Merritt Ruhlen 1405090 221455896 2008-06-24T16:01:07Z 213.60.60.73 /* External links */ '''Merritt Ruhlen''' (pronounced {{IPA|/ˈmɛɹɪt ˈɹuːlən/}}), born in [[1944]],<ref>[http://authorities.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?AuthRecID=3413605&v1=1&HC=1&SEQ=20070903193915&PID=8309 Library of Congress authorities database], accessed [[September 3]], [[2007]]</ref> is an American [[linguistics|linguist]] known for his work on the classification of languages and what this reveals about the origin and evolution of modern humans. Some of his ideas are considered controversial. ==Biography== Ruhlen received his Ph.D. from [[Stanford University]] in 1973 with a dissertation on the [[Generative linguistics|generative]] analysis of [[Romanian language|Romanian]] [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], after earlier work at [[Rice University]], the [[University of Paris]], the [[University of Illinois system|University of Illinois]] and the [[University of Bucharest]]. He subsequently worked for several years as a research assistant on the Stanford Universals Project directed by [[Joseph Greenberg]] and [[Charles A. Ferguson|Charles Ferguson]]. Since 1994 he has been a lecturer in Anthropological Sciences and Human Biology at Stanford and co-director, with [[Murray Gell-Mann]] and [[Sergei Starostin]], of the Santa Fe Institute Program on the Evolution of Human Languages. He has also been a visiting professor at the [[City University of Hong Kong]]. Ruhlen knew and worked with Joseph Greenberg for three and a half decades and has become his mentor's most fervent and prolific disciple. ==Work== Ruhlen is the author of several books dealing with the languages of the world and their classification: ===A Guide to the Languages of the World=== ''A Guide to the Languages of the World'' provides information on the [[Phonology|phonological]] systems and classifications of 700 languages, prefaced by background information for linguists as well as non-linguists.<ref name="ruhl75">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | title = A Guide to the Languages of the World | place = [[Stanford]] | year = 1975 | date = 1975 | id = OCLC: 1940981}}</ref> A greatly expanded version of this work was published in 2005 on the Santa Fe Institute web site. ===A Guide to the World’s Languages=== In 1987 Ruhlen published ''A Guide to the World’s Languages. Volume I, Classification'', which includes a complete [[classification]] of the world’s languages as well as a history and complete analysis of the genetic classification of languages.<ref name="ruhl87b">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | title = A Guide to the World’s Languages, Vol. 1: Classification | place = [[Stanford]] | publisher = [[Stanford University Press]] | date = 1987 | year = 1987 | ISBN = 0804712506}}</ref> In addition to the factual information in this book Ruhlen provides a thorough examination, and defense, of the controversial [[Taxonomy|taxonomic]] work of Joseph Greenberg. ===On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy=== In 1994 Ruhlen published two books with similar titles. ''On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy'' is aimed at a scholarly audience and claims that some of the assumptions current among [[Historical linguistics|historical linguists]] are incorrect.<ref name="ruhl94b">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | title = On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy | place = [[Stanford]] | publisher = [[Stanford University Press]] | date = 1994 | year = 1994 | ISBN = 0804723214}}</ref> Among these, Ruhlen argues, is the notion that only the discovery of regular sound correspondences and the reconstruction of its [[protolanguage]] can be considered convincing evidence for the existence of a language family – these latter steps can, according to him, only be carried out after the existence of a language family has been discovered by classification. ===The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue=== Ruhlen’s other book published in 1994, ''The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue'', explores many of the same topics, but with a more general, non-technical, audience in mind.