Ket isn't a dialect, it's a language (fwd link)

[awebster@siu.edu]

Dear all,

I also have a problem with the claim, "conclusive" evidence. It 
is, in my view, very suggestive evidence and, potentially, spot 
on. But it is not yet conclusive. I believe Vadja has said as 
much. best, akw

---------Included Message----------
>Date: 14-apr-2008 13:19:24 -0500
>From: "phil cash cash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
>Reply-To: "Indigenous Languages and Technology" 
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>Subject: [ILAT] Ket isn't a dialect, it's a language (fwd link)
>
>Ket isn't a dialect, it's a language
>
>MARK ABLEY, Freelance
>Published: Saturday, April 12
>
>"Aboriginal languages linked to ancient Siberian dialect," ran 
a headline on
>Page A2 of The Gazette last week. As the story explained, 
linguists appear to
>have found conclusive evidence that the 45 or so Athabascan 
languages of
>western North America are linked to Ket, spoken only by a few 
hundred people
>near the Yenisei River in central Siberia.
>
>I have no quarrel with the article, which was written by Randy 
Boswell of
>Canwest News Service.
>
>But I take issue with the headline.
>
>Nearly all the headlines you read in newspapers and magazines 
are the work of
>copy editors, the unsung heroes of any newsroom. For stylistic 
reasons, they
>like to avoid repeating words. And because the second word in 
this headline was
>"languages," a Gazette copy editor presumably decided to make 
the last word
>"dialect."
>
>Access full article link below:
>http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?
id=d05af515-97c6-4cdb-86c1-dd8bcff51bb2
>
>
---------End of Included Message----------

Anthony K. Webster, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology &
Native American Studies Minor
Southern Illinois University
Mail Code 4502
Carbondale, IL 62901-4502
618-453-5027