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id="toc-Principles" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Principles"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.1</span> <span>Principles</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Principles-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Terminology" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Terminology"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.2</span> <span>Terminology</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Terminology-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Origin_and_development" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Origin_and_development"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Origin and development</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Origin_and_development-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Origin and development subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Origin_and_development-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Early_works" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Early_works"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Early works</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Early_works-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Comparative_linguistics" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Comparative_linguistics"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Comparative linguistics</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Comparative_linguistics-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Neo-grammarian_approach" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Neo-grammarian_approach"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>Neo-grammarian approach</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Neo-grammarian_approach-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Application" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Application"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Application</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Application-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Application subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Application-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Step_1,_assemble_potential_cognate_lists" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Step_1,_assemble_potential_cognate_lists"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Step 1, assemble potential cognate lists</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Step_1,_assemble_potential_cognate_lists-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Step_2,_establish_correspondence_sets" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Step_2,_establish_correspondence_sets"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Step 2, establish correspondence sets</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Step_2,_establish_correspondence_sets-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Step_3,_discover_which_sets_are_in_complementary_distribution" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Step_3,_discover_which_sets_are_in_complementary_distribution"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.3</span> <span>Step 3, discover which sets are in complementary distribution</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Step_3,_discover_which_sets_are_in_complementary_distribution-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Step_4,_reconstruct_proto-phonemes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Step_4,_reconstruct_proto-phonemes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.4</span> <span>Step 4, reconstruct proto-phonemes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Step_4,_reconstruct_proto-phonemes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Step_5,_examine_the_reconstructed_system_typologically" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Step_5,_examine_the_reconstructed_system_typologically"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.5</span> <span>Step 5, examine the reconstructed system typologically</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Step_5,_examine_the_reconstructed_system_typologically-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Complications" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Complications"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Complications</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Complications-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Complications subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Complications-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-The_history_of_historical_linguistics" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_history_of_historical_linguistics"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.1</span> <span>The history of historical linguistics</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_history_of_historical_linguistics-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Neogrammarian_principle" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Neogrammarian_principle"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2</span> <span>The Neogrammarian principle</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Neogrammarian_principle-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Borrowing" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Borrowing"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2.1</span> <span>Borrowing</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Borrowing-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Areal_diffusion" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Areal_diffusion"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2.2</span> <span>Areal diffusion</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Areal_diffusion-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Random_mutations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Random_mutations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2.3</span> <span>Random mutations</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Random_mutations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Analogy" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Analogy"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2.4</span> <span>Analogy</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Analogy-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Gradual_application" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Gradual_application"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2.5</span> <span>Gradual application</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Gradual_application-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Non-inherited_features" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Non-inherited_features"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2.6</span> <span>Non-inherited features</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Non-inherited_features-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_tree_model" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_tree_model"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3</span> <span>The tree model</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_tree_model-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-The_presumption_of_a_well-defined_node" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_presumption_of_a_well-defined_node"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3.1</span> <span>The presumption of a well-defined node</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_presumption_of_a_well-defined_node-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Subjectivity_of_the_reconstruction" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Subjectivity_of_the_reconstruction"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3.2</span> <span>Subjectivity of the reconstruction</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Subjectivity_of_the_reconstruction-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Additional_models" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Additional_models"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3.3</span> <span>Additional models</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Additional_models-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Notes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Notes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Notes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Notes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparative method</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 20 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-20" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">20 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9" title="القاعدة النسبية – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="القاعدة النسبية" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ast mw-list-item"><a href="https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9todu_comparativu" title="Métodu comparativu – Asturian" lang="ast" hreflang="ast" data-title="Métodu comparativu" data-language-autonym="Asturianu" data-language-local-name="Asturian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Asturianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B4_(%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0)" title="Сравнително-исторически метод (лингвистика) – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Сравнително-исторически метод (лингвистика)" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A8tode_comparatiu" title="Mètode comparatiu – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Mètode comparatiu" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9todo_comparativo_(ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstica)" title="Método comparativo (lingüística) – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Método comparativo (lingüística)" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B9%84%EA%B5%90_%EC%9E%AC%EA%B5%AC" title="비교 재구 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="비교 재구" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metode_perbandingan" title="Metode perbandingan – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Metode perbandingan" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Indonesia</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metodo_comparativo" title="Metodo comparativo – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Metodo comparativo" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-la mw-list-item"><a href="https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodus_historico-comparativa" title="Methodus historico-comparativa – Latin" lang="la" hreflang="la" data-title="Methodus historico-comparativa" data-language-autonym="Latina" data-language-local-name="Latin" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendszeres_hangmegfelel%C3%A9sek_t%C3%B6rv%C3%A9nye" title="Rendszeres hangmegfelelések törvénye – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Rendszeres hangmegfelelések törvénye" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergelijkende_methode_(taalkunde)" title="Vergelijkende methode (taalkunde) – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Vergelijkende methode (taalkunde)" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AF%94%E8%BC%83%E6%96%B9%E6%B3%95_(%E8%A8%80%E8%AA%9E%E5%AD%A6)" title="比較方法 (言語学) – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="比較方法 (言語学)" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_komparative_metoden" title="Den komparative metoden – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Den komparative metoden" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metoda_por%C3%B3wnawcza_(j%C4%99zykoznawstwo)" title="Metoda porównawcza (językoznawstwo) – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Metoda porównawcza (językoznawstwo)" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9todo_comparativo" title="Método comparativo – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Método comparativo" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sq mw-list-item"><a href="https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metoda_krahasuese" title="Metoda krahasuese – Albanian" lang="sq" hreflang="sq" data-title="Metoda krahasuese" data-language-autonym="Shqip" data-language-local-name="Albanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Shqip</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primerjalna_metoda" title="Primerjalna metoda – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Primerjalna metoda" 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<div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Technique for studying the historical development of languages, based on language comparison</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">For other uses, see <a href="/wiki/Comparative_(disambiguation)" class="mw-disambig" title="Comparative (disambiguation)">Comparative (disambiguation)</a>.</div> <p class="mw-empty-elt"> </p> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Romance-lg-classification-en.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Romance-lg-classification-en.svg/330px-Romance-lg-classification-en.svg.png" decoding="async" width="330" height="181" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Romance-lg-classification-en.svg/495px-Romance-lg-classification-en.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Romance-lg-classification-en.svg/660px-Romance-lg-classification-en.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1011" data-file-height="556" /></a><figcaption>Linguistic map representing a <a href="/wiki/Tree_model" title="Tree model">tree model</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance languages</a> based on the comparative method. The family tree has been rendered here as an <a href="/wiki/Euler_diagram" title="Euler diagram">Euler diagram</a> without overlapping subareas. The <a href="/wiki/Wave_model_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wave model (linguistics)">wave model</a> allows overlapping regions.</figcaption></figure> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Linguistics" title="Linguistics">linguistics</a>, the <b>comparative method</b> is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with <a href="/wiki/Genetic_relationship_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Genetic relationship (linguistics)">common descent</a> from a shared ancestor and then extrapolating backwards to infer the properties of that ancestor. The comparative method may be contrasted with the method of <a href="/wiki/Internal_reconstruction" title="Internal reconstruction">internal reconstruction</a> in which the internal development of a single language is inferred by the analysis of features within that language.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Ordinarily, both methods are used together to reconstruct prehistoric phases of languages; to fill in gaps in the historical record of a language; to discover the development of phonological, morphological and other linguistic systems and to confirm or to refute hypothesised relationships between languages. </p><p>The comparative method emerged in the early 19th century with the birth of <a href="/wiki/Indo-European_studies" title="Indo-European studies">Indo-European studies</a>, then took a definite scientific approach with the works of the <a href="/wiki/Neogrammarians" class="mw-redirect" title="Neogrammarians">Neogrammarians</a> in the late 19th–early 20th century.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Key contributions were made by the Danish scholars <a href="/wiki/Rasmus_Christian_Rask" class="mw-redirect" title="Rasmus Christian Rask">Rasmus Rask</a> (1787–1832) and <a href="/wiki/Karl_Verner" title="Karl Verner">Karl Verner</a> (1846–1896), and the German scholar <a href="/wiki/Jacob_Grimm" title="Jacob Grimm">Jacob Grimm</a> (1785–1863). The first linguist to offer reconstructed forms from a <a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">proto-language</a> was <a href="/wiki/August_Schleicher" title="August Schleicher">August Schleicher</a> (1821–1868) in his <i>Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen</i>, originally published in 1861.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Here is Schleicher's explanation of why he offered reconstructed forms:<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <blockquote><p>In the present work an attempt is made to set forth the inferred <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language" title="Proto-Indo-European language">Indo-European original language</a> side by side with its really existent derived languages. Besides the advantages offered by such a plan, in setting immediately before the eyes of the student the final results of the investigation in a more concrete form, and thereby rendering easier his insight into the nature of particular <a href="/wiki/Indo-European_languages" title="Indo-European languages">Indo-European languages</a>, there is, I think, another of no less importance gained by it, namely that it shows the baselessness of the assumption that the non-Indian Indo-European languages were derived from Old-Indian (<a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a>).</p></blockquote> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Definition">Definition</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Definition"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Principles">Principles</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Principles"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The aim of the comparative method is to highlight and interpret systematic <a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">phonological</a> and <a href="/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantic</a> correspondences between two or more <a href="/wiki/Attested_language" title="Attested language">attested languages</a>. If those correspondences cannot be rationally explained as the result of <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_universal" title="Linguistic universal">linguistic universals</a> or <a href="/wiki/Language_contact" title="Language contact">language contact</a> (<a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">borrowings</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sprachbund" title="Sprachbund">areal influence</a>, etc.), and if they are sufficiently numerous, regular, and systematic that they cannot be dismissed as <a href="/wiki/False_cognate" title="False cognate">chance similarities</a>, then it must be assumed that they descend from a single parent language called the '<a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">proto-language</a>'.