Comparative linguistics

[Paul Kekai Manansala]

I agree with Dr. Kalyanaraman that identifying semantic sets is very
important. One must examine the mind of those who created the language.

In this sense, those raised in the culture and language studied are at
an advantage.


> I submit that we have to exercise extraordinary caution in trying to be> definitive about sound changes; as Jules Bloch found out in evaluating the> Mara_t.hi_ language evolution, semantics over-ride phonetics. It is reasonable> to assume that in transformation grammar, the same phenomenon will persist> across Pra_kr.ts, thus finding common features of semantic expansions between> say Old Tamil and Bhojpuri.
>

Yes, sound changes can occur within a language which are contrary to the
sound changes from the proto-language. These can occur with sets of
words or even a single word and in many cases the reasons for these
changes would be hidden to historical linguists.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala

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