<ref name="ruhl94a">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | title = The Origin of Language: tracing the evolution of the mother tongue | place = [[New York]] | publisher = [[John Wiley & Sons]] | date = 1994a | year = 1994 | ISBN = 0471584266}}</ref> This book includes exercises in which the readers are invited to classify languages themselves using the technique of mass comparison, better described as '''[[Mass lexical comparison|multilateral comparison]]'''. ==Major Interests== ===Multidisciplinary Approach=== Ruhlen has been in the forefront of attempts to coordinate the results of [[historical linguistics]] and other human sciences, such as [[genetics]] and [[archaeology]].<ref name="chen95">{{citation | last1 = CHEN | first1 = Jiangtian | last2 = SOKAL | first2 = Robert R. | author2-link = Sokal (disambiguation) | last3 = RUHLEN | first3 = Merritt | author3-link = Merritt Ruhlen | title = Worldwide Analysis of Genetic and Linguistic Relationships of Human Populations | journal = Human Biology | volume = 67 | number = 4 | pages = 595–612 | date = 1995 | year = 1995 | publisher = [[Wayne State University Press]] | id = ISSN: 0018-7143}}</ref><ref name="ruhl95f">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | title = Worldwide Analysis of Genetic and Linguistic Relationships of Human Populations | journal = Cambridge Archaeological Journal | volume = 5 | pages = 265–68 | date = 1995 | year = 1995 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref><ref name="knig2003">{{citation | last1 = KNIGHT | first1 = Alec | last2 = UNDERHILL | first2 = Peter A. | last3 = MORTENSEN | first3 = Holly M. | last4 = ZHIVOTOVSKY | first4 = Lev A. | last5 = LIN | first5 = Alice A. | last6 = HENN | first6 = Brenna M. | last7 = LOUIS | first7 = Dorothy | last8 = RUHLEN | first8 = Merritt | author8-link = Merritt Ruhlen | last9 = MOUNTAIN | first9 = Johanna L. | title = African Y-chromosome and mtDNA Divergence Provides Insight into the History of Click Languages | journal = Current Biology | volume = 13 | issue = 6 | pages = 464–473 | date = [[2003-04-18]] | publisher = [[Elsevier|Cell Press]] | url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6VRT-4861XN1-K-8&_cdi=6243&_user=10&_orig=browse&_coverDate=03%2F18%2F2003&_sk=999869993&view=c&wchp=dGLzVzz-zSkWW&md5=559be7a5588c830070d7629ca512ace3&ie=/sdarticle.pdf | format = [[PDF]] | accessdate = 2007-04-29 | DOI = 10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00130-1 | ISSN = 0960-9822}}</ref> In this endeavor he has extensively worked with the geneticist [[Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza]] for three decades and with the archaeologist [[Colin Renfrew]] for two decades. ===Taxonomic Methods=== {{main|Mass lexical comparison}} Some of the criticism of Ruhlen centers around his defense of Joseph Greenberg's technique of classification, called "mass comparison" or "multilateral comparison", which involves comparing the vocabulary of languages being investigated, examining them for similarities of [[Phonology|sound]] and [[Semantics|meaning]], and formulating a hypothesis of classification. Ruhlen maintains that classification (by means of multilateral comparison) is the first step of the [[comparative method]], and that the other operations of [[historical linguistics]], such as reconstruction of a [[Proto-language|protolanguage]] and the formulation of sound correspondences, can only be carried out after a hypothesis of classification has already been established by the use of multilateral comparison. While, for instance, Hock<ref name="hock86">{{citation | last = HOCK | first = Hans Heinrich | author-link = Hans Hock | title = Principles of Historical Linguistics | place = [[Berlin]]; [[New York City|New York]] | date = 1986 | ISBN = 0899252206 | publisher = [[Mouton de Gruyter]]}}</ref><ref name="hock96">{{citation | last1 = HOCK | first1 = Hans Heinrich | author1-link = Hans Hock | last2 = JOSEPH | first2 = B. D. | title = Language history, language change, and language relationship: An introduction to historical and comparative linguistics | place = [[Berlin]]; [[New York City|New York]] | date = 1996 | year = 1996 | ISBN = 3110147858 | publisher = [[Mouton de Gruyter]]}}</ref> claims that only reconstruction proves genetic affinity, and [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]], [[Uralic languages|Uralic]], [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]], [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]], [[Bantu languages|Bantu]], and [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]] have