Comparative method: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:13, 11 January 2023

Revision as of 23:14, 11 January 2023

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===Principles===

The aim of the comparative method is to highlight and interpret systematic [[Phonology|phonological]] and [[Semantics|semantic]] correspondences between two or more [[attested language]]s. If those correspondences cannot be rationally explained as the result of [[linguistic universal]]s or [[language contact]] ([[Loanword|borrowings]], [[Sprachbund|areal influence]], etc.) or [[linguistic universal]]s, and if they are sufficiently numerous, regular, and systematic that they cannot be dismissed as [[False cognate|chance similarities]], then it must be assumed that they descend from a single parent language called the '[[proto-language]]'.{{sfn|Meillet|1966|pp=2–7, 22}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fortson|first=Benjamin W.|title=Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4443-5968-8|pages=3}}</ref>

A sequence of regular [[sound change]]s (along with their underlying sound laws) can then be postulated to explain the correspondences between the attested forms, which eventually allows for the [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstruction]] of a proto-language by the methodical comparison of "linguistic facts" within a generalized system of correspondences.{{sfn|Meillet|1966|pp=12–13}}