Urheimat in Lithuania? (was Re: the Wheel and Dating PIE or NW-IE)

[petegray]

> I fell into the same trap at first, but Bob's right, assuming
> that one can always classify one branch as innovating and the
> other as non-innovating.  Start at the root, and at each node
> follow the non-innovating branch; you *must* end up at some
> leaf of the tree.  It is equally true that if you always follow
> the innovating branch you will arrive at some leaf.  Which leaves
> these are is of interest; that there are such leaves is not.

Yes - you're right!

Does this raise questions about the validity of this particular tree
structure?    How far does this mirror reality - are we really saying that
in any dialect group there must of necessity be one dialect that never
innovates?   That's what the tree - in this form - implies, and it is
clearly untrue of real life.   Or is it only a result of the fact that we
select certain innovations (those that create distinctions) and ignore
others (those within a group already distinct)?

Peter