Theory of Mass Comparison
Mass comparison involves setting up a table of basic vocabulary items and their forms in the languages to be compared. The table can also include common morphemes. The following table was used by Greenberg (1957, p. 41) to illustrate the technique. It shows the forms of six items of basic vocabulary in nine different languages, identified by letters.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Head | kar | kar | se | kal | tu | tu | to | fi | pi |
Eye | min | ku | min | miŋ | min | aš | min | idi | iri |
Nose | tor | tör | ni | tol | was | waš | was | ik | am |
One | mit | kan | kan | kaŋ | ha | kan | kεn | he | čak |
Two | ni | ta | ne | kil | ne | ni | ne | gum | gun |
Blood | kur | sem | sem | šam | i | sem | sem | fik | pix |
The basic relationships can be determined without any experience in the case of languages that are fairly closely related. Knowing a bit about probable paths of sound change allows one to go farther faster. An experienced typologist — Greenberg was a pioneer in the field — can quickly recognize or reject several potential cognates in this table as probable or improbable. For example, the path p > f is extremely frequent, the path f > p much less so, enabling one to hypothesize that fi : pi and fik : pix are indeed related and go back to protoforms *pi and *pik/x, while knowledge that k > x is extremely frequent, x > k much less so enables one to choose *pik over *pix. Thus, while mass comparison does not attempt to produce reconstructions of protolanguages — according to Greenberg (2005:318) these belong to a later phase of study — phonological considerations come into play from the very beginning.
The tables used in actual research involve much larger numbers of items and languages. The items included may be either lexical, such as 'hand', 'sky', and 'go', or morphological, such as PLURAL and MASCULINE (Ruhlen 1987, p. 120).
Read more about this topic: Mass Comparison
Famous quotes containing the words theory of, theory, mass and/or comparison:
“We commonly say that the rich man can speak the truth, can afford honesty, can afford independence of opinion and action;and that is the theory of nobility. But it is the rich man in a true sense, that is to say, not the man of large income and large expenditure, but solely the man whose outlay is less than his income and is steadily kept so.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“We commonly say that the rich man can speak the truth, can afford honesty, can afford independence of opinion and action;and that is the theory of nobility. But it is the rich man in a true sense, that is to say, not the man of large income and large expenditure, but solely the man whose outlay is less than his income and is steadily kept so.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“What will happen once the authentic mass man takes over, we do not know yet, although it may be a fair guess that he will have more in common with the meticulous, calculated correctness of Himmler than with the hysterical fanaticism of Hitler, will more resemble the stubborn dullness of Molotov than the sensual vindictive cruelty of Stalin.”
—Hannah Arendt (19061975)
“When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed.”
—David Hume (17111776)