--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Gordon Barlow <barlow@...> wrote:
> "Linguists have devised a new way of linking languages, which they
say
> has allowed them to reconstruct a network of the languages spoken
in
> islands near New Guinea. The new method is designed for languages
so
> old that little trace of their common vocabulary remains. It forges
> connections between languages through grammatical features, which
change
> less quickly than words."
> The rest of the article is at the link below. It provides a useful
and
> timely reminder to cybalist subscribers of how quickly words can
change,
> in related languages.
> Gordon Barlow
>
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/science/27lang.h
tml?ex=1128571200&en=2e3b6674df7124c8&ei=5070&emc=eta1
********
The article, by Michael Dunn & al. is in the September 23 SCIENCE,
along with a discussion by Russell Grey. It's based on "125 binary
features coded for 15 Papuan and 16 Austronesian languages spoken in
an overlapping region" with "cladistic algorithms .. to determine
potential phylogenetic relationships". It seems hard to evaluate
without knowing what those 125 features are (I presume they'll be
detailed in a much lengthier report somewhere else). The authors
seem to to be aware of a possible Sprachbund problem, but we just have
to accept their word for it not impacting the study in a major way.
If SCIENCE is in your library, it's worth taking a look at anyway.
Dan Milton.