The Comparative Method: Simplicity + Power = Results

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##

Published 13-12-2016
Brian D. Joseph

Abstract

Since its introduction to the methodological tools available to historical linguists, the Comparative Method (CM) has proven to be one of the most powerful and enduring methods used, despite its apparent simplicity. In this paper, the bases for the CM are explored and, by way of demonstrating its utility and power, illustrative examples are provided of its application at all levels of linguistic analysis and of its extension even into cultural spheres.

Abstract 447 | PDF Downloads 447

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

References
Charles-Edwards, Th., and F. Kelly, 1983, Bechbretha (Early Irish Law Series Volume 1), Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Fowler, M., 1957, «The Historical-Comparative Method», The Classical Journal 52.6, 259-264.

Fox, L., 1989, Kanuni I Lekë Dukagjinit. The Code of Lek Dukagjinit. Albanian text collected and arranged by Shtjefën Gjeçov. Translated, with an Introduction, by Leonard Fox, New York: Gjonlekaj Publishing Co.

Heine, B., and T. Kuteva, 2002, World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hock, H. H., and B. D. Joseph, 1996/2009, Language Change, Language History, and Language Relationship. An Introduction to Historical Linguistics, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter (1st ed. 1996; 2nd ed. 2009).

Joseph, B. D., 2000, «What gives with es gibt ? Typological and comparative perspectives on existentials in German, in Germanic, and in Indo-European», Studies in Memory of Edgar C. Polomé. American Journal of Germanic Linguistics and Literatures 12.2, 187-200.

Joseph, B. D., 2001, «Historical Linguistics», in M. Aronoff & J. Rees-Miller (eds.), Handbook of Linguistics, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 105-129.

Joseph, B. D., 2004, «Rescuing Traditional (Historical) Linguistics from Grammaticalization "Theory"», O. Fischer, M. Norde, & H. Perridon (eds.), Up and Down the Cline - The Nature of Grammaticalization, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 44-71.

Joseph, B. D., 2011, «Comparative Perspectives on Early Irish Bee Law», Paper presented at annual meeting of Celtic Studies Association of North America, The Ohio State University, 20 May 2011.

Joseph, B. D., 2016, «Comparative Perspectives on Bee Law in Indo-European». Paper presented at 35th meeting of the East Coast Indo-European Conference (ECIEC 35), University of Georgia, 6 June 2016.

Kuhn, A., 1853, «Ueber die durch nasale erweiterte verbalstämme», Zeitschrift fur Vergleichende Sprachforschung 2, 455-471.

von Schlegel, F., 1808, Über die Sprache und die Weisheit der Indier, Heidelberg: Mohr und Zimmer (reprinted in a new edition, 1977, by John Benjamins, Amsterdam).

Watkins, C. W., 1970, «Studies in Indo-European legal language, institutions, and mythology», in G. Cardona, H. Hoenigswald and A. Senn (eds.), Indo-European and Indo-Europeans, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 321-354.

Watkins, C. W., 1995, How to Kill a Dragon. Aspects of Indo-European Poetics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Watkins, C. W., 2000, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Winford, D., 2003, Introduction to Contact Linguistics, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Section
Dossier monográfico: Franz Bopp and his Comparative Grammar model (1816-2016)