all been proved by successful reconstructions, Ruhlen disagrees with him, noting:<ref name="ruhl01d">{{citation | editor1-last = TRABANT | editor1-first = Jürgen | editor2-last = WARD | editor2-first = Sean | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | authorlink = Merritt Ruhlen | contribution = Taxonomic Controversies in the Twentieth Century | title = New Essays on the Origin of Language | periodical = Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM] | number = 133 | pages = 197–214 | page = 210 | publisher = [[Mouton de Gruyter]] | date = July 2001 | year = 2001 | ISBN = 978-3-11-017025-2}}</ref> {{cquote|''And yet all of these families were universally accepted as valid families before anyone even thought of trying to reconstruct the protolanguage.''}} As an example, Ruhlen mentions Delbrück, who considered Indo-European to have been proved by the time of Bopp at the beginning of the 19<sup>th</sup> century, and the basis of this proof was the "''juxtaposition of words and forms of similar meaning''."<ref name="delb80">{{citation | last = DELBRÜCK | first = Berthold | authorlink = Berthold Delbrück | title = Einleitung in das Sprachstudium. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Methodik der vergleichenden Sprachforschung | place = Leipzig | publisher = [[Breitkopf & Härtel]] | date = 1880 | year = 1880 | id = OCLC: 3961260}} </ref> Perhaps the strongest evidence supporting Ruhlen can be found in the work of the geneticist [[Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza]], who has studied the genes in human populations throughout the world and constructed a [[phylogenetic tree]], a structure similar in many respects to traditional trees of language families, showing where in the "''tree''" given genetic groups separated.<ref name="cava88">{{citation | last1 = CAVALLI-SFORZA | first1 = Luigi Luca | author1-link = Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza | last2 = PIAZZA | first2 = Alberto | last3 = MENOZZI | first3 = Paolo | last4 = MOUNTAIN | first4 = Joanna | title = Reconstruction of Human Evolution: Bringing Together Genetic, Archeological and Linguistic Data | journal = [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] | volume = 85 | pages = 6002-6006 | publisher = [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] | date = 1988 | year = 1988 | url = http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/85/16/6002?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=cavalli&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT | format = [[PDF]] | access-date = 2007-04-30 | ID = ISSN: 1091-6490}}</ref><ref name="cava00">{{citation | last = CAVALLI-SFORZA | first = Luigi Luca | author-link = Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza | title = Genes, peoples, and languages | place = New York | publisher = [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux#Current imprints|North Point Press]] | date = 2000 | year = 2000 | ISBN = 0865475296}}</ref> The results are widely (though not universally) accepted as matching up remarkably well with Ruhlen's proposed structure of the languages and language families of the world. This has served to convince nonlinguists of the validity of Ruhlen's classifications, yet linguists agree that genetic relatedness cannot be used to adduce linguistic relatedness. This tree has been criticized by some linguists and anthropologists on several grounds: that it makes selective use of languages and populations (omitting the very numerous [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]] speakers of northern China, for example); that it assumes the truth of such linguistic groups as [[Austric languages|Austric]] and [[Amerind languages|Amerind]] that are controversial; and that several of the population groups listed are defined not by their genes but by their languages, making the correlation irrelevant to a comparison of genetic and linguistic branching and [[tautology (rhetoric)|tautological]] as well.