The differing status of reconstruction in Trans-Himalayan and Indo-European
Citation:
Fellner, Hannes A., Hill, Nathan W., The differing status of reconstruction in Trans-Himalayan and Indo-European, Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, 48, 2, 2019, 159-172Abstract:
The replies to Fellner and Hill (this volume) present the practice of historical
linguistics in the study of the Trans-Himalayan family as on the trail our
Indo-European forbears blazed. The replies further present “word families”
and “allofams” as beacons that light this path; we disagree. Our respondents
overlook the different status of reconstructions in the two families. Research
at the subgroup level that they point to as Neogrammarian implements
a formalist approach to reconstruction, which, fine as far as it goes,
lacks the sophistication of reconstructions in more mature disciplines. Not
appreciating the different status of reconstruction in the two families,
our respondents exaggerate the extent to which Indo-European evinces
“word family”-like phenomena and present allofams as more synchronically
plausible than they are.
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/hillnaDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: Hill, Nathan
Type of material:
Journal ArticleSeries/Report no:
Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale;48;
2;
Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
Reconstruction, Trans-Himalayan, Indo-European, Methodology, Word familiesDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/19606028-04802006ISSN:
0153-3320Metadata
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