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMeillet19662–7,_22_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMeillet19662–7,_22-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>A sequence of regular <a href="/wiki/Sound_change" title="Sound change">sound changes</a> (along with their underlying sound laws) can then be postulated to explain the correspondences between the attested forms, which eventually allows for the <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_reconstruction" title="Linguistic reconstruction">reconstruction</a> of a proto-language by the methodical comparison of "linguistic facts" within a generalized system of correspondences.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMeillet196612–13_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMeillet196612–13-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Every linguistic fact is part of a whole in which everything is connected to everything else. One detail must not be linked to another detail, but one linguistic system to another.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/Antoine_Meillet" title="Antoine Meillet">Antoine Meillet</a>, <i>La méthode comparative en linguistique historique</i>, 1966 [1925], pp. 12–13.</cite></div></blockquote> <p>Relation is considered to be "established beyond a reasonable doubt" if a reconstruction of the common ancestor is feasible.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHock1991567_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHock1991567-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1244412712"><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The ultimate proof of genetic relationship, and to many linguists' minds the only real proof, lies in a successful reconstruction of the ancestral forms from which the semantically corresponding cognates can be derived.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/wiki/Hans_Henrich_Hock" title="Hans Henrich Hock">Hans Henrich Hock</a>, <i>Principles of Historical Linguistics</i>, 1991, p. 567.</cite></div></blockquote><p>In some cases, this reconstruction can only be partial, generally because the compared languages are too scarcely attested, the temporal distance between them and their proto-language is too deep, or their internal evolution render many of the sound laws obscure to researchers. In such case, a relation is considered plausible, but uncertain.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Terminology">Terminology</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Terminology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><i>Descent</i> is defined as transmission across the generations: children learn a language from the parents' generation and, after being influenced by their peers, transmit it to the next generation, and so on. For example, a continuous chain of speakers across the centuries links <a href="/wiki/Vulgar_Latin" title="Vulgar Latin">Vulgar Latin</a> to all of its modern descendants. </p><p>Two languages are <i><a href="/wiki/Genetic_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Genetic (linguistics)">genetically</a> related</i> if they descended from the same <a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">ancestor language</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For example, <a href="/wiki/Italian_language" title="Italian language">Italian</a> and <a href="/wiki/French_language" title="French language">French</a> both come from <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> and therefore belong to the same family, the <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance languages</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Having a large component of vocabulary from a certain origin is not sufficient to establish relatedness; for example, heavy <a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">borrowing</a> from <a href="/wiki/Arabic" title="Arabic">Arabic</a> into <a href="/wiki/Persian_language" title="Persian language">Persian</a> has caused more of the <a href="/wiki/Vocabulary" title="Vocabulary">vocabulary</a> of Modern Persian to be from Arabic than from the direct ancestor of Persian, <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-Iranian" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Indo-Iranian">Proto-Indo-Iranian</a>, but Persian remains a member of the Indo-Iranian family and is not considered "related" to Arabic.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>However, it is possible for languages to have different degrees of relatedness. <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a>, for example, is related to both <a href="/wiki/German_language" title="German language">German</a> and <a href="/wiki/Russian_language" title="Russian language">Russian</a> but is more closely related to the former than to the latter. Although all three languages share a common ancestor, <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Indo-European">Proto-Indo-European</a>, English and German also share a more recent common ancestor, <a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Germanic">Proto-Germanic</a>, but Russian does not. Therefore, English and German are considered to belong to a subgroup of Indo-European that Russian does not belong to, the <a href="/wiki/Germanic_languages" title="Germanic languages">Germanic languages</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The division of related languages into subgroups is accomplished by finding <i>shared linguistic innovations</i> that differentiate them from the parent language. For instance, English and German both exhibit the effects of a collection of sound changes known as <a href="/wiki/Grimm%27s_Law" class="mw-redirect" title="Grimm's Law">Grimm's Law</a>, which Russian was not affected by. The fact that English and German share this innovation is seen as evidence of English and German's more recent common ancestor—since the innovation actually took place within that common ancestor, before English and German diverged into separate languages. On the other hand, <i>shared retentions</i> from the parent language are not sufficient evidence of a sub-group. For example, German and Russian both retain from Proto-Indo-European a contrast between the <a href="/wiki/Dative_case" title="Dative case">dative case</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Accusative_case" title="Accusative case">accusative case</a>, which English has lost. However, that similarity between German and Russian is not evidence that German is more closely related to Russian than to English but means only that the <i>innovation</i> in question, the loss of the accusative/dative distinction, happened more recently in English than the divergence of English from German. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Origin_and_development">Origin and development</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Origin and development"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Classical_antiquity" title="Classical antiquity">classical antiquity</a>, Romans were aware of the similarities between Greek and Latin, but did not study them systematically. They sometimes explained them mythologically, as the result of Rome being a Greek colony speaking a debased dialect.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Even though grammarians of Antiquity had access to other languages around them (<a href="/wiki/Oscan_language" title="Oscan language">Oscan</a>, <a href="/wiki/Umbrian_language" title="Umbrian language">Umbrian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Etruscan_language" title="Etruscan language">Etruscan</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gaulish_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Gaulish language">Gaulish</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian" class="mw-redirect" title="Ancient Egyptian">Egyptian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Parthian_language" title="Parthian language">Parthian</a>...), they showed little interest in comparing, studying, or just documenting them. Comparison between languages really began after classical antiquity. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Early_works">Early works</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Early works"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Uralic_languages#Uralic_studies" title="Uralic languages">Uralic languages § Uralic studies</a></div> <p>In the 9th or 10th century AD, <a href="/wiki/Yehuda_Ibn_Quraysh" class="mw-redirect" title="Yehuda Ibn Quraysh">Yehuda Ibn Quraysh</a> compared the phonology and morphology of Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic but attributed the resemblance to the Biblical story of Babel, with Abraham, Isaac and Joseph retaining Adam's language, with other languages at various removes becoming more altered from the original Hebrew.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Sajnovics_-_Demonstratio.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Sajnovics_-_Demonstratio.jpg/171px-Sajnovics_-_Demonstratio.jpg" decoding="async" width="171" height="258" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Sajnovics_-_Demonstratio.jpg/256px-Sajnovics_-_Demonstratio.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Sajnovics_-_Demonstratio.jpg/342px-Sajnovics_-_Demonstratio.jpg 2x" data-file-width="365" data-file-height="551" /></a><figcaption>Title page of Sajnovic's 1770 work.</figcaption></figure> <p>In publications of 1647 and 1654, <a href="/wiki/Marcus_Zuerius_van_Boxhorn" title="Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn">Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn</a> first described a rigorous methodology for historical linguistic comparisons<sup id="cite_ref-Driem_16-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Driem-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and proposed the existence of an <a href="/wiki/Indo-European_languages" title="Indo-European languages">Indo-European</a> proto-language, which he called "Scythian", unrelated to Hebrew but ancestral to Germanic, Greek, Romance, Persian, Sanskrit, Slavic, Celtic and Baltic languages. The Scythian theory was further developed by <a href="/w/index.php?title=Andreas_J%C3%A4ger&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Andreas Jäger (page does not exist)">Andreas Jäger</a> (1686) and <a href="/wiki/William_Wotton" title="William Wotton">William Wotton</a> (1713), who made early forays to reconstruct the primitive common language. In 1710 and 1723, <a href="/wiki/Lambert_ten_Kate" title="Lambert ten Kate">Lambert ten Kate</a> first formulated the regularity of <a href="/wiki/Sound_law" class="mw-redirect" title="Sound law">sound laws</a>, introducing among others the term <a href="/wiki/Root_vowel" class="mw-redirect" title="Root vowel">root vowel</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Driem_16-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Driem-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p> Another early systematic attempt to prove the relationship between two languages on the basis of similarity of <a href="/wiki/Grammar" title="Grammar">grammar</a> and <a href="/wiki/Lexicon" title="Lexicon">lexicon</a> was made by the Hungarian <a href="/wiki/J%C3%A1nos_Sajnovics" title="János Sajnovics">János Sajnovics</a> in 1770, when he attempted to demonstrate the relationship between <a href="/wiki/Sami_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Sami languages">Sami</a> and <a href="/wiki/Hungarian_language" title="Hungarian language">Hungarian</a>. That work was later extended to all <a href="/wiki/Finno-Ugric_languages" title="Finno-Ugric languages">Finno-Ugric languages</a> in 1799 by his countryman <a href="/wiki/Samuel_Gyarmathi" class="mw-redirect" title="Samuel Gyarmathi">Samuel Gyarmathi</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-ssix_17-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ssix-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> However, the origin of modern <a href="/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics">historical linguistics</a> is often traced back to <a href="/wiki/William_Jones_(philologist)" title="William Jones (philologist)">Sir William Jones</a>, an English <a href="/wiki/Philology" title="Philology">philologist</a> living in <a href="/wiki/India" title="India">India</a>, who in 1786 made his famous <span class="nowrap">observation:<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span></p><blockquote><p>The <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanscrit language</a>, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Ancient Greek language">Greek</a>, more copious than the <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists. There is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the <a href="/wiki/Germanic_languages" title="Germanic languages">Gothick</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Celtic_languages" title="Celtic languages">Celtick</a>, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit; and the <a href="/wiki/Persian_language" title="Persian language">old Persian</a> might be added to the same family.</p></blockquote> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Comparative_linguistics">Comparative linguistics</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Comparative linguistics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The comparative method developed out of attempts to reconstruct the proto-language mentioned by Jones, which he did not name but subsequent linguists have labelled <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Indo-European">Proto-Indo-European</a> (PIE). The first professional comparison between the <a href="/wiki/Indo-European_languages" title="Indo-European languages">Indo-European languages</a> that were then known was made by the German linguist <a href="/wiki/Franz_Bopp" title="Franz Bopp">Franz Bopp</a> in 1816. He did not attempt a reconstruction but demonstrated that Greek, Latin and Sanskrit shared a common structure and a common lexicon.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In 1808, <a href="/wiki/Karl_Wilhelm_Friedrich_von_Schlegel" class="mw-redirect" title="Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel">Friedrich Schlegel</a> first stated the importance of using the eldest possible form of a language when trying to prove its relationships;<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> in 1818, <a href="/wiki/Rasmus_Christian_Rask" class="mw-redirect" title="Rasmus Christian Rask">Rasmus Christian Rask</a> developed the principle of regular sound-changes to explain his observations of similarities between individual words in the Germanic languages and their cognates in Greek and <span class="nowrap">Latin.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span> <a href="/wiki/Jacob_Grimm" title="Jacob Grimm">Jacob Grimm</a>, better known for his <i><a href="/wiki/Grimm%27s_Fairy_Tales" class="mw-redirect" title="Grimm's Fairy Tales">Fairy Tales</a></i>, used the comparative method in <i>Deutsche Grammatik</i> (published 1819–1837 in four volumes), which attempted to show the development of the <a href="/wiki/Germanic_languages" title="Germanic languages">Germanic languages</a> from a common origin, which was the first systematic study of <a href="/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics">diachronic</a> language change.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Both Rask and Grimm were unable to explain apparent exceptions to the sound laws that they had discovered. Although <a href="/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann" title="Hermann Grassmann">Hermann Grassmann</a> explained one of the anomalies with the publication of <a href="/wiki/Grassmann%27s_law" title="Grassmann's law">Grassmann's law</a> in 1862,<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Karl_Verner" title="Karl Verner">Karl Verner</a> made a methodological breakthrough in 1875, when he identified a pattern now known as <a href="/wiki/Verner%27s_law" title="Verner's law">Verner's law</a>, the first sound-law based on comparative evidence showing that a <a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">phonological</a> change in one <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a> could depend on other factors within the same word (such as neighbouring phonemes and the position of the <a href="/wiki/Stress_(linguistics)" title="Stress (linguistics)">accent</a><sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>), which are now called <i>conditioning environments</i>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Neo-grammarian_approach">Neo-grammarian approach</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Neo-grammarian approach"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Similar discoveries made by the <i>Junggrammatiker</i> (usually translated as "<a href="/wiki/Neogrammarians" class="mw-redirect" title="Neogrammarians">Neogrammarians</a>") at the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Leipzig" class="mw-redirect" title="University of Leipzig">University of Leipzig</a> in the late 19th century led them to conclude that all sound changes were ultimately regular, resulting in the famous statement by <a href="/wiki/Karl_Brugmann" title="Karl Brugmann">Karl Brugmann</a> and <a href="/wiki/Hermann_Osthoff" title="Hermann Osthoff">Hermann Osthoff</a> in 1878 that "sound laws have no exceptions".<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> That idea is fundamental to the modern comparative method since it necessarily assumes regular correspondences between sounds in related languages and thus regular sound changes from the proto-language. The <i>Neogrammarian hypothesis</i> led to the application of the comparative method to reconstruct <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language" title="Proto-Indo-European language">Proto-Indo-European</a> since <a href="/wiki/Indo-European_languages" title="Indo-European languages">Indo-European</a> was then by far the most well-studied language family. Linguists working with other families soon followed suit, and the comparative method quickly became the established method for uncovering linguistic relationships.