Re: Directionality of Sound changes

--- In phoNet@yahoogroups.com, "H.M. Hubey" <HubeyH@M...> wrote:

> Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:
> > It isn't much different from
> > physics: the observation of numerous stones falling allows you to
> > predict how any other stone will fall under similar conditions.
>
> Yes it is. Physics can be tested in the laboratory via controlled
> experiments.
>
> These experiments of linguistics have been conducted once and we

have

> scant data.

> We have to try to fit the data into some patterns. Economists also

do

> this. So this is
> actually more like economics, or econometrics than physics. Only

in one

> field (phonetics)
> is it more like physics than economics.

Palaeontology might be a better analogy. There is a great deal of
evidence over shallow time depths, and a limited amount of phonetic
description over long periods (a couple of millenia), with written
evidence going back further.

> I wil post from Bomhard. No need to retype pages and pages.

If it's already on the web, giving the URL's would be best.

Richard.