Identify Regular Language and Identify Non Regular Language | Theory of Computation - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glRWuxh5zEg

[Cainntear]

I am not writing an essay but posing a genuine question: What is generally meant by "irregularity"? When people talk about "irregular languages", in general what assumptions have they or from what perspectives do they give judgments?

Or is there not a generally accepted concept of "irregularity" in linguistics and philology, and interlocutors usually rely on their gut-feelings, so that one actually might have meant different things with the same word on different occasions?

It would be great too if you can refer us to any coherent scheme of measurement. Thank you.

Irregular features in language are ones that don't follow the normal rule.

"Child" is considered irregular because the plural "children" is unlike any other noun (some may take -en, eg. ox->oxen, but the R is unique).

The commonly expressed idea of an "irregular language" is a bit naive -- some people come to the conclusion that a given language has more irregular features than other languages and is therefore "irregular", but it's most complicated than that -- Speakeasy's link to Quora has some good discussion of that.

[Serpent]

also, in many cases a rule can be tracked historically, but due to language change the form looks irregular or random to modern speakers.

[Chung]

also, in many cases a rule can be tracked historically, but due to language change the form looks irregular or random to modern speakers.

*cough*Estonian*cough*