Comparative Methodology

[Rich Alderson]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
You write:

> I have a half dozen or more historical linguistics textbooks, as well
> as other books and articles that contain pertinent information

It would be very helpful to know *what* books you have, or have access
to.  For example, are you familiar with Anthony Fox's excellent textbook
_Linguistic Reconstruction_, or Henry Hoenigswald's monograph _Language
Change and Linguistic Reconstruction_?

You seem to have the basics already in hand, perhaps only missing the
point that your steps 1-4 are an iterative process, repeating any number
of times until confidence is reached.  This portion of the method is
quite often left aside by popularizers, and almost always by crackpots.

                                                                Rich Alderson