<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 5.5.2448.0">
<TITLE>Proto-Dialect chains</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Andrew Pawley and I have been having a little</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">private</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> e-discussion, but felt it might be</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">better</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> to come on-</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">list</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> to get a wider spread</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">of</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> ideas.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The query relates to the</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">nomenclature</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">used</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> for protolanguages and families as opposed to proto-dialect chains and linkages. One</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">might</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> refer to the Polynesian subgroup, for example, and to</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Proto-</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Polynesian</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, as</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">implying</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> a (fairly) homogeneous and</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">uniform</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> single ancestral language. Forms labelled PPn *xyz would thus</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">represent</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> forms which, to the best of</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">our</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">knowledge</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, were part of that</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">protolanguage</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">My concern is with dialect-chains. There was probably a Southern Oceanic</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">linkage</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, an dialect-chain ancestral to the languages of Vanuatu and New Caledonia. To use the same nomenclature for this proto-dialect chain</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">-</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> i.e.,</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Proto-</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Southern</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> Oceanic</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">-</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> tends to imply that it is</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">of</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> the same</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">nature</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> as a more</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">homogeneous</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">protolanguage</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, which it is not.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Nevertheless, it seems to me that it</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">would</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> be useful to have some fairly tight and neat way of referring to such</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">ancestors</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, and not by some long-winded expression like</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Ancestral Southern Oceanic dialect-chain</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> or some</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">such</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, especially</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">since</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> one can legitimately also make</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">reconstructions</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> for such a</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">language</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, with the proviso that they are less secure and were probably</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">more</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">subject</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> to</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">internal</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> variation than those made for</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">protolanguages</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">My suggestion to</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Andy</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> was to use lower-case p: proto-</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Southern</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> Oceanic and pSOc as opposed tpo Proto-Polynesian and PPn. I felt this would be a sufficient indication of</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> difference, and yet at the same time brief,</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">succinct</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, and</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">similar</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> enough to existing conventions.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Does anyone have any reactions to</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">such</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> a</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">convention</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, or more importantly any idea on what others might have used?</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Thanks,</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">John Lynch</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><A NAME="_MailAutoSig"></A></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><I><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">"The past is not dead. It is not even past." (William Faulkner)</FONT></I></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">John Lynch</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Pro-VC and Director Pacific Languages Unit</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Emalus Campus - USP</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">PMB 072</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Port Vila. Vanuatu.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=1 FACE="Arial">Phone: +678 22748. Fax: +678 22633</FONT></P>
<BR>
<P ALIGN=LEFT></P>
</BODY>
</HTML>