<sup id="cite_ref-ssix_17-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ssix-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Application">Application</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Application"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><div class="side-box metadata side-box-right noprint selfref"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">This article contains <b><a href="/wiki/Phonetic_transcription" title="Phonetic transcription">phonetic transcriptions</a> in the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> (IPA)</b>. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA">Help:IPA</a>. For the distinction between <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ ]</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ /</span> and ⟨<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)"> </span>⟩, see <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet#Brackets_and_transcription_delimiters" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters</a>.</div></div> </div> <p>There is no fixed set of steps to be followed in the application of the comparative method, but some steps are suggested by <a href="/wiki/Lyle_Campbell" title="Lyle Campbell">Lyle Campbell</a><sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <a href="/wiki/Terry_Crowley_(linguist)" title="Terry Crowley (linguist)">Terry Crowley</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> who are both authors of introductory texts in historical linguistics. This abbreviated summary is based on their concepts of how to proceed. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Step_1,_assemble_potential_cognate_lists"><span id="Step_1.2C_assemble_potential_cognate_lists"></span>Step 1, assemble potential cognate lists</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Step 1, assemble potential cognate lists"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>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.<sup id="cite_ref-ltwothree_27-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ltwothree-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For example, linguists looking at the <a href="/wiki/Polynesian_languages" title="Polynesian languages">Polynesian family</a> might come up with a list similar to the following (their actual list would be much longer):<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th>Gloss </th> <th> one  </th> <th> two  </th> <th> three  </th> <th> four  </th> <th> five  </th> <th> man  </th> <th> sea  </th> <th> taboo  </th> <th> octopus  </th> <th> canoe  </th> <th> enter  </th></tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/wiki/Tongan_language" title="Tongan language">Tongan</a> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">taha</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ua</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tolu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">fā</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">nima</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">taŋata</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tahi</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tapu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">feke</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">vaka</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">hū</span> </td></tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/wiki/Samoan_language" title="Samoan language">Samoan</a> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tasi</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">lua</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tolu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">fā</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">lima</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">taŋata</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tai</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tapu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">feʔe</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">vaʔa</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ulu</span> </td></tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/wiki/M%C4%81ori_language" title="Māori language">Māori</a> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tahi</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">rua</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">toru</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɸā</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">rima</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">taŋata</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tai</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tapu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɸeke</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">waka</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">uru</span> </td></tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/wiki/Rapanui_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Rapanui language">Rapanui</a> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">-tahi</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">-rua</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">-toru</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">-ha</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">-rima</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">taŋata</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tai</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tapu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">heke</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">vaka</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">uru</span> </td></tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/wiki/Rarotongan_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Rarotongan language">Rarotongan</a>  </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">taʔi</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">rua</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">toru</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʔā</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">rima</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">taŋata</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tai</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">tapu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʔeke</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">vaka</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">uru</span> </td></tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/wiki/Hawaiian_language" title="Hawaiian language">Hawaiian</a> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kahi</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">lua</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kolu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">hā</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">lima</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kanaka</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kai</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kapu</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">heʔe</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">waʔa</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ulu</span> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p><a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">Borrowings</a> or <a href="/wiki/False_cognate" title="False cognate">false cognates</a> can skew or obscure the correct data.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For example, English <i>taboo</i> (<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[tæbu]</span>) is like the six Polynesian forms because of borrowing from Tongan into English, not because of a genetic similarity.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> That problem can usually be overcome by using basic vocabulary, such as kinship terms, numbers, body parts and pronouns.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Nonetheless, even basic vocabulary can be sometimes borrowed. <a href="/wiki/Finnish_language" title="Finnish language">Finnish</a>, for example, borrowed the word for "mother", <span title="Finnish-language text"><i lang="fi">äiti</i></span>, from Proto-Germanic *aiþį̄ (compare to <a href="/wiki/Gothic_language" title="Gothic language">Gothic</a> <span title="Gothic-language text"><i lang="got">aiþei</i></span>).<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a> borrowed the pronouns "they", "them", and "their(s)" from <a href="/wiki/Old_Norse_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Old Norse language">Norse</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Thai_language" title="Thai language">Thai</a> and various other <a href="/wiki/East_Asian_languages" title="East Asian languages">East Asian languages</a> borrowed their numbers from <a href="/wiki/Chinese_language" title="Chinese language">Chinese</a>. An extreme case is represented by <a href="/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language" title="Pirahã language">Pirahã</a>, a <a href="/wiki/Muran_languages" class="mw-redirect" title="Muran languages">Muran language</a> of South America, which has been controversially<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> claimed to have borrowed all of its <a href="/wiki/Pronoun" title="Pronoun">pronouns</a> from <a href="/wiki/Nheengatu_language" title="Nheengatu language">Nheengatu</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>35<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-36"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>36<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Step_2,_establish_correspondence_sets"><span id="Step_2.2C_establish_correspondence_sets"></span>Step 2, establish correspondence sets</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Step 2, establish correspondence sets"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The next step involves determining the regular sound-correspondences exhibited by the lists of potential cognates. For example, in the Polynesian data above, it is apparent that words that contain <i>t</i> in most of the languages listed have cognates in Hawaiian with <i>k</i> in the same position. That is visible in multiple cognate sets: the words glossed as 'one', 'three', 'man' and 'taboo' all show the relationship. The situation is called a "regular correspondence" between <i>k</i> in Hawaiian and <i>t</i> in the other Polynesian languages. Similarly, a regular correspondence can be seen between Hawaiian and Rapanui <i>h</i>, Tongan and Samoan <i>f</i>, Maori <i>ɸ</i>, and Rarotongan <i>ʔ</i>. </p><p>Mere phonetic similarity, as between <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a> <i>day</i> and <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">dies</i></span> (both with the same meaning), has no probative value.<sup id="cite_ref-ltwo_37-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ltwo-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> English initial <i>d-</i> does not <i>regularly</i> match <span class="nowrap">Latin <i>d-</i><sup id="cite_ref-bonetwoseven_38-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-bonetwoseven-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span> since a large set of English and Latin non-borrowed cognates cannot be assembled such that English <i>d</i> repeatedly and consistently corresponds to Latin <i>d</i> at the beginning of a word, and whatever sporadic matches can be observed are due either to chance (as in the above example) or to <a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">borrowing</a> (for example, Latin <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">diabolus</i></span> and English <i>devil</i>, both ultimately of Greek origin<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-39"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>39<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>). However, English and Latin exhibit a regular correspondence of <i>t-</i> : <i>d-</i><sup id="cite_ref-bonetwoseven_38-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-bonetwoseven-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> (in which "A : B" means "A corresponds to B"), as in the following examples:<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-40"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>40<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <td align="left"> <b>English</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <b>t</b>en  </td> <td align="center"> <b>t</b>wo  </td> <td align="center"> <b>t</b>ow  </td> <td align="center"> <b>t</b>ongue  </td> <td align="center"> <b>t</b>ooth  </td></tr> <tr> <td align="left"> <b>Latin</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la"><b>d</b>ecem</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la"><b>d</b>uo</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la"><b>d</b>ūco</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la"><b>d</b>ingua</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la"><b>d</b>ent-</i></span>  </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>If there are many regular correspondence sets of this kind (the more, the better), a common origin becomes a virtual certainty, particularly if some of the correspondences are non-trivial or unusual.<sup id="cite_ref-ltwothree_27-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ltwothree-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Step_3,_discover_which_sets_are_in_complementary_distribution"><span id="Step_3.2C_discover_which_sets_are_in_complementary_distribution"></span>Step 3, discover which sets are in complementary distribution</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Step 3, discover which sets are in complementary distribution"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>During the late 18th to late 19th century, two major developments improved the method's effectiveness. </p><p>First, it was found that many sound changes are conditioned by a specific <i>context</i>. For example, in both <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Greek</a> and <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a>, an <a href="/wiki/Aspiration_(phonetics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Aspiration (phonetics)">aspirated</a> <a href="/wiki/Stop_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Stop consonant">stop</a> evolved into an unaspirated one, but only if a second aspirate occurred later in the same word;<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-41"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>41<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> this is <a href="/wiki/Grassmann%27s_law" title="Grassmann's law">Grassmann's law</a>, first described for <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> by <a href="/wiki/Sanskrit_grammarians" class="mw-redirect" title="Sanskrit grammarians">Sanskrit grammarian</a> <a href="/wiki/P%C4%81%E1%B9%87ini" title="Pāṇini">Pāṇini</a><sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-42"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>42<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and promulgated by <a href="/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann" title="Hermann Grassmann">Hermann Grassmann</a> in 1863. </p><p>Second, it was found that sometimes sound changes occurred in contexts that were later lost. For instance, in Sanskrit <a href="/wiki/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">velars</a> (<i>k</i>-like sounds) were replaced by <a href="/wiki/Palatal_consonant" title="Palatal consonant">palatals</a> (<i>ch</i>-like sounds) whenever the following vowel was <i>*i</i> or <i>*e</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-43"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>43<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Subsequent to this change, all instances of <i>*e</i> were replaced by <i>a</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-44"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>44<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The situation could be reconstructed only because the original distribution of <i>e</i> and <i>a</i> could be recovered from the evidence of other <a href="/wiki/Indo-European_languages" title="Indo-European languages">Indo-European languages</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-45"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>45<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For instance, the <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> suffix <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">que</i></span>, "and", preserves the original <i>*e</i> vowel that caused the consonant shift in Sanskrit: </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <td> <b>1.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <i>*ke</i>  </td> <td> Pre-Sanskrit "and"  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>2.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <i>*ce</i>  </td> <td> Velars replaced by palatals before <i>*i</i> and <i>*e</i>  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>3.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <i>ca</i>  </td> <td> The attested Sanskrit form: <i>*e</i> has become <i>a</i>  </td></tr></tbody></table> <p><a href="/wiki/Verner%27s_Law" class="mw-redirect" title="Verner's Law">Verner's Law</a>, discovered by <a href="/wiki/Karl_Verner" title="Karl Verner">Karl Verner</a> <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 1875, provides a similar case: the <a href="/wiki/Voice_(phonetics)" title="Voice (phonetics)">voicing</a> of consonants in <a href="/wiki/Germanic_languages" title="Germanic languages">Germanic languages</a> underwent a change that was determined by the position of the old Indo-European <a href="/wiki/Stress_(linguistics)" title="Stress (linguistics)">accent</a>. Following the change, the accent shifted to initial position.<sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Verner solved the puzzle by comparing the Germanic voicing pattern with Greek and Sanskrit accent patterns. </p><p>This stage of the comparative method, therefore, involves examining the correspondence sets discovered in step 2 and seeing which of them apply only in certain contexts. If two (or more) sets apply in <a href="/wiki/Complementary_distribution" title="Complementary distribution">complementary distribution</a>, they can be assumed to reflect a single original <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a>: "some sound changes, particularly conditioned sound changes, can result in a proto-sound being associated with more than one correspondence set".<sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-47"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>47<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>For example, the following potential cognate list can be established for <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance languages</a>, which descend from <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>: </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th> </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Italian_language" title="Italian language">Italian</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Spanish_language" title="Spanish language">Spanish</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Portuguese_language" title="Portuguese language">Portuguese</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/French_language" title="French language">French</a>  </th> <th> Gloss  </th></tr> <tr> <td> <b>1.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Italian-language text"><i lang="it">corpo</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Spanish-language text"><i lang="es">cuerpo</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Portuguese-language text"><i lang="pt">corpo</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">corps</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> body  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>2.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Italian-language text"><i lang="it">crudo</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Spanish-language text"><i lang="es">crudo</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Portuguese-language text"><i lang="pt">cru</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">cru</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> raw  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>3.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Italian-language text"><i lang="it">catena</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Spanish-language text"><i lang="es">cadena</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Portuguese-language text"><i lang="pt">cadeia</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">chaîne</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> chain  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>4.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Italian-language text"><i lang="it">cacciare</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Spanish-language text"><i lang="es">cazar</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="Portuguese-language text"><i lang="pt">caçar</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span title="French-language text"><i lang="fr">chasser</i></span>  </td> <td align="center"> to hunt  </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>They evidence two correspondence sets, <i>k : k</i> and <i>k : <span class="IPA" lang="und-Latn-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative" title="Voiceless postalveolar fricative">ʃ</a></span>:</i> </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th> </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Italian_language" title="Italian language">Italian</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Spanish_language" title="Spanish language">Spanish</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Portuguese_language" title="Portuguese language">Portuguese</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/French_language" title="French language">French</a>  </th></tr> <tr> <td> <b>1.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> k  </td> <td align="center"> k  </td> <td align="center"> k  </td> <td align="center"> k  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>2.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> k  </td> <td align="center"> k  </td> <td align="center"> k  </td> <td align="center"> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʃ</span>  </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Since French <i><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʃ</span></i> occurs only before <i>a</i> where the other languages also have <i>a</i>, and French <i>k</i> occurs elsewhere, the difference is caused by different environments (being before <i>a</i> conditions the change), and the sets are complementary. They can, therefore, be assumed to reflect a single proto-phoneme (in this case <i>*k</i>, spelled ⟨c⟩ in <a href="/wiki/Latin_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin language">Latin</a>).<sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-48"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>48<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The original Latin words are <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">corpus</i></span>, <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">crudus</i></span>, <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">catena</i></span> and <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">captiare</i></span>, all with an initial <i>k</i>. If more evidence along those lines were given, one might conclude that an alteration of the original <i>k</i> took place because of a different environment. </p><p>A more complex case involves consonant clusters in <a href="/wiki/Proto-Algonquian" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Algonquian">Proto-Algonquian</a>. The Algonquianist <a href="/wiki/Leonard_Bloomfield" title="Leonard Bloomfield">Leonard Bloomfield</a> used the reflexes of the clusters in four of the daughter languages to reconstruct the following correspondence sets:<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-49"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>49<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th> </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Anishinaabe_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Anishinaabe language">Ojibwe</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Fox_language" title="Fox language">Meskwaki</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Plains_Cree_language" title="Plains Cree language">Plains Cree</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Menominee_language" title="Menominee language">Menomini</a>  </th></tr> <tr> <td> <b>1.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> kk  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>2.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> kk  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td> <td align="center"> sk  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>3.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> sk  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td> <td align="center"> sk  </td> <td align="center"> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">t͡ʃk</span>  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>4.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʃk</span>  </td> <td align="center"> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʃk</span>  </td> <td align="center"> sk  </td> <td align="center"> sk  </td></tr> <tr> <td> <b>5.</b>  </td> <td align="center"> sk  </td> <td align="center"> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ʃk</span>  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td> <td align="center"> hk  </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Although all five correspondence sets overlap with one another in various places, they are not in complementary distribution and so Bloomfield recognised that a different cluster must be reconstructed for each set. His reconstructions were, respectively, <i>*hk</i>, <i>*xk</i>, <i>*čk</i> (=<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[t͡ʃk]</span>), <i>*šk</i> (=<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ʃk]</span>), and <i>çk</i> (in which <span class="nowrap" style="padding-left:0.1em;">'</span><i>x</i><span class="nowrap" style="padding-left:0.1em;">'</span> and <span class="nowrap" style="padding-left:0.1em;">'</span><i>ç</i><span class="nowrap" style="padding-left:0.1em;">'</span> are arbitrary symbols, rather than attempts to guess the phonetic value of the proto-phonemes).<sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-50"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>50<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Step_4,_reconstruct_proto-phonemes"><span id="Step_4.2C_reconstruct_proto-phonemes"></span>Step 4, reconstruct proto-phonemes</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Step 4, reconstruct proto-phonemes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Typology assists in deciding what reconstruction best fits the data. For example, the voicing of voiceless stops between vowels is common, but the devoicing of voiced stops in that environment is rare. If a correspondence <i>-t-</i> : <i>-d-</i> between vowels is found in two languages, the proto-<a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a> is more likely to be <i>*-t-</i>, with a development to the voiced form in the second language. The opposite reconstruction would represent a rare type. </p><p>However, unusual sound changes occur. The <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Indo-European">Proto-Indo-European</a> word for <i>two</i>, for example, is reconstructed as <i>*dwō</i>, which is reflected in <a href="/wiki/Classical_Armenian" title="Classical Armenian">Classical Armenian</a> as <i>erku</i>. Several other cognates demonstrate a regular change <i>*dw-</i> → <i>erk-</i> in Armenian.<sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-51"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>51<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Similarly, in Bearlake, a dialect of the <a href="/wiki/Athabaskan_languages" title="Athabaskan languages">Athabaskan language</a> of <a href="/wiki/Slavey_language" title="Slavey language">Slavey</a>, there has been a sound change of Proto-Athabaskan <i>*ts</i> → Bearlake <i><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kʷ</span></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-52" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-52"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>52<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is very unlikely that <i>*dw-</i> changed directly into <i>erk-</i> and <i>*ts</i> into <i><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kʷ</span></i>, but they probably instead went through several intermediate steps before they arrived at the later forms. It is not phonetic similarity that matters for the comparative method but rather regular sound correspondences.<sup id="cite_ref-ltwo_37-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ltwo-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>By the <a href="/wiki/Principle_of_economy" class="mw-redirect" title="Principle of economy">principle of economy</a>, the reconstruction of a proto-phoneme should require as few sound changes as possible to arrive at the modern reflexes in the daughter languages. For example, <a href="/wiki/Algonquian_languages" title="Algonquian languages">Algonquian languages</a> exhibit the following correspondence set:<sup id="cite_ref-53" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-53"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>53<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>54<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th> <a href="/wiki/Anishinaabe_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Anishinaabe language">Ojibwe</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Mi%27kmaq_language" title="Mi'kmaq language">Míkmaq</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Cree_language" title="Cree language">Cree</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Munsee_language" title="Munsee language">Munsee</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Blackfoot_language" title="Blackfoot language">Blackfoot</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Arapaho_language" title="Arapaho language">Arapaho</a>  </th></tr> <tr> <td align="center"> m  </td> <td align="center"> m  </td> <td align="center"> m  </td> <td align="center"> m  </td> <td align="center"> m  </td> <td align="center"> b  </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The simplest reconstruction for this set would be either <i>*m</i> or <i>*b</i>. Both <i>*m</i> → <i>b</i> and <i>*b</i> → <i>m</i> are likely. Because <i>m</i> occurs in five of the languages and <i>b</i> in only one of them, if <i>*b</i> is reconstructed, it is necessary to assume five separate changes of <i>*b</i> → <i>m</i>, but if <i>*m</i> is reconstructed, it is necessary to assume only one change of <i>*m</i> → <i>b</i> and so <i>*m</i> would be most economical. </p><p>That argument assumes the languages other than Arapaho to be at least partly independent of one another. If they all formed a common subgroup, the development <i>*b</i> → <i>m</i> would have to be assumed to have occurred only once. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Step_5,_examine_the_reconstructed_system_typologically"><span id="Step_5.2C_examine_the_reconstructed_system_typologically"></span>Step 5, examine the reconstructed system typologically</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Step 5, examine the reconstructed system typologically"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In the final step, the linguist checks to see how the proto-<a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phonemes</a> fit the known <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_typology" title="Linguistic typology">typological constraints</a>. For example, a hypothetical system, </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th>  p   </th> <th>  t   </th> <th>  k   </th></tr> <tr> <th>  b   </th> <th> </th> <th> </th></tr> <tr> <th> </th> <th>  n   </th> <th>  ŋ   </th></tr> <tr> <th> </th> <th>  l   </th> <th> </th></tr></tbody></table> <p>has only one <a href="/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_stop" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced bilabial stop">voiced stop</a>, <i>*b</i>, and although it has an <a href="/wiki/Alveolar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Alveolar nasal">alveolar</a> and a <a href="/wiki/Velar_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Velar nasal">velar nasal</a>, <i>*n</i> and <i>*ŋ</i>, there is no corresponding <a href="/wiki/Bilabial_nasal" class="mw-redirect" title="Bilabial nasal">labial nasal</a>. However, languages generally maintain symmetry in their phonemic inventories.<sup id="cite_ref-55" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-55"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>55<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In this case, a linguist might attempt to investigate the possibilities that either what was earlier reconstructed as <i>*b</i> is in fact <i>*m</i> or that the <i>*n</i> and <i>*ŋ</i> are in fact <i>*d</i> and <i>*g</i>. </p><p>Even a symmetrical system can be typologically suspicious. For example, here is the traditional <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Indo-European">Proto-Indo-European</a> stop inventory:<sup id="cite_ref-56" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-56"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>56<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th> </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Labial_consonant" title="Labial consonant">Labials</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Dental_consonant" title="Dental consonant">Dentals</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">Velars</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Labialized_velar_consonant" title="Labialized velar consonant">Labiovelars</a>  </th> <th> <a href="/wiki/Palatovelar" class="mw-redirect" title="Palatovelar">Palatovelars</a>  </th></tr> <tr> <th> <a href="/wiki/Voiceless_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiceless consonant">Voiceless</a>  </th> <td align="center">p </td> <td align="center">t </td> <td align="center">k </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kʷ</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">kʲ</span> </td></tr> <tr> <th> <a href="/wiki/Voiced_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced consonant">Voiced</a>  </th> <td align="center">(b) </td> <td align="center">d </td> <td align="center">g </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɡʷ</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɡʲ</span> </td></tr> <tr> <th> <a href="/wiki/Voiced_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced consonant">Voiced</a> <a href="/wiki/Aspiration_(phonetics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Aspiration (phonetics)">aspirated</a>  </th> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">bʱ</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">dʱ</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɡʱ</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɡʷʱ</span> </td> <td align="center"><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">ɡʲʱ</span> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>An earlier voiceless aspirated row was removed on grounds of insufficient evidence. Since the mid-20th century, a number of linguists have argued that this phonology is implausible<sup id="cite_ref-57" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-57"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>57<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and that it is extremely unlikely for a language to have a voiced aspirated (<a href="/wiki/Breathy_voice" title="Breathy voice">breathy voice</a>) series without a corresponding voiceless aspirated series. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Gamkrelidze" class="mw-redirect" title="Thomas Gamkrelidze">Thomas Gamkrelidze</a> and <a href="/wiki/Vyacheslav_Ivanov_(philologist)" title="Vyacheslav Ivanov (philologist)">Vyacheslav Ivanov</a> provided a potential solution and argued that the series that are traditionally reconstructed as plain voiced should be reconstructed as <a href="/wiki/Glottalization" title="Glottalization">glottalized</a>: either <a href="/wiki/Implosive_consonant" title="Implosive consonant">implosive</a> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">(ɓ,<span class="wrap"> </span>ɗ,<span class="wrap"> </span>ɠ)</span> or <a href="/wiki/Ejective_consonant" title="Ejective consonant">ejective</a> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">(pʼ,<span class="wrap"> </span>tʼ,<span class="wrap"> </span>kʼ)</span>. The plain voiceless and voiced aspirated series would thus be replaced by just voiceless and voiced, with aspiration being a non-distinctive quality of both.<sup id="cite_ref-58" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-58"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>58<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> That example of the application of linguistic typology to linguistic reconstruction has become known as the <a href="/wiki/Glottalic_theory" title="Glottalic theory">glottalic theory</a>. It has a large number of proponents but is not generally accepted.<sup id="cite_ref-59" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-59"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>59<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The reconstruction of proto-sounds logically precedes the reconstruction of grammatical <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morphemes</a> (word-forming affixes and inflectional endings), patterns of <a href="/wiki/Declension" title="Declension">declension</a> and <a href="/wiki/Grammatical_conjugation" title="Grammatical conjugation">conjugation</a> and so on. The full reconstruction of an unrecorded protolanguage is an open-ended task. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Complications">Complications</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Complications"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_history_of_historical_linguistics">The history of historical linguistics</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: The history of historical linguistics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The limitations of the comparative method were recognized by the very linguists who developed it,<sup id="cite_ref-60" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-60"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>60<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> but it is still seen as a valuable tool. In the case of Indo-European, the method seemed at least a partial validation of the centuries-old search for an <a href="/wiki/Ursprache" class="mw-redirect" title="Ursprache">Ursprache</a>, the original language. The others were presumed to be ordered in a <a href="/wiki/Family_tree" title="Family tree">family tree</a>, which was the <a href="/wiki/Tree_model" title="Tree model">tree model</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Neogrammarians" class="mw-redirect" title="Neogrammarians">neogrammarians</a>. </p><p>The archaeologists followed suit and attempted to find archaeological evidence of a culture or cultures that could be presumed to have spoken a <a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">proto-language</a>, such as <a href="/wiki/Vere_Gordon_Childe" class="mw-redirect" title="Vere Gordon Childe">Vere Gordon Childe</a>'s <i>The Aryans: a study of Indo-European origins</i>, 1926. Childe was a philologist turned archaeologist. Those views culminated in the <i>Siedlungsarchaologie</i>, or "settlement-archaeology", of <a href="/wiki/Gustaf_Kossinna" title="Gustaf Kossinna">Gustaf Kossinna</a>, becoming known as "Kossinna's Law". Kossinna asserted that cultures represent ethnic groups, including their languages, but his law was rejected after World War II. The fall of Kossinna's Law removed the temporal and spatial framework previously applied to many proto-languages. Fox concludes:<sup id="cite_ref-61" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-61"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>61<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <blockquote><p>The Comparative Method <i>as such</i> is not, in fact, historical; it provides evidence of linguistic relationships to which we may give a historical interpretation.... [Our increased knowledge about the historical processes involved] has probably made historical linguists less prone to equate the idealizations required by the method with historical reality.... Provided we keep [the interpretation of the results and the method itself] apart, the Comparative Method can continue to be used in the reconstruction of earlier stages of languages.</p></blockquote> <p>Proto-languages can be verified in many historical instances, such as Latin.<sup id="cite_ref-62" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-62"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>62<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-63" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-63"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>63<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Although no longer a law, settlement-archaeology is known to be essentially valid for some cultures that straddle history and prehistory, such as the Celtic Iron Age (mainly Celtic) and <a href="/wiki/Mycenaean_civilization" class="mw-redirect" title="Mycenaean civilization">Mycenaean civilization</a> (mainly Greek). None of those models can be or have been completely rejected, but none is sufficient alone. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Neogrammarian_principle">The Neogrammarian principle</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: The Neogrammarian principle"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The foundation of the comparative method, and of comparative linguistics in general, is the <a href="/wiki/Neogrammarian" title="Neogrammarian">Neogrammarians</a>' fundamental assumption that "sound laws have no exceptions". When it was initially proposed, critics of the Neogrammarians proposed an alternate position that summarised by the maxim "each word has its own history".<sup id="cite_ref-64" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-64"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>64<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Several types of change actually alter words in irregular ways. Unless identified, they may hide or distort laws and cause false perceptions of relationship. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Borrowing">Borrowing</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Borrowing"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>All languages <a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">borrow words</a> from other languages in various contexts. Loanwords imitate the form of the donor language, as in Finnic <i>kuningas</i>, from Proto-Germanic *<i>kuningaz</i> ('king'), with possible adaptations to the local phonology, as in Japanese <i>sakkā</i>, from English <i>soccer</i>. At first sight, borrowed words may mislead the investigator into seeing a genetic relationship, although they can more easily be identified with information on the historical stages of both the donor and receiver languages. Inherently, words that were borrowed from a common source (such as English <i>coffee</i> and Basque <i>kafe</i>, ultimately from Arabic <i>qahwah</i>) do share a genetic relationship, although limited to the history of this word. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Areal_diffusion">Areal diffusion</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Areal diffusion"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Borrowing on a larger scale occurs in <a href="/wiki/Areal_feature_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Areal feature (linguistics)">areal diffusion</a>, when features are adopted by contiguous languages over a geographical area. The borrowing may be <a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">phonological</a>, <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morphological</a> or <a href="/wiki/Lexeme" title="Lexeme">lexical</a>. A false proto-language over the area may be reconstructed for them or may be taken to be a third language serving as a source of diffused features.<sup id="cite_ref-65" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-65"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>65<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Several areal features and other influences may converge to form a <a href="/wiki/Sprachbund" title="Sprachbund">Sprachbund</a>, a wider region sharing features that appear to be related but are diffusional. For instance, the <a href="/wiki/Mainland_Southeast_Asia_linguistic_area" title="Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area">Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area</a>, before it was recognised, suggested several false classifications of such languages as <a href="/wiki/Chinese_language" title="Chinese language">Chinese</a>, <a href="/wiki/Thai_language" title="Thai language">Thai</a> and <a href="/wiki/Vietnamese_language" title="Vietnamese language">Vietnamese</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Random_mutations">Random mutations</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Random mutations"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Sporadic changes, such as irregular inflections, compounding and abbreviation, do not follow any laws. For example, the <a href="/wiki/Spanish_language" title="Spanish language">Spanish</a> words <i>palabra</i> ('word'), <i>peligro</i> ('danger') and <i>milagro</i> ('miracle') would have been <i>parabla</i>, <i>periglo</i>, <i>miraglo</i> by regular sound changes from the Latin <i>parabŏla</i>, <i>perīcŭlum</i> and <i>mīrācŭlum</i>, but the <i>r</i> and <i>l</i> changed places by sporadic <a href="/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)" title="Metathesis (linguistics)">metathesis</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-66" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-66"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>66<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Analogy">Analogy</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Analogy"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Analogy#Linguistics" title="Analogy">Analogy</a> is the sporadic change of a feature to be like another feature in the same or a different language. It may affect a single word or be generalized to an entire class of features, such as a verb paradigm. An example is the <a href="/wiki/Russian_language" title="Russian language">Russian</a> word for <i>nine</i>. The word, by regular sound changes from <a href="/wiki/Proto-Slavic" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Slavic">Proto-Slavic</a>, should have been <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/nʲevʲatʲ/</span>, but it is in fact <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/dʲevʲatʲ/</span>. It is believed that the initial <i><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">nʲ-</span></i> changed to <i><span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">dʲ-</span></i> under influence of the word for "ten" in Russian, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/dʲesʲatʲ/</span>.<sup id="cite_ref-67" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-67"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>67<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Gradual_application">Gradual application</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Gradual application"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Those who study contemporary language changes, such as <a href="/wiki/William_Labov" title="William Labov">William Labov</a>, acknowledge that even a systematic sound change is applied at first inconsistently, with the percentage of its occurrence in a person's speech dependent on various social factors.<sup id="cite_ref-68" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-68"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>68<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The sound change seems to gradually spread in a process known as <a href="/wiki/Lexical_diffusion" title="Lexical diffusion">lexical diffusion</a>. While it does not invalidate the Neogrammarians' axiom that "sound laws have no exceptions", the gradual application of the very sound laws shows that they do not always apply to all lexical items at the same time. Hock notes,<sup id="cite_ref-69" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-69"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>69<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> "While it probably is true in the long run every word has its own history, it is not justified to conclude as some linguists have, that therefore the Neogrammarian position on the nature of linguistic change is falsified". </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Non-inherited_features">Non-inherited features</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Non-inherited features"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The comparative method cannot recover aspects of a language that were not inherited in its daughter idioms. For instance, the <a href="/wiki/Latin_declension" title="Latin declension">Latin declension</a> pattern was lost in <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance languages</a>, resulting in an impossibility to fully reconstruct such a feature via systematic comparison.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMeillet196613_70-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMeillet196613-70"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>70<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_tree_model">The tree model</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: The tree model"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The comparative method is used to construct a tree model (German <i>Stammbaum</i>) of language evolution,<sup id="cite_ref-71" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-71"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>71<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> in which daughter languages are seen as branching from the <a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">proto-language</a>, gradually growing more distant from it through accumulated <a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">phonological</a>, <a href="/wiki/Morpho-syntactic" class="mw-redirect" title="Morpho-syntactic">morpho-syntactic</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Lexicon" title="Lexicon">lexical</a> changes. </p> <figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Uto-Aztecan_Family_Tree.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Uto-Aztecan_Family_Tree.jpg/720px-Uto-Aztecan_Family_Tree.jpg" decoding="async" width="720" height="247" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Uto-Aztecan_Family_Tree.jpg 1.5x" data-file-width="948" data-file-height="325" /></a><figcaption>An example of the Tree Model, used to represent the <a href="/wiki/Uto-Aztecan_languages" title="Uto-Aztecan languages">Uto-Aztecan</a> language family spoken throughout the southern and western United States and Mexico.<sup id="cite_ref-72" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-72"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>72<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Families are in <b>bold</b>, individual languages in <i>italics</i>. Not all branches and languages are shown.</figcaption></figure> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="The_presumption_of_a_well-defined_node">The presumption of a well-defined node</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: The presumption of a well-defined node"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Wave_model_Schmidt.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Wave_model_Schmidt.svg/290px-Wave_model_Schmidt.svg.png" decoding="async" width="290" height="355" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Wave_model_Schmidt.svg/435px-Wave_model_Schmidt.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Wave_model_Schmidt.svg/580px-Wave_model_Schmidt.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="334" data-file-height="409" /></a><figcaption>The <a href="/wiki/Wave_model_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wave model (linguistics)">Wave Model</a> has been proposed as an alternative to the <a href="/wiki/Tree_model" title="Tree model">tree model</a> for representing language change.<sup id="cite_ref-73" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-73"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>73<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In this <a href="/wiki/Venn_diagram" title="Venn diagram">Venn diagram</a>, each circle represents a "wave" or <a href="/wiki/Isogloss" title="Isogloss">isogloss</a>, the maximum geographical extension of a linguistic change as it propagated through the speaker population. These circles, which represent successive historical events of propagation, typically intersect. Each language in the family differs as to which isoglosses it belongs to: which innovations it reflects. The tree model presumes that all the circles should be nested and never crosscut, but studies in <a href="/wiki/Dialectology" title="Dialectology">dialectology</a> and historical linguistics show that assumption to be usually wrong and suggest that the wave-based approach may be more realistic than the tree model. A genealogical family in which isoglosses intersect is called a <a href="/wiki/Dialect_continuum" title="Dialect continuum">dialect continuum</a> or a <i><a href="/wiki/Linkage_(linguistics)" title="Linkage (linguistics)">linkage</a></i>.