Richard Wordingham wrote:

--- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com,
"H.M. Hubey" <hubeyh@...> wrote:
>
>
> Richard Wordingham wrote:
>
> > ---
> >
> > Weighting is one thing that
calculated replacement rates can be
used
> > for.  Mind you, I got
criticised for using IE replacement
rates to
> > assess a comparison of
Austronesian and Austro-Asiatic (or
rather
> > Malayo-Polynesian and Mon-Khmer
as the data turned out).
>
> It would not be too difficult, it
seems to me, to start with the
> differential equation and put a
time
> varying coefficient and try to
fit the data and estimate the
> coeffiecient. Is that not
possible?
Dyen and his collaborators have
already published their maximum
likelihood estimates of replacement
rates for Austronesian and
uncalibrated (i.e. time unit
undetermined) estimates for
Indo-European.  Raw data for the
latter is available on-line.
> I think, truthfully, that it is
too early to do that. The IE
situation
> is not too clear. It seems to me
> that you should start with the
aborigine languages of Australia.
They
> are isolated,  and there is
> less chance of other factors
botching up the estimation.  The
time
> period is reasonably clear
> too :-); anywhere from 40,000 to
60,000 years.
I think they could be a _bad_ group
to work with!  They have taboos
which accelerate language change
and encourage inter-dialect
borrowing.  (I'm thinking of taboos
on the names of the dead and
'avoidance language' for talking to
mothers-in-law.)

Others have them and probably other languages did too.
Isolation does have its advantages.

Richard.
---End-of-Message-----
> > I think it would be desirable
to find some way of capturing
cognates
> > when their meaning has drifted
apart.  It looks laborious, if only
> > because some way would have to
be found to compensate for allowing
> > more false matches in.
>
>
> I think what linguistics needs is
a "semantic metric". I know how to
> derive at least two different
> ones from data but need time and
money :-) I think all linguists
should
> appreciate the need for
> semantic metrics. It does not
matter how many. That could always
be
> worked out, fixed,
> repaired, improved etc. The trick
is to get going.
>
> >
> >
> > Richard.
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> M. Hubey
> -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
> The only difference between
humans and machines is that humans
> can be created by unskilled
labor. Arthur C. Clarke
>
> /\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/
http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hube
y


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-- 
M. Hubey
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The only difference between humans and machines is that humans
can be created by unskilled labor. Arthur C. Clarke

/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/ http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey