--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
>
> > Thefore, "one must independently know
> > the history of population movements and contacts among speakers of the
> > relevant languages" before comparative method can be applied.
>
> That is irrelevant to this:
>
> > The
> > comparative method cannot be used as evidence for population
> > movements.
>
> Yes it can.
>
>
> Torsten
>
<
http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-1085.html>
"Calvert Watkins (''An Indo-European Linguistic Area and its
Characteristics: Ancient Anatolia. Areal Diffusion as a Challenge to
the Comparative Method?'') discusses Dixon's model in relation to
Indo- European, with particular reference to ancient Anatolia. As he
points out, Indo- European is usually considered the ''laboratory''
for the traditional comparative method, but actually it is also a very
interesting field for areal studies. A case in point is ancient
Anatolia, where Indo-European languages like Hittite and Luvian came
into contact with non Indo-European languages like Hattic, Old
Assyrian and Hurrian. Watkins argues that the languages of Anatolia
show common innovations, both in phonology and in morphosyntax. As for
phonology, we can find phenomena of convergence in the evolution of
the system of stop consonants, in the preservation of Indo-European
laryngeals, and in the development of the vowel system. As for
morphosyntax, split ergative system, development of enclitic chains of
particles and anaphoric pronouns after the first stressed word of the
sentence and the use of phrase connectors to link all sentences of a
discourse are found only in the Anatolian subgroup within the
Indo-European family. However they are present, in varying degrees,
both in Hattic and Hurrian. As a matter of fact, these convergent
innovations took place between 2200 and 1900/1700 BC. It is indeed a
quite short period and that, however, languages still retained their
individuality. He also deals with phenomena of language contact
between Greek and Anatolian, where there is ''diffusion from one
Indo-European group to another, without the ultimate development of a
real linguistic area'' (Watkins: 56). At least, he discusses Heath's
(1997) model of language change, where, in contrast to Dixon's
terminology, the ''equilibrium'' is referred to situation of static
monolingualism, while the ''punctuation'' occurs under intense
language contact. He concludes that ''Both genetic families and
diffusional areas would have their own distribution of rapid abrupt
and slow gradual change, and here we might see sequences of
punctuation and equilibrium as well'' (Watkins: 63)."