</figcaption></figure><p> The tree model features nodes that are presumed to be distinct proto-languages existing independently in distinct regions during distinct historical times. The reconstruction of unattested proto-languages lends itself to that illusion since they cannot be verified, and the linguist is free to select whatever definite times and places seems best. Right from the outset of Indo-European studies, however, <a href="/wiki/Thomas_Young_(scientist)" title="Thomas Young (scientist)">Thomas Young</a> said:<sup id="cite_ref-74" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-74"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>74<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p><blockquote><p>It is not, however, very easy to say what the definition should be that should constitute a separate language, but it seems most natural to call those languages distinct, of which the one cannot be understood by common persons in the habit of speaking the other.... Still, however, it may remain doubtfull whether the Danes and the Swedes could not, in general, understand each other tolerably well... nor is it possible to say if the twenty ways of pronouncing the sounds, belonging to the Chinese characters, ought or ought not to be considered as so many languages or dialects.... But,... the languages so nearly allied must stand next to each other in a systematic order…</p></blockquote> <p>The assumption of uniformity in a proto-language, implicit in the comparative method, is problematic. Even small language communities always have differences in <a href="/wiki/Dialect" title="Dialect">dialect</a>, whether they are based on area, gender, class or other factors. The <a href="/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language" title="Pirahã language">Pirahã language</a> of <a href="/wiki/Brazil" title="Brazil">Brazil</a> is spoken by only several hundred people but has at least two different dialects, one spoken by men and one by women.<sup id="cite_ref-75" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-75"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>75<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Campbell points out:<sup id="cite_ref-76" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-76"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>76<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <blockquote><p>It is not so much that the comparative method 'assumes' no variation; rather, it is just that there is nothing built into the comparative method which would allow it to address variation directly.... This assumption of uniformity is a reasonable idealization; it does no more damage to the understanding of the language than, say, modern reference grammars do which concentrate on a language's general structure, typically leaving out consideration of regional or social variation.</p></blockquote> <p>Different dialects, as they evolve into separate languages, remain in contact with and influence one another. Even after they are considered distinct, languages near one another continue to influence one another and often share grammatical, phonological, and <a href="/wiki/Lexical_innovation" title="Lexical innovation">lexical innovations</a>. A change in one language of a family may spread to neighboring languages, and multiple waves of change are communicated like waves across language and dialect boundaries, each with its own randomly delimited range.<sup id="cite_ref-77" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-77"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>77<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> If a language is divided into an inventory of features, each with its own time and range (<a href="/wiki/Isogloss" title="Isogloss">isoglosses</a>), they do not all coincide. History and prehistory may not offer a time and place for a distinct coincidence, as may be the case for <a href="/wiki/Proto-Italic_language" title="Proto-Italic language">Proto-Italic</a>, for which the proto-language is only a concept. However, Hock<sup id="cite_ref-78" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-78"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>78<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> observes: </p> <blockquote><p>The discovery in the late nineteenth century that <a href="/wiki/Isogloss" title="Isogloss">isoglosses</a> can cut across well-established linguistic boundaries at first created considerable attention and controversy. And it became fashionable to oppose a wave theory to a tree theory.... Today, however, it is quite evident that the phenomena referred to by these two terms are complementary aspects of linguistic change....</p></blockquote> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Subjectivity_of_the_reconstruction">Subjectivity of the reconstruction</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=25" title="Edit section: Subjectivity of the reconstruction"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The reconstruction of unknown proto-languages is inherently subjective. In the <a href="/wiki/Proto-Algonquian" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Algonquian">Proto-Algonquian</a> example above, the choice of <i>*m</i> as the parent <a href="/wiki/Phoneme" title="Phoneme">phoneme</a> is only <i>likely</i>, not <i>certain</i>. It is conceivable that a Proto-Algonquian language with <i>*b</i> in those positions split into two branches, one that preserved <i>*b</i> and one that changed it to <i>*m</i> instead, and while the first branch developed only into <a href="/wiki/Arapaho_language" title="Arapaho language">Arapaho</a>, the second spread out more widely and developed into all the other <a href="/wiki/Algonquian_peoples" title="Algonquian peoples">Algonquian</a> tribes. It is also possible that the nearest common ancestor of the <a href="/wiki/Algonquian_languages" title="Algonquian languages">Algonquian languages</a> used some other sound instead, such as <i>*p</i>, which eventually mutated to <i>*b</i> in one branch and to <i>*m</i> in the other. </p><p>Examples of strikingly complicated and even circular developments are indeed known to have occurred (such as Proto-Indo-European <i>*t</i> > Pre-Proto-Germanic <i>*þ</i> > <a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Germanic">Proto-Germanic</a> <i>*ð</i> > Proto-West-Germanic <i>*d</i> > <a href="/wiki/Old_High_German" title="Old High German">Old High German</a> <span title="Old High German (ca. 750-1050)-language text"><i lang="goh">t</i></span> in <span title="Old High German (ca. 750-1050)-language text"><i lang="goh">fater</i></span> > Modern German <span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">Vater</i></span>), but in the absence of any evidence or other reason to postulate a more complicated development, the preference of a simpler explanation is justified by the principle of parsimony, also known as <a href="/wiki/Occam%27s_razor" title="Occam's razor">Occam's razor</a>. Since reconstruction involves many such choices, some linguists<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch"><span title="The material near this tag possibly uses too-vague attribution or weasel words. (January 2020)">who?</span></a></i>]</sup> prefer to view the reconstructed features as abstract representations of sound correspondences, rather than as objects with a historical time and place.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2020)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>The existence of proto-languages and the validity of the comparative method is verifiable if the reconstruction can be matched to a known language, which may be known only as a shadow in the <a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">loanwords</a> of another language. For example, <a href="/wiki/Finnic_languages" title="Finnic languages">Finnic languages</a> such as <a href="/wiki/Finnish_language" title="Finnish language">Finnish</a> have borrowed many words from an early stage of <a href="/wiki/Germanic_languages" title="Germanic languages">Germanic</a>, and the shape of the loans matches the forms that have been reconstructed for <a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Germanic">Proto-Germanic</a>. Finnish <span title="Finnish-language text"><i lang="fi">kuningas</i></span> 'king' and <span title="Finnish-language text"><i lang="fi">kaunis</i></span> 'beautiful' match the Germanic reconstructions *<i>kuningaz</i> and *<i>skauniz</i> (> German <span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">König</i></span> 'king', <span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">schön</i></span> 'beautiful').<sup id="cite_ref-79" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-79"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>79<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Additional_models">Additional models</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=26" title="Edit section: Additional models"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Wave_model" title="Wave model">wave model</a> was developed in the 1870s as an alternative to the tree model to represent the historical patterns of language diversification. Both the tree-based and the wave-based representations are compatible with the comparative method.<sup id="cite_ref-80" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-80"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>80<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>By contrast, some approaches are incompatible with the comparative method, including contentious <a href="/wiki/Glottochronology" title="Glottochronology">glottochronology</a> and even more controversial <a href="/wiki/Mass_lexical_comparison" class="mw-redirect" title="Mass lexical comparison">mass lexical comparison</a> considered by most historical linguists to be flawed and unreliable.<sup id="cite_ref-81" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-81"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>81<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=27" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparative_linguistics" title="Comparative linguistics">Comparative linguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historical_linguistics" title="Historical linguistics">Historical linguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lexicostatistics" title="Lexicostatistics">Lexicostatistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">Proto-language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swadesh_list" title="Swadesh list">Swadesh list</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=28" title="Edit section: Notes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol 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href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMeillet19662–7,_22_5-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFMeillet1966">Meillet 1966</a>, pp. 2–7, 22.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription 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href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHock1991567_8-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFHock1991">Hock 1991</a>, p. 567.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFIgartua2015" class="citation journal cs1">Igartua, Iván (2015). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24672169">"From cumulative to separative exponence in inflection: Reversing the morphological cycle"</a>. <i>Language</i>. <b>91</b> (3): <span class="nowrap">676–</span>722. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.2015.0032">10.1353/lan.2015.0032</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0097-8507">0097-8507</a>. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24672169">24672169</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:122591029">122591029</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Language&rft.atitle=From+cumulative+to+separative+exponence+in+inflection%3A+Reversing+the+morphological+cycle&rft.volume=91&rft.issue=3&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E676-%3C%2Fspan%3E722&rft.date=2015&rft.issn=0097-8507&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A122591029%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F24672169%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1353%2Flan.2015.0032&rft.aulast=Igartua&rft.aufirst=Iv%C3%A1n&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F24672169&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, pp. 1–2.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, p. 25.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2000">Campbell 2000</a>, p. 1341</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, pp. 22, 27–29.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFStevens2006" class="citation journal cs1">Stevens, Benjamin (2006). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30038039">"Aeolism: Latin as a Dialect of Greek"</a>. <i>The Classical Journal</i>. <b>102</b> (2): <span class="nowrap">115–</span>144. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0009-8353">0009-8353</a>. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30038039">30038039</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Classical+Journal&rft.atitle=Aeolism%3A+Latin+as+a+Dialect+of+Greek&rft.volume=102&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E115-%3C%2Fspan%3E144&rft.date=2006&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F30038039%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.issn=0009-8353&rft.aulast=Stevens&rft.aufirst=Benjamin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F30038039&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"The reason for this similarity and the cause of this intermixture was their close neighboring in the land and their genealogical closeness, since Terah the father of Abraham was Syrian, and Laban was Syrian. Ishmael and Kedar were Arabized from the Time of Division, the time of the confounding [of tongues] at Babel, and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob (peace be upon them) retained the Holy Tongue from the original Adam." <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lameen.googlepages.com/ibn-quraysh.html">Introduction of Risalat Yehuda Ibn Quraysh – مقدمة رسالة يهوذا بن قريش</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090729093347/http://lameen.googlepages.com/ibn-quraysh.html">Archived</a> 29 July 2009 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Driem-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Driem_16-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Driem_16-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">George van Driem <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.eastling.org/paper/Driem.pdf">The genesis of polyphyletic linguistics</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110726012439/http://www.eastling.org/paper/Driem.pdf">Archived</a> 26 July 2011 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ssix-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-ssix_17-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ssix_17-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 6.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFJones" class="citation web cs1">Jones, Sir William. Abbattista, Guido (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.eliohs.unifi.it/testi/700/jones/Jones_Discourse_3.html">"The Third Anniversary Discourse delivered 2 February 1786 By the President [on the Hindus]"</a>. Eliohs Electronic Library of Historiography<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">18 December</span> 2009</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=The+Third+Anniversary+Discourse+delivered+2+February+1786+By+the+President+%5Bon+the+Hindus%5D&rft.pub=Eliohs+Electronic+Library+of+Historiography&rft.aulast=Jones&rft.aufirst=Sir+William&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eliohs.unifi.it%2Ftesti%2F700%2Fjones%2FJones_Discourse_3.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, pp. 5–6</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 7</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 17</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, pp. 7–8.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 19.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 20.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, pp. 126–147</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCrowley1992">Crowley 1992</a>, pp. 108–109</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ltwothree-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-ltwothree_27-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ltwothree_27-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, pp. 2–3.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">This table is modified from <a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, pp. 168–169 and <a href="#CITEREFCrowley1992">Crowley 1992</a>, pp. 88–89 using sources such as <a href="#CITEREFChurchward1959">Churchward 1959</a> for Tongan, and <a href="#CITEREFPukui1986">Pukui 1986</a> for Hawaiian.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, pp. 3–5.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation encyclopaedia cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/taboo">"Taboo"</a>. <i>Dictionary.com</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Taboo&rft.btitle=Dictionary.com&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fbrowse%2Ftaboo&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, p. 3.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, pp. 65, 300.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation encyclopaedia cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/they">"They"</a>. <i>Dictionary.com</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=They&rft.btitle=Dictionary.com&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fbrowse%2Fthey&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFNevinsPesetskyRodrigues2009" class="citation journal cs1">Nevins, Andrew; Pesetsky, David; Rodrigues, Cilene (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110604103305/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~nevins/npr09.pdf">"Pirahã Exceptionality: a Reassessment"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Language</i>. <b>85</b> (2): <span class="nowrap">355–</span>404. <a href="/wiki/CiteSeerX_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="CiteSeerX (identifier)">CiteSeerX</a> <span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.404.9474">10.1.1.404.9474</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1353%2Flan.0.0107">10.1353/lan.0.0107</a>. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Hdl (identifier)">hdl</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1%2F94631">1721.1/94631</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15798043">15798043</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7Enevins/npr09.