Excluding data

[Brian M. Scott]

Jon Patrick wrote:

> This comment is a red herring. My commentaries were not
> about the inclusion or exclusion of this word in the
> analysis but that your criteria have high correlation
> with a model of the phonology that you object to being
> re-analysed from a different perspective.

Such a correlation - should it prove to exist - could also result from
the accuracy of the model, so it cannot in itself cast doubt on the
criteria.  If you wish to argue that they are methodologically unsound,
you'll need more substantial reasons than the likelihood that their
application here will produce unsurprising results.  After all, the
criteria themselves have *no* correlation with phonological specifics.
Bearing in mind that the object of study is Pre-Basque, what
*methodological* objection is there to the initial exclusion of words
without early attestations and words of limited distribution?

Brian M. Scott