Doing historical linguistics (part 2)

[Larry Trask]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
On Thu, 12 Nov 1998, John Hewson wrote:
 
>       Actually there is an algorithm that a Systems Analyst and I
> developed to produce my _Computer-generated Dictionary of
> Proto-Algonquian_ (Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1993). It may be
> stated in a single sentence, as on p.iv of the above: From the data of the
> daughter languages generate all possible protoforms, then sort
> alphabetically, and examine all sets of identical protoforms collocated by
> the sort.
 
Very interesting, but I'm amazed.  What particularly catches my
attention is the expression "all possible protoforms".  How on earth can
this label be fleshed out?  How do you know that your program generates
all possible protoforms?
 
 
Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK
 
larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk