Re: [tied] Glottochronology (Was: "Celtic Found to Have Ancient Ro

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "P&G" <petegray@...> wrote:

> > Swadesh claimed that the "core words" changed at a constant rate.
>
> If sound laws are exception-less, how can that be? My

understanding of the

> Swadesh list is that these words are less likely to be replaced by
> borrowings.

The change we are talking of here is replacement by a different
word, rather than the effects of sound changes. So, when we compare
English brother and French frère, there is no change here. I'm not
sure how we count the addition of affixes, as in Italian
fratello 'brother'. As they can erode, it's probably best not to
count their addition as changes.

Richard.