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Volume 34, Issue 4
  • ISSN 0176-4225
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9714
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Abstract

Evaluation of hypotheses on genetic relationships depends on two factors: database size and criteria on correspondence quality. For hypotheses on remote relationships, databases are often small. Therefore, detailed consideration of criteria on correspondence quality is important. Hypotheses on remote relationships commonly involve greater geographical and temporal ranges. Consequently, we propose that there are two factors which are likely to play a greater role in comparing hypotheses of chance, contact and inheritance for remote relationships: (i) spatial distribution of corresponding forms; and (ii) language specific unpredictability in related paradigms. Concentrated spatial distributions disfavour hypotheses of chance, and discontinuous distributions disfavour contact hypotheses, whereas hypotheses of inheritance may accommodate both. Higher levels of language-specific unpredictability favour remote over recent transmission. We consider a remote relationship hypothesis, the Proto-Australian hypothesis. We take noun class prefixation as a test dataset for evaluating this hypothesis against these two criteria, and we show that inheritance is favoured over chance and contact.

© John Benjamins
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2018-02-09
2023-06-03

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Reconstructing remote relationships
Diachronica 34, 470 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.15032.har
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Online appendices 1-8

  • Date:
    March 1, 2018 12:00 AM
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.15032.har.additional

  • Online appendices for “Reconstructing remote relationships: Proto-Australian noun class prefixation” by Mark Harvey and Robert Mailhammer published in Diachronica 34:4 (2017).

    Appendix 1: NPN Languages and reflexes of PA nominal class prefixation; 

    Appendix 2: Prefix forms and lexical domain associations; 

    Appendix 3: Non-Pama-Nyungan Language Families;

     Appendix 4: Remnant reflexes of the PA class prefix paradigm; 

    Appendix 5: Distribution of the reflexes of the PA class prefix system by language family; 

    Appendix 6: PA lexical cognates; 

    Appendix 7: Lexical domain associations of reflexes of the inanimate classes; 

    Appendix 8: Languages surveyed.

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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Australian languages; diffusion; noun class; prefixation; Proto-Australian; reconstruction; remote relationships

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