Q: Yakhontov's principle

[Larry Trask]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I have a very inexplicit reference to an article in Russian by Yakhontov
(rest of name unknown).  In this, the author reportedly argues that the
Swadesh 100-word list can be split into two sublists, one of 35 words
and the other of 65 words, in such a way that the proportion of cognates
shared in the 35-word list is always greater than the proportion shared
in the 65-word list, when the languages involved are related.

Can anybody provide the full reference?


Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk