From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 52050
Date: 2008-01-29
> labials m w b p p?What has Chinese got to do with Proto-World?
> dentals n t d t?
> laterals l r tl tl? dl (because of Chinese)
> sibilants s ts z dz s? ts? (because of Chinese)
> velars g k k?Using the same logic you will probably add clicks a whole array of
> spirants y h H
> glottal stop ?
>
> Any other system is doomed
> because it **fails** to account for all the necessary constrasts.
>
> And more phonemes are necessary to account for constrasts.
> Especially pre-nasalized phonemes.
> The first book to write on macro-comparisonI most emphatically disagree. Given enough time, anything could have
> is a phonological analysis of existing languages
> containing **no** cognate.
> Looking for cognates is the **last** step
> not the first one.