[An-lang] Proto-Dialect chains

[Isidore Dyen]

I is my impression that it was Brugmann that first enunciated the
principle, but I cannot at this moment say where. An active
Indoeuropeanist should be able to direct you to it. ID

----- Original Message -----
From: "William H. Baxter" <wbaxter at umich.edu>
Date: Friday, July 18, 2003 11:57 am
Subject: Re: [An-lang] Proto-Dialect chains

> Can anyone help me find the intellectual pedigree (whether within
> linguistics or from elsewhere) of the principle that subgroups
> should
> be defined by shared innovations?  I think it's a fine principle,
> but I
> am puzzled by the fact that some historical linguists take it as a
> basic assumption (and don't necessarily remember where they got
> the
> idea from), while others seem to be unaware of it, or at least
> fail to
> apply it.  There seems to be a good deal of variation from
> subfield to
> subfield.
>
> Specifically, where did this idea originate (in biology, I
> suspect),
> who was first to introduce it to linguistics, where, and under
> what
> circumstances?
>
> Bill Baxter
> University of Michigan
>
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