LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.07.25 (07) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 25.JUL.2002 (07) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Jan Strunk" <strunk at linguistics.ruhr-uni-bochum.de>
Subject: language varieties

Dear Lowlanders,

Ron schreev:
> However, even *with* regular phonological and semantic shifts outlined
> and established, many a language family theory has retained many of its
> attackers, such as used to be the case in the Indo-European field (and
> that isn't all that long ago) and especially in the Altaic field in
> which sound shift rules are much clearer than in Indo-European.*  My
> point is that it is not quite as easy as all that if for whatever reason
> people are not happy with the thought of a given theory and therefore
> are simply not prepared to open their minds to it.

That's also right enough. One always has to be open-minded,
look and think before dismissing something as nonsense.
I for my part am quite open to hypotheses of larger families and
genetic relationships. The example of Joseph Greenberg, who
(re-)classified the languages of Australia, Africa and North America,
that even not 100 % adequate methods can lead to good hypotheses
which can then be substantiated by looking more closely and carefully
at the data. Thus his classification for the African languages that was
based on large-scale comparison (of data of minor quality) is today very
widely accepted in the field of linguistics.

> (* Too many seemingly random "cognates" and too flimsy a sound shift
> theory seems to have been also the reason for the shelving of the
> Ural-Altaic theory in most quarters, and it is *the* major hurdle for
> Nostraticist and their ilk.)

Although, historical linguists today are not as convinced that sound
changes
are exceptionless as were the Neogrammarians, the working hypothesis
is still that they largely are. Therefore regular changes are good
evidence of a genetic link, because they are much more unlikely than
spurious cognates.

> I hope you are enjoying your course and are getting something out of it.

Yeah, it's really great. It's organized together with the Linguistic
Society
of America. There are many leading experts there. So you can really
learn
something and get to think about some fundamental issues of the nature
of language. The only problem for me is that I have to get up very early
to
get to Düsseldorf in time, so that I do nothing but summerschool for 3
weeks.
I don't really get enough sleep, but I hope I will remember the
important
things. And I can practise my Dutch a little bit, as there are quite a
few
Dutch students there, too.

Gued gaon!

Jan Strunk
strunk at linguistics.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

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