Re: Altaic languages

Brian W Sago (sago0001@maroon.tc.umn.edu)
Mon, 20 Nov 1995 09:13:01 -0600


On Fri, 17 Nov 1995 nat-lang@GNOSYS.SVLE.MA.US wrote:

drechsel@hawaii.edu (Emanuel Drechsel) writes:

> During the past few weeks, I have come to find as increasingly bothersome
> the recent discussions on single transglobal lexical similarities out of
> their linguistic and sociohistorical contexts under the heading of Altaic
> languages...
>
> I understand this to be a monitored site, and move that the current
> discussion on Altaic languages be closed....

> Comments from NativeNet listowner, Gary Trujillo (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us):
>
> I'd be interested in hearing from subscribers to this list concerning
> whether you feel this discussion should continue...

I am in agreement with Emanuel Drechsel, this particular conversation
should be closed. I am not a degreed linguist, but aspire toward
such. Nothing I have learned points to a proto-language for every
language in the world, so I see the comparison of isolated word pairs
completely removed from context to be pointless.

Regarding monitoring the site, I imagine no one person would be able to
perfectly sift through the diversity of topics and languages addressed
here. I would suggest that the person acting as monitor use their best
judgement, and that the monitor be responsive to comments from the
list-subscribers when they respond as Drechsel did above.

Brian Sago