>>The decision about the question "Does this bunch of phonemes, nay, lexemes, qualify as a word?" is clearly not a democratic one, even less the affair of a commitee. It is more like the fate of a pebble carried along by a river: some are ground down to sand quickly, others end up well-rounded and smooth.<<

I like that very much, Werner. But, if we the speakers are the river, then isn't language *essentially democratic? the streams of speech the referenda?