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 4 June 2011.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Language&rft.atitle=Pirah%C3%A3+Exceptionality%3A+a+Reassessment&rft.volume=85&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E355-%3C%2Fspan%3E404&rft.date=2009&rft_id=info%3Ahdl%2F1721.1%2F94631&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A15798043%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fsummary%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.404.9474%23id-name%3DCiteSeerX&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1353%2Flan.0.0107&rft.aulast=Nevins&rft.aufirst=Andrew&rft.au=Pesetsky%2C+David&rft.au=Rodrigues%2C+Cilene&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.people.fas.harvard.edu%2F%257Enevins%2Fnpr09.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFThomason2005">Thomason 2005</a>, pp. 8–12 in pdf; <a href="#CITEREFAikhenvald1999">Aikhenvald 1999</a>, p. 355.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Superficially, however, the Piraha pronouns don't look much like the Tupi–Guarani pronouns; so this proposal will not be convincing without some additional information about the phonology of Piraha that shows how the phonetic realizations of the Tupi–Guarani forms align with the Piraha phonemic system." <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~thomason/papers/pronborr.pdf">"Pronoun borrowing" Sarah G. Thomason & Daniel L. Everett University of Michigan & University of Manchester</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ltwo-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-ltwo_37-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ltwo_37-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, p. 2.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-bonetwoseven-38"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-bonetwoseven_38-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-bonetwoseven_38-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, p. 127</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-39"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation encyclopaedia cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/devil">"devil"</a>. <i>Dictionary.com</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=devil&rft.btitle=Dictionary.com&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fbrowse%2Fdevil&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-40"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-40">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">In Latin, <span class="nowrap">⟨c⟩</span> represents <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/k/</span>; <i>dingua</i> is an <a href="/wiki/Old_Latin" title="Old Latin">Old Latin</a> form of the word later attested as <i>lingua</i> ("tongue").</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-41"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-41">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, p. 128.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-42"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSag1974">Sag 1974</a>, p. 591; <a href="#CITEREFJanda1989">Janda 1989</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-43"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-43">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The asterisk (*) indicates that the sound is inferred/reconstructed, rather than historically documented or attested</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-44"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-44">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">More accurately, earlier <i>*e</i>, <i>*o</i>, and <i>*a</i> merged as <i>a</i>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-45"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-45">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, pp. 60–61.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-46"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-46">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, pp. 130–131.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-47"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-47">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, p. 136.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-48"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-48">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, p. 26.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-49"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-49">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The table is modified from that in <a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, p. 141.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-50"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-50">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBloomfield1925">Bloomfield 1925</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-51"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-51">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 28; citing <a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1960">Szemerényi 1960</a>, p. 96.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-52"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-52">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell1997">Campbell 1997</a>, p. 113.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-53"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-53">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRedishLewis1998–2009" class="citation web cs1">Redish, Laura; Lewis, Orrin (1998–2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.native-languages.org/famalg_words.htm">"Vocabulary Words in the Algonquian Language Family"</a>. Native Languages of the Americas<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 December</span> 2009</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Vocabulary+Words+in+the+Algonquian+Language+Family&rft.pub=Native+Languages+of+the+Americas&rft.date=1998%2F2009&rft.aulast=Redish&rft.aufirst=Laura&rft.au=Lewis%2C+Orrin&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.native-languages.org%2Ffamalg_words.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-54"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-54">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFGoddard1974">Goddard 1974</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-55"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-55">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTabainGarellekHellwigGregory2022" class="citation journal cs1">Tabain, Marija; Garellek, Marc; Hellwig, Birgit; Gregory, Adele; Beare, Richard (1 March 2022). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.wocn.2022.101138">"Voicing in Qaqet: Prenasalization and language contact"</a>. <i>Journal of Phonetics</i>. <b>91</b>: 101138. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.wocn.2022.101138">10.1016/j.wocn.2022.101138</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0095-4470">0095-4470</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:247211541">247211541</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Phonetics&rft.atitle=Voicing+in+Qaqet%3A+Prenasalization+and+language+contact&rft.volume=91&rft.pages=101138&rft.date=2022-03-01&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A247211541%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.issn=0095-4470&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.wocn.2022.101138&rft.aulast=Tabain&rft.aufirst=Marija&rft.au=Garellek%2C+Marc&rft.au=Hellwig%2C+Birgit&rft.au=Gregory%2C+Adele&rft.au=Beare%2C+Richard&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1016%252Fj.wocn.2022.101138&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-56"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-56">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, p. 124.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-57"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-57">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 143.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-58"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-58">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, pp. 109–113.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-59"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-59">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, pp. 151–152.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-60"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-60">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, pp. 4–5, 7–8.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-61"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-61">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFFox1995">Fox 1995</a>, pp. 141–2.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-62"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-62">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKortlandt2010" class="citation book cs1">Kortlandt, Frederik (2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/697534924"><i>Studies in Germanic, Indo-European and Indo-Uralic</i></a>. Amsterdam: Rodopi. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-420-3136-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-90-420-3136-4"><bdi>978-90-420-3136-4</bdi></a>. <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/697534924">697534924</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Studies+in+Germanic%2C+Indo-European+and+Indo-Uralic&rft.place=Amsterdam&rft.pub=Rodopi&rft.date=2010&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F697534924&rft.isbn=978-90-420-3136-4&rft.aulast=Kortlandt&rft.aufirst=Frederik&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldcat.org%2Foclc%2F697534924&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-63"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-63">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKoerner1999" class="citation book cs1">Koerner, E. F. K. (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/742367480"><i>Linguistic historiography : projects & prospects</i></a>. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-272-8377-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-90-272-8377-1"><bdi>978-90-272-8377-1</bdi></a>. <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/742367480">742367480</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Linguistic+historiography+%3A+projects+%26+prospects&rft.place=Amsterdam&rft.pub=J.+Benjamins&rft.date=1999&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F742367480&rft.isbn=978-90-272-8377-1&rft.aulast=Koerner&rft.aufirst=E.+F.+K.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldcat.org%2Foclc%2F742367480&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-64"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-64">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 23.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-65"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-65">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFAikhenvald2001">Aikhenvald 2001</a>, pp. 2–3.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-66"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-66">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, p. 39.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-67"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-67">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, p. 79.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-68"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-68">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFBeekes1995">Beekes 1995</a>, p. 55; <a href="#CITEREFSzemerényi1996">Szemerényi 1996</a>, p. 3.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-69"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-69">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFHock1991">Hock 1991</a>, pp. 446–447.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEMeillet196613-70"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMeillet196613_70-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFMeillet1966">Meillet 1966</a>, p. 13.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-71"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-71">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, pp. 7–8.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-72"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-72">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The diagram is based on the hierarchical list in <a href="#CITEREFMithun1999">Mithun 1999</a>, pp. 539–540 and on the map in <a href="#CITEREFCampbell1997">Campbell 1997</a>, p. 358.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-73"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-73">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">This diagram is based partly on the one found in Fox 1995:128, and Johannes Schmidt, 1872. <i>Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der indogermanischen Sprachen</i>. Weimar: H. Böhlau</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-74"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-74">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFYoung1855" class="citation cs2 cs1-prop-long-vol">Young, Thomas (1855), "Languages, From the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. V, 1824", in Leitch, John (ed.), <i>Miscellaneous works of the late Thomas Young</i>, vol. III, Hieroglyphical Essays and Correspondence, &c., London: John Murray, p. 480</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Languages%2C+From+the+Supplement+to+the+Encyclop%C3%A6dia+Britannica%2C+vol.+V%2C+1824&rft.btitle=Miscellaneous+works+of+the+late+Thomas+Young&rft.place=London&rft.pages=480&rft.pub=John+Murray&rft.date=1855&rft.aulast=Young&rft.aufirst=Thomas&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-75"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-75">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFAikhenvald1999">Aikhenvald 1999</a>, p. 354; <a href="#CITEREFLadefoged2003">Ladefoged 2003</a>, p. 14.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-76"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-76">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, pp. 146–147</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-77"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-77">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFFox1995">Fox 1995</a>, p. 129</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-78"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-78">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFHock1991">Hock 1991</a>, p. 454.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-79"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-79">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFKylstra1996">Kylstra 1996</a>, p. 62 for KAUNIS, p. 122 for KUNINGAS.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-80"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-80">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#linkage">François 2014</a>, <a href="#kf">Kalyan & François 2018</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-81"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-81">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFCampbell2004">Campbell 2004</a>, p. 201; <a href="#CITEREFLyovin1997">Lyovin 1997</a>, p. 8.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=29" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin" style=""> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAikhenvald1999" class="citation cs2"><a href="/wiki/Alexandra_Aikhenvald" title="Alexandra Aikhenvald">Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.</a>; Dixon, R. M. W. (1999), "Other small families and isolates", in Dixon, R. M. W.; Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (eds.), <i>The Amazonian Languages</i>, Cambridge University Press, pp. <span class="nowrap">341–</span>384, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-57021-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-57021-3"><bdi>978-0-521-57021-3</bdi></a></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Other+small+families+and+isolates&rft.btitle=The+Amazonian+Languages&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E341-%3C%2Fspan%3E384&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=978-0-521-57021-3&rft.aulast=Aikhenvald&rft.aufirst=Alexandra+Y.&rft.au=Dixon%2C+R.+M.+W.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span>.</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAikhenvald2001" class="citation cs2"><a href="/wiki/Alexandra_Aikhenvald" title="Alexandra Aikhenvald">Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.</a>; Dixon, R. M. W. (2001), "Introduction", in Dixon, R. M. W.; Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (eds.), <i>Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics</i>, Oxford Linguistics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. <span class="nowrap">1–</span>22</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Introduction&rft.btitle=Areal+Diffusion+and+Genetic+Inheritance%3A+Problems+in+Comparative+Linguistics&rft.place=Oxford&rft.series=Oxford+Linguistics&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1-%3C%2Fspan%3E22&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=2001&rft.aulast=Aikhenvald&rft.aufirst=Alexandra+Y.&rft.au=Dixon%2C+R.+M.+W.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span>.</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBeekes1995" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Robert_Beekes" class="mw-redirect" title="Robert Beekes">Beekes, Robert S. P.</a> (1995). <i>Comparative Indo-European Linguistics</i>. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Comparative+Indo-European+Linguistics&rft.place=Amsterdam&rft.pub=John+Benjamins&rft.date=1995&rft.aulast=Beekes&rft.aufirst=Robert+S.+P.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBloomfield1925" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="/wiki/Leonard_Bloomfield" title="Leonard Bloomfield">Bloomfield, Leonard</a> (December 1925). "On the Sound-System of Central Algonquian". <i>Language</i>. <b>1</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">130–</span>56. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F409540">10.2307/409540</a>. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/409540">409540</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Language&rft.atitle=On+the+Sound-System+of+Central+Algonquian&rft.volume=1&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E130-%3C%2Fspan%3E56&rft.date=1925-12&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.2307%2F409540&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F409540%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Bloomfield&rft.aufirst=Leonard&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCampbell2000" class="citation book cs1">Campbell, George L. (2000). <i>Compendium of the World's Languages</i> (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Compendium+of+the+World%27s+Languages&rft.place=London&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2000&rft.aulast=Campbell&rft.aufirst=George+L.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCampbell1997" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Lyle_Campbell" title="Lyle Campbell">Campbell, Lyle</a> (1997). <i>American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America</i>. New York: Oxford University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=American+Indian+Languages%3A+The+Historical+Linguistics+of+Native+America&rft.place=New+York&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1997&rft.aulast=Campbell&rft.aufirst=Lyle&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCampbell2004" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Lyle_Campbell" title="Lyle Campbell">Campbell, Lyle</a> (2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EjXrrOJhex8C"><i>Historical Linguistics: An Introduction</i></a> (2nd ed.). Cambridge: The MIT Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-262-53267-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-262-53267-9"><bdi>978-0-262-53267-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Historical+Linguistics%3A+An+Introduction&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=The+MIT+Press&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=978-0-262-53267-9&rft.aulast=Campbell&rft.aufirst=Lyle&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DEjXrrOJhex8C&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFChurchward1959" class="citation book cs1">Churchward, C. Maxwell (1959). <i>Tongan Dictionary</i>. Tonga: Government Printing Office.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Tongan+Dictionary&rft.place=Tonga&rft.pub=Government+Printing+Office&rft.date=1959&rft.aulast=Churchward&rft.aufirst=C.+Maxwell&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCrowley1992" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Terry_Crowley_(linguist)" title="Terry Crowley (linguist)">Crowley, Terry</a> (1992). <i>An Introduction to Historical Linguistics</i> (2nd ed.). Auckland: Oxford University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=An+Introduction+to+Historical+Linguistics&rft.place=Auckland&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1992&rft.aulast=Crowley&rft.aufirst=Terry&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFFox1995" class="citation book cs1">Fox, Anthony (1995). <i>Linguistic Reconstruction: An Introduction to Theory and Method</i>. New York: Oxford University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Linguistic+Reconstruction%3A+An+Introduction+to+Theory+and+Method&rft.place=New+York&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1995&rft.aulast=Fox&rft.aufirst=Anthony&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="linkage" class="citation cs2"><a href="/wiki/Alexandre_Fran%C3%A7ois_(linguist)" class="mw-redirect" title="Alexandre François (linguist)">François, Alexandre</a> (2014), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00874726">"Trees, Waves and Linkages: Models of Language Diversification"</a>, in Bowern, Claire; Evans, Bethwyn (eds.), <i>The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics</i>, London: Routledge, pp. <span class="nowrap">161–</span>189, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-41552-789-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-41552-789-7"><bdi>978-0-41552-789-7</bdi></a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140904135442/http://alex.francois.free.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2014_HHL_Trees-waves-linkages_Diversification.pdf">archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 4 September 2014</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Trees%2C+Waves+and+Linkages%3A+Models+of+Language+Diversification&rft.btitle=The+Routledge+Handbook+of+Historical+Linguistics&rft.place=London&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E161-%3C%2Fspan%3E189&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2014&rft.isbn=978-0-41552-789-7&rft.aulast=Fran%C3%A7ois&rft.aufirst=Alexandre&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fshs.hal.science%2Fhalshs-00874726&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGoddard1974" class="citation journal cs1">Goddard, Ives (1974). 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(2005). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~thomason/papers/pronborr.html">"Pronoun Borrowing"</a>. <i>Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society</i>. <b>27</b>: 301 ff. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.3765%2Fbls.v27i1.1107">10.3765/bls.v27i1.1107</a></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Proceedings+of+the+Annual+Meeting+of+the+Berkeley+Linguistics+Society&rft.atitle=Pronoun+Borrowing&rft.volume=27&rft.pages=301+ff&rft.date=2005&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.3765%2Fbls.v27i1.1107&rft.aulast=Thomason&rft.aufirst=Sarah+G.&rft.au=Everett%2C+Daniel+L.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww-personal.umich.edu%2F~thomason%2Fpapers%2Fpronborr.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTrask1996" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Larry_Trask" title="Larry Trask">Trask, R. L.</a> (1996). <i>Historical Linguistics</i>. New York: Oxford University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Historical+Linguistics&rft.place=New+York&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1996&rft.aulast=Trask&rft.aufirst=R.+L.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFZuckermann2009" class="citation journal cs1">Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf">"Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Journal of Language Contact – Varia</i>. <b>2</b> (2): <span class="nowrap">40–</span>67. <a href="/wiki/CiteSeerX_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="CiteSeerX (identifier)">CiteSeerX</a> <span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.693.7117">10.1.1.693.7117</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1163%2F000000009792497788">10.1163/000000009792497788</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080509182147/http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 9 May 2008.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Language+Contact+%E2%80%93+Varia&rft.atitle=Hybridity+versus+Revivability%3A+Multiple+Causation%2C+Forms+and+Patterns&rft.volume=2&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E40-%3C%2Fspan%3E67&rft.date=2009&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fsummary%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.693.7117%23id-name%3DCiteSeerX&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1163%2F000000009792497788&rft.aulast=Zuckermann&rft.aufirst=Ghil%27ad&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zuckermann.org%2Fpdf%2FHybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Comparative_method&action=edit&section=30" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHubbard" class="citation web cs1">Hubbard, Kathleen. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091005102329/http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/PIE.html">"Everything you ever wanted to know about Proto-Indo-European (and the comparative method), but were afraid to ask!"</a>. University of Texas Department of Classics. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/PIE.html">the original</a> on 5 October 2009<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">22 December</span> 2009</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Everything+you+ever+wanted+to+know+about+Proto-Indo-European+%28and+the+comparative+method%29%2C+but+were+afraid+to+ask%21&rft.pub=University+of+Texas+Department+of+Classics&rft.aulast=Hubbard&rft.aufirst=Kathleen&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.utexas.edu%2Fdepts%2Fclassics%2Fdocuments%2FPIE.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGordon" class="citation web cs1">Gordon, Matthew. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081217060402/http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/gordon/115/115week3.pdf">"Week 3:Comparative method and linguistic reconstruction"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. Department of Linguistics, University of California, Santa Barbara. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/gordon/115/115week3.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 17 December 2008<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">22 December</span> 2009</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Week+3%3AComparative+method+and+linguistic+reconstruction&rft.pub=Department+of+Linguistics%2C+University+of+California%2C+Santa+Barbara&rft.aulast=Gordon&rft.aufirst=Matthew&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.linguistics.ucsb.edu%2Ffaculty%2Fgordon%2F115%2F115week3.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AComparative+method" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl 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.navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Long-range_comparative_linguistics354" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" 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href="/wiki/Template_talk:Long-range_comparative_linguistics" title="Template talk:Long-range comparative linguistics"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Long-range_comparative_linguistics" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Long-range comparative linguistics"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Long-range_comparative_linguistics354" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em">Long-range <a href="/wiki/Comparative_linguistics" title="Comparative linguistics">comparative linguistics</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Comparative method</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Etymological_dictionary" title="Etymological dictionary">Etymological dictionary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Glottochronology" title="Glottochronology">Glottochronology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lexicostatistics" title="Lexicostatistics">Lexicostatistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linguistic_reconstruction" title="Linguistic reconstruction">Linguistic reconstruction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Internal_reconstruction" title="Internal reconstruction">Internal reconstruction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linguistic_universal" title="Linguistic universal">Linguistic universal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Macrofamily" title="Macrofamily">Macrofamily</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mass_comparison" title="Mass comparison">Mass comparison</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Origin_of_language" title="Origin of language">Origin of language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paleolinguistics" title="Paleolinguistics">Paleolinguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">Proto-language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swadesh_list" title="Swadesh list">Swadesh list</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dolgopolsky_list" title="Dolgopolsky list">Dolgopolsky list</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leipzig%E2%80%93Jakarta_list" title="Leipzig–Jakarta list">Leipzig–Jakarta list</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Language families</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Proto-human_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-human language">Proto-human</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Borean_languages" title="Borean languages">Borean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Amerind_languages" title="Amerind languages">Amerind</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nostratic_languages" title="Nostratic languages">Nostratic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Elamo-Dravidian_languages" title="Elamo-Dravidian languages">Elamo-Dravidian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eurasiatic_languages" title="Eurasiatic languages">Eurasiatic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Altaic_languages" title="Altaic languages">Altaic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ural-Altaic_languages" title="Ural-Altaic languages">Ural-Altaic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indo-Uralic_languages" title="Indo-Uralic languages">Indo-Uralic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sino-Uralic_languages" title="Sino-Uralic languages">Sino-Uralic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Den%C3%A9%E2%80%93Caucasian_languages" title="Dené–Caucasian languages">Dené–Caucasian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/North_Caucasian_languages" title="North Caucasian languages">North Caucasian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Austric_languages" title="Austric languages">Austric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indo-Pacific_languages" title="Indo-Pacific languages">Indo-Pacific</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Linguists</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/John_Bengtson" title="John Bengtson">John Bengtson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Bla%C5%BEek" title="Václav Blažek">Václav Blažek</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Allan_R._Bomhard" title="Allan R. Bomhard">Allan R. Bomhard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Svetlana_Burlak" title="Svetlana Burlak">Svetlana Burlak</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aharon_Dolgopolsky" title="Aharon Dolgopolsky">Aharon Dolgopolsky</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vladimir_Dybo" title="Vladimir Dybo">Vladimir Dybo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Harold_C._Fleming" title="Harold C. Fleming">Harold C. Fleming</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joseph_Greenberg" title="Joseph Greenberg">Joseph Greenberg</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eugene_Helimski" title="Eugene Helimski">Eugene Helimski</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann" title="Murray Gell-Mann">Murray Gell-Mann</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vladislav_Illich-Svitych" title="Vladislav Illich-Svitych">Vladislav Illich-Svitych</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frederik_Kortlandt" title="Frederik Kortlandt">Frederik Kortlandt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alexis_Manaster_Ramer" title="Alexis Manaster Ramer">Alexis Manaster Ramer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sergei_Nikolaev_(linguist)" title="Sergei Nikolaev (linguist)">Sergei Nikolaev</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sorin_Paliga" title="Sorin Paliga">Sorin Paliga</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Holger_Pedersen_(linguist)" title="Holger Pedersen (linguist)">Holger Pedersen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ilia_Peiros" title="Ilia Peiros">Ilia Peiros</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martine_Robbeets" title="Martine Robbeets">Martine Robbeets</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Merritt_Ruhlen" title="Merritt Ruhlen">Merritt Ruhlen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vitaly_Shevoroshkin" title="Vitaly Shevoroshkin">Vitaly Shevoroshkin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georgiy_Starostin" title="Georgiy Starostin">Georgiy Starostin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sergei_Starostin" title="Sergei Starostin">Sergei Starostin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alfredo_Trombetti" title="Alfredo Trombetti">Alfredo Trombetti</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Journals</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Journal_of_Language_Relationship" title="Journal of Language Relationship">Journal of Language Relationship</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Mother_Tongue_(journal)" title="Mother Tongue (journal)">Mother Tongue</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Books</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Etymological_Dictionary_of_the_Altaic_Languages" title="Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages">Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Languages_of_Africa" title="The Languages of Africa">The Languages of Africa</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Institutions and schools</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Evolution_of_Human_Languages" title="Evolution of Human Languages">Evolution of Human Languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Institute_of_Linguistics_of_the_Russian_Academy_of_Sciences" title="Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences">Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moscow_School_of_Comparative_Linguistics" title="Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics">Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russian_State_University_for_the_Humanities" title="Russian State University for the Humanities">Russian State University for the Humanities</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Santa_Fe_Institute" title="Santa Fe Institute">Santa Fe Institute</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Symbol_portal_class.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Portal"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/16px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/23px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png 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