Re: Scythian tribal names: Paralatai

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

>
> At 1:04:13 AM on Saturday, July 5, 2008, stlatos wrote:
>
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "david_russell_watson"
> > <liberty@> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >> 'Aptya'/'Athwiya' is indeed an irregular correspondence,
> >> but one on obviously much more solid ground than
> >> 'Thraetaona'/ 'Targitaus'.
>
> > Yes, of course, but the principle that changes might occur
> > in only one word in a language and still be valid and
> > identifiable must be used for both.
>
> It is an empirical fact that irregular changes occur,

That's wrong. Irregularity is not a property of a set of changes, but
of a set of changes with respect to a given set of rules. And by
dividing up the language in question into dia- and sociolects with
separate set of rules and positing that they were mixed, many seeming
irregular changes can be accounted for by rules. Cf. the
Svea/Göte/Swedish examples in
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/59355

> not a
> matter of principle, and there is no guarantee that isolated
> instances can even be identified, let alone demonstrated.
> Even when an irregular relationship is very likely, the
> details of the change are generally undemonstrable in the
> absence of intermediate forms. There is obviously some
> value in finding a plausible pathway, but in the case of an
> isolated change it isn't subject to confirmation; it's a
> Just-So story, and the proposed 'rules' have no real
> evidentiary support.

That's true, if they are not linked to specific dia- and sociolects.


Torsten