(Fwd) Re: Incorrect information (cont'd)

[Johanna Laakso]

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kmatsum at tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp wrote:

> Dear Johanna,
>
> Though I understand your sentiment, some of your statements go so far that
> they sound even "nationalistic".
>
> >- Or do they use incompetent informants (problems caused by the notorious
> >"near-native speakers" have surfaced at least in the discussion pertaining
> >to vowel quality, quantity and tone in Estonian)?
>
> Sounds interesting.
>
> At the same time, I would like to point out that the alleged existence of
> "the fourth grade" in Estonian is a myth supported by some leading FULL
> NATIVE-SPEAKER linguists.
>
> Is there a universally acceptable criteiron for destinguishing between
> an untenable "statement" about a language made by an "ignorant/incompetent"
> non-native-speaker linguist and an audacious, but obviously wrong "hypothesis"
> proposed by a "competent" native-speaker linguist?
>
> >- And, last but not least, is there anything we Uralists could do to
> >propagate true knowledge ;-) of "our" language family?
>
> This "our" attitude seems to be the most obstinate "myth" of Uralic
> linguistics :-)
>
> Regards,
> Kazuto Matsumura
> From "the outside world"