Mutual Comprehensibility, Reconvergence

[David L. White]

> In themselves, Spanish and Portuguese are pretty much mutually
> comprehensible --say like American English and Scots, or American and
> Caribbean English

        So (as I sort of suspected) Spanish and Portugese have not really
diverged to the point where something like creolization (in practical
effect) might be expected in circumstances where they have been thrown
together again.  Thus the parallel is not close enough.  Too bad.  It might
have provided some useful insights.
        On a vaguely related point, what is the earliest evidence for the
development of the post-positive article in Norse?  I do not recall that it
is found in runic (before Roman-alphabet literacy).

                                                    Dr. David L. White