Jose:

>I think that this reconstruction is better (and
>correct):

Alright but what about the fact that your list consists of
mishmash of different meanings.

Proto-Altaic *k'ele- 'tongue'
-----------------------------
Proto-Turkic *kele- 'to speak, to talk'
Proto-Mongolian *kele- 'tongue'
Proto-Tungusic-Manchu *xiln-u- 'tongue'
Proto-Korean *ka-ro- 'to say'

The word for "to say" and the word for "tongue" are not
interchangeable. They must obviously be seperated in some way.
The Mongolic material indicates something more like *kelen for
"tongue", does it not? This would be more in line with the
tongue word of ManchuTungusic, meaning that an n-suffix
has been added on to what might have originally been a verbal
root meaning "to say" or "to speak". Hence, wouldn't it be
more appropriate to reconstruct a _verb_ *kele- rather than
a noun?

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home: http://glen_gordon.tripod.com
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>>Proto-Altaic *k'ele- 'tongue'
>
>Proto-Turkic *kele- 'to speak, to talk'
>Proto-Mongolian *kele- 'tongue'
>Proto-Tungusic-Manchu *xiln-u- 'tongue'
>Proto-Korean *ka-ro- 'to say'

>
>(v. Starostin, Etimological Database and Altaiskaia
>problema i proisxozhdenie iaponskogo iazyka)
>
>PA PT PM PMT PK (PJ)
>*k' *k *k *k/*x *k (*k)
>
>PA PT PM PMT PK (PJ)
>*e *e *e *e/*i *a (*i/*@)
>
>The Starostin reconstruction *k'ia-li- are very odd,
>and it breaks his own rules (for this I have written
>these correspondences). Nevertheless, his resources
>are very, very good.
>
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