From: Andrew Howey
Message: 20268
Date: 2003-03-24
That's why I like you, Glen. You're an irreverent S.O.B. :-)
In any case, if Japanese is not 100% proven to have anything to do with the Altaic language family, how can it be used n the the reconstruction of Proto-Altaic? Or, are you saying, that the positioning/classification of (Proto-)Japanese doesn't factor into said reconstruction?
Andy Howey
Glen Gordon <glengordon01@...> wrote:
Andy:
//snip//
So, Altaic may still be reconstructed based on Japanese data regardless of whether Japanese is an "isolate", a "creole", an Altaic language, an Austronesian language or even a tasty plate of sushi... mmm, that reminds me, I'm getting a little hungry.
If you're interested in classification, it might be stated that, using a lose everyday definition of "creole", any language is a creole (as in, a masala of various languages) including English. However, the
linguistic definition of "creole" is stricter and personally, I don't know enough to state with any certainty whether Japanese is truly a creole. But obviously this remains a matter of controversy since books disagree constantly on the relationship of Japanese to other language groups to this day.
- gLeN
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.