Dixon's "The rise and fall of languages"

[Roger Wright]

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>>so it seems sensible to point out that if we find out that relevant
>>groups are still physically together, over whatever length of time, we
>>would not expect a split at all.
>
>That's wrong.  Dialect diversification does not depend on loss of physical
>or communicative contact.  Since such diversification is true of all
>languages known ....
 
Yes, of course. I wasn't referring to dialect diversification (that is,
*language-internal* variation of a normal kind) but to actual splits
between languages. Am I really the only person on the List to find
actual language *splits* (as opposed to obvious and normal dialect
diversification) inherently unlikely, and thus in need of some kind of
non-linguistic explanation?
                                RW