Nostratic: Sifting the Evidence (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science, Series IV: Current Issues in Linguistic Theory)

The “Nostratic” hypothesis — positing a common linguistic ancestor for a wide range of language families including Indo-European, Uralic, and Afro-Asiatic — has produced one of the most enduring and often intense controversies in linguistics. Overwhelmingly, though, both supporters of the hypothesis and those who reject it have not dealt directly with one another’s arguments. This volume brings together selected representatives of both sides, as well as a number of agnostic historical linguists, with the aim of examining the evidence for this particular hypothesis in the context of distant genetic relationships generally. The volume contains discussion of variants of the Nostratic hypothesis (A. Bomhard; J. Greenberg; A. Manaster-Ramer, K. Baertsch, K. Adams, & P. Michalove), the mathematics of chance in determining the relationships posited for Nostratic (R. Oswalt; D. Ringe), and the evidence from particular branches posited in Nostratic (L. Campbell; C. Hodge; A. Vovin), with responses and additional discussion by E. Hamp, B. Vine, W. Baxter and B. Comrie. Introduction / Joseph C. Salmons And Brian D. Joseph -- Some Draft Principles For Classification / Eric P. Hamp -- Nostratic, Eurasiatic, And Indo-european / Allan R. Bomhard -- Convergence Of Eurasiatic Andnostratic / Joseph H. Greenberg -- Exploring The Nostratic Hypothesis / Alexis Manaster Ramer, Peter A. Michalove, Karen S. Baertsch And Karen L. Adams -- Indo-european And Nostratic: Some Further Comments / Brent Vine -- Nostratic: A Personal Assessment / Lyle Campbell -- Probabilistic Evaluation Of Indo-uralic / Don Ringe. Probabilistic Evaluation Of North Eurasiatic Nostratic / Robert L. Oswalt -- Response To Oswalt And Ringe / William H. Baxter -- Implications Of Lislakh For Nostratic / Carleton T. Hodge -- Nostratic And Altaic / Alexander Vovin -- Regular Sound Correspondences And Long-distance Genetic Comparison / Bernard Comrie. Edited By Joseph C. Salmons, Brian D. Joseph. Based On Papers Presented At The 2nd Workshop On Comparative Linguistics Which Was Held At Eastern Michigan University, Fall 1993. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. This text brings together representatives of both sides in the controversy surrounding the nostratic hypothesis in linguistics. Topics discussed include the mathematics of chance in determining the relationships posited for nostratic; and the evidence from particular branches posited in nostratic.