<ref name="bate90">{{citation | last1 = BATEMAN| first1 = Richard | last2 = GODDARD | first2 = Ives | last3 = O'GRADY | first3 = Richard | last4 = FUNK | first4 = V. A. | last5 = MOOI | first5 = Rich | last6 = KRESS | first6 = Joh | last7 = CANNELL | first7 = Peter | title = Speaking of Forked Tongues | journal = [[Current Anthropology]] | volume = 31 | issue = 1 | pages = 1-24 | publisher = [[Axel Wenner-Gren|The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research]]; [[The University of Chicago Press]] | date = February 1990 | year = 1990}}</ref><ref name="tras96">{{citation | last = TRASK | first = R. L. | author-link = Larry Trask | title = Historical Linguistics | place = [[London]]; [[New York City|New York]] | publisher = Arnold; [[St. Martin's Press]] | date = 1996 | year = 1996 | ISBN = 0340662956}}</ref> ===The Amerind Macrofamily=== {{main|Amerind languages}} Ruhlen has supported and adduced more evidence for one of Greenberg’s most controversial hypotheses, the [[Amerind languages|Amerind language family]], which would unite all of the languages of North and South America into a single [[superfamily|macrophylum]] except for the two widely accepted families [[Na-Dené languages|Na-Dené]] and [[Eskimo-Aleut languages|Eskimo-Aleut]].<ref name="ruhl94c">{{Citation | contribution = Evolution of Language | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | editor-last = MACEY | editor-first = Sam | title = Encyclopedia of Time | publisher = [[Garland Science]] | place = [[New York City|New York]] | year = 1994 | ISBN = 0815306156}}</ref><ref name="ruhl94d">{{Citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | editor1-last = BONNICHSEN| editor1-first = Robson | editor2-last = STEELE | editor2-first = D. Gentry | title = Method and Theory for Investigating the Peopling of the Americas | contribution = Linguistic Evidence for the Peopling of the Americas | publisher = Center for the Study of the First Americans, [[Oregon State University]] | place = [[Corvallis, Oregon]] | pages = 177–188 | year = 1994 | ISBN = 0912933097}}</ref><ref name="ruhl94e">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | authorlink = Merritt Ruhlen | title = Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose | journal = [[Mother Tongue (journal)|Mother Tongue Newsletter]] | issue = 23 | date = November 1994 | pages = 72-73 | publisher = Association for the Study of Language In Prehistory (ASLIP) | year = 1994 | id = OCLC: 35315526}}</ref><ref name="ruhl94f">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | year = 1994 | title = Review of 'Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time' By Johanna NICHOLS | journal = Anthropos | Publisher = Anthropos Institute | volume = 89 | pages = 640–641 | id = ISSN: 0257-9774}}</ref><ref name="ruhl95a">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | year = 1995 | title = A Note on Amerind Pronouns | journal = [[Mother Tongue (journal)|Mother Tongue Newsletter]] | issue = 24 | pages = 60–61 | publisher = Association for the Study of Language In Prehistory (ASLIP) | date = March 1995 | id = OCLC: 35315526}}</ref><ref name="ruhl95b">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | year = 1995 | title = Proto-Amerind *QETS’ 'Left (Hand)' | journal = [[Mother Tongue (journal)|Mother Tongue Newsletter]] | issue = 24 | pages = 69–70 | publisher = Association for the Study of Language In Prehistory (ASLIP) | date = March 1995 | id = OCLC: 35315526}}</ref><ref name="ruhl95c">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | year = 1995 | contribution = On the Origin of the Amerind Pronominal Pattern | title = In Honor of William S-Y. Wang | editor1-last = Chen | editor1-first = Matthew Y. | editor2-last = Tzeng | editor2-first = Ovid J. L. | place = [[Taipei]] | publisher = Pyramid Press | pages = 405–407 | ISBN = 957926855X}}</ref><ref name="ruhl95d">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | date = January 1995 | year = 1995 | title = Proto-Amerind Numerals | journal = Anthropological Science | place = [[Tokyo]] | number = 3 | volume = 103 | pages = 209–225 | publisher = Anthropological Society of Nippon | id = ISSN: 1348-8570}}</ref><ref name="ruhl2004c">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | year = 2004 | contribution = On the Amerind Origin of the Proto-Algonquian Numeral Suffix *-a:šyeka | title = Traces of ancestry: studies in honour of Colin Renfrew | editor-last = JONES | editor-first = Martin | place = [[Cambridge]] | publisher = [[McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research]] | pages = 139–142 | ISBN = 1902937252}}</ref><ref name="ruhl07">{{Citation | last2 = RUHLEN | first2 = Merritt | author2-link = Merritt Ruhlen | last1 = GREENBERG | first1 = Joseph H. | author1-link = Joseph Greenberg | year = 2007 | title = An Amerind