volume:
6 (2004)
pages:
111–120
author:
László Kristó
title:
Linguistic reconstruction: methods vs. interpretations
abstract:
This paper investigates the central methods of linguistic reconstruction, i.e., Comparative Reconstruction (CR) and Internal Reconstruction (IR), and the theoretical models associated with them. Both will be considered in the light of their alleged theoretical background. I come to the conclusion that this distinction is irrelevant for the method itself, because Neogrammarians and Structuralists differ not so much in the method but in the interpretation of the results of reconstruction; the difference follows from the different theoretical models of phonological change. I point out, furthermore, that CR still remains the central (possibly only) really historical and exact method of reconstruction.
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