Comments on methodology and evidence in Sino-Tibetan comparative linguistics
This paper presents epistemological and methodological problems found in work on the subgrouping of Sino-Tibetan languages and the reconstruction of features of the languages. A key problem is the lack of an accepted standard for judging this work, one that can stand up to statistical evaluation. An...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2014
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/96242 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/20451 http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/v7-1-3.asp.htm |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | This paper presents epistemological and methodological problems found in work on the subgrouping of Sino-Tibetan languages and the reconstruction of features of the languages. A key problem is the lack of an accepted standard for judging this work, one that can stand up to statistical evaluation. An alternative methodology that involves using fixed sets of features to give us the statistical probability of common origin is suggested. |
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