> No. It considers the question of relatedness as settled. From that
> follows that there must be a chronology.
>
>
> >There are other possibilities.
>
> Than what?
"Thus a language family can be the product of divergence, convergence
or a combination of the two (with emphasis on either). There are
virtually no criteria that would indicate unambiguously to which of
the two modes of development a family owes its existence. When we are
dealing with languages so closely related that almost all the elements
of vocabulary and morphology of each are present in all or most of the
other members (allowing for sound correspondences), it is more natural
to assume convergence than divergence (Trubetskoy 2001, p. 89)."
"The position I (Lincoln) urge is the following. First, we accept as
established the existence of a language family that included
Tocharian, Indic, Iranian, Armenian, Anatolian, Greek, Italic,
Phrygian, Thracian, Baltic, Slavic, Germanic, and Celtic. Second, we
acknowledge that the relations among these languages can be described
in several fashions. Of the available hypotheses, the Stammbaum model
is the most popular, but by no means the only one. It ought not to be
accepted as long as others exists, and we ought not discard these
others unless there is compelling reason to do so. In the absence of
such compelling reason, we can remain agnostic, recognizing the
existence of multiple hypotheses and maintaining a particularly
skeptical posture toward those with histories of subtexts of racism.
Third, we recognize that the existence of a language family does not
necessarily imply the existence of a protolanguage. Still less the
existence of a protopeople, protomyths, protoideology, or
protohomeland (Lincoln 1999, p. 216)."
Lincoln, Bruce (1999), Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and
Scholarship, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Trubetzkoy, N. S. (2001), Studies in General Linguistics and Language
Structure," Anatoly Liberman (Ed.), translated by Marvin Taylor and
Anatoly Liberman, Durham and London: Duke University Press.
M. Kelkar
> Torsten
>