Penutian (and Sino-Tibetan)

[manaster at umich.edu]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Scott Delancey writes:
 
But to be perfectly honest--though I myself am
an enthusiastic proponent of Penutian--I'm not sure one could say at
present that the burden of proof in this matter lies predominantly
with either proponents or detractors.  There's been enough evidence
produced that detractors would need to have a story to tell about
it, but not enough yet that honest detractors would necessarily have
to feel they are facing an uphill battle.
 
(end of quote)
 
 
I have nothing against this.  In fact, I should have but did not
realize that if indeed there is a continuum between cases like
Basque-Turkish (where clearly the burden of proof would be on the
pros) and ones like Uto-aztecan (where it would have to be on the
cons), then there must be cases in between where the burden is
not clearly on one side or the other.
 
The case of Altaic incidentally is quite clear because here
historically its modern opponents (Clauson, Doerfer, etc.) have
ENTHUSIASTICALLY accepted the burden of proof (specifically,
of proving that it is all a matter of loanwords from Turkic
into Mongolic and from Mongolic into Tungusic).
 
Note 1: Mongolic is a term that was used in the 19th cent
by Max Muller and which I have revived.
 
Note 2: The opponents of Altaic have never to my knowledge
addressed the question of Korean.  As for Japanese, Doerfer
and Janhunen seem to argue that its Altaic core is not
due to borrowings but rather to coincidence.
 
Note 3: Pace Benji Friend Wald, the cases of Altaic and IE
are very similar, historically.  The opposition to both
arose in the same period of history (the 1930's) and
involved similar arguments (compare Trubetzkoy on IER
to Kotwicz on Altaic).
 
Note 4: IE is not a very good standard by which to judge
language families; nor has it been unchallenged in modern
times (see Trubetzkoy and his followers again). Uto-aztecan
is a far better standard and the one I always use.