Re: [tied] Re: Convergence in the formatin of IE subgroups

----- Original Message -----

From: Piotr Gasiorowski

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 3:02 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Convergence in the formatin of IE subgroups

 

<snip>

 

It isn't because some authority has decided that Nostratic is too old: the
methods have been tried and haven't yielded much, which may mean that
the Nostratic model is flawed, or that we are indeed dealing with too
deep chronologies. Or that we should go back to square one, reconsider
our data and try again.

Piotr

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Patrick:

 

That "some authority had decided that Nostratic" (also Proto-Language) "is too old" was exactly what was asserted on this list.

 

The idea that "the methods (that) have been tried and haven't yielded much" is due to the lack of proficiency of the reconstructionists not to the model.

 

And when you write that perhaps "we are indeed dealing with too deep chronologies", you are re-asserting — through a backdoor — the "too old" argument assuming the destructive effects of language change invalidating reconstruction attempts. Perhaps you do not even realize that.

 

***