Etymological Dictionary | publisher = Department of Anthropological Sciences, [[Stanford University]] | place = [[Corvallis, Oregon]] | date = [[2007-09-04]] | accessdate = [[2007-10-06]] | version = 12 | format = [[PDF]] | URL = http://jdbengt.net/articles/burush2007.pdf}}</ref> He thus objects to the notion that there are over 200 families among which there is no evidence of genetic affinity,<ref name="camp97">{{citation | last = CAMPBELL | first = Lyle | author-link = Lyle Campbell | year = 1997 | title = American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America | place = [[New York City|New York]] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | ISBN = 058537161X}}</ref> and stresses the importance of the three-way '''''i''''' / '''''u''''' / '''''a''''' (i.e. ''masculine'' / ''feminine'' / ''neutral'') [[ablaut]] in such forms as '''''t'ina''''' / '''''t'una''''' / '''''t'ana''''' (''"son / daughter / child"''), as well as of the typical general American pronominal pattern '''''na''''' / '''''ma''''' (i.e. ''"I / you"''), first noted by [[Alfredo Trombetti]] in 1905. Some linguists have attributed this pronoun pattern to other than genetic causes.<ref name="nich92">{{citation | last = NICHOLS | first = Johanna | author-link = Johanna Nichols | year = 1992 | title = Linguistic diversity in space and time | place = [[Chicago]] | publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]] | ISBN = 0226580563}}</ref> He refers to the earliest beginnings of the dispute,<ref name="ruhl94b" /><ref name="ruhl01d" /> quoting from [[Edward Sapir]]'s personal letter to A. L. Kroeber (1918):<ref name="sapi18">{{citation | last = SAPIR | first = Edward | athor-link = Edward Sapir | title = The Sapir-Kroeber correspondence: letters between Edward Sapir and A. L. Kroeber, 1905-1925 | contribution = Letter to A. L. Kroeber (1918) | year = 1984 | place = [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] | publisher = [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]], [http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/Survey/ Survey of California and Other Indian Languages] | id = OCLC: 17922146}}</ref> {{cquote|''Getting down to brass tacks, how in the Hell are you going to explain general American n- 'I' except genetically? It's disturbing, I know, but (more) non-committal conservatism is only dodging, after all, isn't it? Great simplifications are in store for us.''}} It should be stressed, however, that Greenberg and Ruhlen's views on the languages of the Americas have failed to find acceptance among the vast majority of linguists working with these languages. ===Kusunda as an Indo-Pacific language=== {{update}} {{main|Kusunda language|Indo-Pacific languages}} Ruhlen participated in research on the Kusunda language of [[Nepal]].<ref name="ehl04">{{cite web | last = STAROSTIN | first = Sergei A. | authorlink = Sergei Starostin | title = Merritt Ruhlen | publisher = [[Santa Fe Institute]] | date = 2004-07-13 | url = http://ehl.santafe.edu/ruhlen.htm | accessdate = 2007-05-02}}</ref><ref name="ruhl04b">{{citation | title = Kusunda: an Indo-Pacific Language in Nepal | last1 = WHITEHOUSE| first1 = Paul | last2 = USHER| first2 = Timothy | last3 = RUHLEN| first3 = Merritt | author3-link = Merritt Ruhlen | last4 = WANG| first4 = William S.-Y. | journal = [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] | publisher = [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] | volume = 101 | number = 15 | pages = 5692–5695 | date = [[2004-04-13]] | year = 2004 | url = http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/101/15/5692 | format = [[PDF]] | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0400233101 | id = ISSN: 0027-8424}}</ref> The results seem to indicate that Kusunda is a member of the tentative [[Indo-Pacific]] superfamily<ref name="gree71">{{citation | last = GREENBERG | first = Joseph Harold | author-link = Joseph Greenberg | title = Regional linguistic notebooks, Pacific languages, ca. 1969-1971 | year = 1971 | id = OCLC: 122369578}}</ref> rather than a [[Tibeto-Burman]] language, as has often been erroneously maintained.