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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Exceptionless sound change [was: Re: Sun Language Theory?
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References: <5a7qak$8fc@nyheter.chalmers.se> <5b5s3r$86c_003@dialin.csus.edu> <E3v0II.2wy@midway.uchicago.edu> <5b8i4l$86c_004@dialin.csus.edu>
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 19:42:18 GMT
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In article <5b8i4l$86c_004@dialin.csus.edu>,
Paul Kekai Manansala <pmanansala@csus.edu> wrote:
>In article <E3v0II.2wy@midway.uchicago.edu>,
>   deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff) wrote:
>>In article <5b5s3r$86c_003@dialin.csus.edu>,
>>Paul Kekai Manansala <pmanansala@csus.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>Most languages I have studied do not have "exceptionless" sound changes.
>>>There are always at least a few exceptions to every sound change that have
>>>to be subjectively explained away.
>>
>>There are always exceptions, but the point of having "exceptionless sound
>>changes" as the goal is that these should be very, very few in number.
>>Generally, it can be shown that most of the so-called "exceptions" are
>>actually borrowings from a closely-related dialect where different
>>"exceptionless" changes apply.  
>
>In some language groups that may be true, especially when there are historical
>sources for these languages.  
[rest deleted]

	What do you mean by the term "historical sources"?  If you are
referring to texts, I fail to see how these influence borrowing to any
great degree before the advent of widespread literacy.  What historical
texts *can* do is make it easier to trace the borrowings, by demonstrating
approximately where and when the changes took place and where and when
words affected by these changes were borrowed by other dialects.

	I think this rule is true of all language groups.  Certainly, it
is one of things that has made comparative reconstruction of the
putative Altaic family so difficult: most of the languages involved
(Mongolic, Turkic, Tungusic, Korean, and Japanese) have been in close
contact for millenia and borrowed extensively from each other over time.
The further one tries to go back, the harder it is to distinguish true
common roots from ancient borrowings. 
-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
