Comparative method: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:34, 14 April 2023

Revision as of 00:43, 14 April 2023

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{{for|other kinds of comparative methods|Comparative (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

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[[File:Romance-lg-classification-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Linguistic map representing a [[tree model]] of the [[Romance languages]] based on the comparative method. The family tree has been rendered here as an [[Euler diagram]] without overlapping subareas. The [[Wave model (linguistics)|wave model]] allows overlapping regions.]]

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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.), 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}}

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===Step 1, assemble potential cognate lists===

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This step involves making lists of words that are likely cognates among the languages being compared. If there is a regularly-recurring match between the phonetic structure of basic words with similar meanings, a genetic kinship can probably then be established.<ref name="ltwothree">{{harvnb|Lyovin|1997|pp=2–3}}.</ref> For example, linguists looking at the [[Polynesian languages|Polynesian family]] might come up with a list similar to the following (their actual list would be much longer):<ref>This table is modified from {{harvnb|Campbell|2004|pp=168–169}} and {{harvnb|Crowley|1992|pp=88–89}} using sources such as {{harvnb|Churchward|1959}} for Tongan, and {{harvnb|Pukui|1986}} for Hawaiian.</ref>