I'd love to know just how one 'reconstructs' spoken language. Even if you know what the modern forms are, and some of the preceding forms, anything before recording of the spoken word is less then reliable at best, and pure conjecture at worst.
I've seen debates about whether the Northern or Southern American English accents were closer to the British English of the time, but we think we can reconstruct language from 6000 years ago? Color me skeptical.
I'd love to know just how one 'reconstructs' spoken language. Even if you know what the modern forms are, and some of the preceding forms, anything before recording of the spoken word is less then reliable at best, and pure conjecture at worst.
ReplyDeleteI've seen debates about whether the Northern or Southern American English accents were closer to the British English of the time, but we think we can reconstruct language from 6000 years ago? Color me skeptical.