<ref name="watt05">{{citation | last = WATTERS | first = David | year = 2006 | title = Notes on Kusunda Grammar: A language isolate of Nepal | journal = Himalayan Linguistics Archive | number = 3 | pages = 1-182: pp. 9,10,15,33 | url = http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/HimalayanLinguistics/grammars/2006/HLA03_Watters.pdf | format = [[PDF]] | accessdate = 2007-05-02}}</ref> The main pieces of evidence, features typical of other Indo-Pacific languages, consist in: :(a) an independent first-person pronoun based on /t/; :(b) an independent second-person pronoun based on /n/ or /{{IPA|ŋ}}/; :(c) an independent third-person pronoun based on /g/ or /k/; :(d) a vowel alternation in the first- and second-person independent pronouns in which /u/ occurs in subject forms and /i/ in possessive (or oblique) forms; :(e) a possessive suffix -/yi/ :(f) the consonantal base also indicates the verbal subject :(g) demonstrative pronouns based on /t/ and /n/ :(h) the most basic vocabulary The following table is a sample that illustrates the similarities between the pronominal systems of several Indo-Pacific languages:<ref name="ruhl04b" /> {| class="wikitable" text-align="right" style="font-family: Doulos SIL, Lucida Sans Unicode, GentiumAlt, Gentium, Code2000, Chrysanthi Unicode, TITUS Cyberbit Basic, Bitstream Cyberbit, Bitstream Vera, Arial Unicode MS, Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro, Lucida Grande;" |- !rowspan=2 | Pronoun !! rowspan=2 | Kusunda !! colspan=2 | Andamanese languages !! Core North<br> Halmaheran family !! Central Bird's<br> Head family |- ! Juwoi !! Bo !! Galela !! Karon Dori |- |I || chi<ref name="hodg57">{{citation | last = HODGSON | first = B. H. | author-link = Brian Houghton Hodgson | year = 1857 | title = Comparative vocabulary of the languages of the broken tribes of Népál | place = Calcutta | journal = [[Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal]] | volume = 26 | pages = 317-332 | publisher = [[Asiatic Society]] Bengal | id = OCLC: 20216845}}</ref><br>tsi<ref name="rein76">{{citation | last = REINHARD | first = Johan | year = 1976 | journal = Journal of the Institute of Nepal Asian Studies | publisher = [[Tribhuvan University]] | volume = 4 | pages = 1–21}}</ref><br>tshi<ref name="rein70">{{citation | last1 = REINHARD | first1 = Johan | last2 = TOBA | first2 = Tim | year = 1970 | title = A Preliminary Linguistic Analysis and Vocabulary of the Kusunda Language | publisher = [[Summer Institute of Linguistics]] & [[Tribhuvan University]] | place = [[Kirtipur]] | id = OCLC: 650443}}</ref> || tui || tu-lʌ || to || tuo |- |my || chí-yi<ref name="hodg57" /> || tii-ye || ti-e || d͡ʒi "me" || |- |you || nu<ref name="hodg57" /><br>nu<ref name="rein76" /><br>nu<ref name="rein70" /> || ŋui || ŋu-lʌ || no || nuo |- |your || ní-yí<ref name="hodg57" /> || ŋii-ye || || ni "thee" || |- |he/she || gida<ref name="hodg57" /><br>git<ref name="rein76" /> || kitɛ || || kitɛ || gao |} The few critics of this tentative proposal have rejected it on the following grounds:<ref name="pose04">{{cite mailing list | last = POSER | first = Bill | title = Kusunda | mailinglist = Language Log | date = [[2004-06-10]] | url = http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001038.html | accessdate = 2007-05-02}}</ref> #the existence of an Indo-Pacific superfamily is disputed; #pronouns can be borrowed; #similarities may be due to chance; #theory of linguistic relationships cannot be based solely on the basis of the physical attributes of the speakers Nevertheless, the proponents consider these arguments as unsubstantiated,<ref name="mcwh04a">{{cite mailing list | last = MCWHORTER | first = John | title = Can relationships between languages be determined after 80,000 years? | mailinglist = Language Log | date = [[2004-06-10]] | url = http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001037.html | accessdate = 2007-05-02}}</ref><ref name="mcwh04b">{{cite mailing list | last = MCWHORTER | first = John | title = Pronouns are like sweaters: Kusunda revisited | mailinglist = Language Log | date = [[2004-06-13]] | url = http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001037.html | accessdate = 2007-05-02}}</ref> since there is no evidence of contacts between the speakers of Kusunda and the other groups for borrowing to occur, and coincidental creation of the whole pronominal system is extremely unlikely. Moreover, the hypothesis is based exclusively on linguistic evidence, not on the physical attributes of the speakers, although they may serve as an indirect clue, as well. DNA analyses of the Kusunda speakers might shed some light on this issue in the future. ===Yeniseian-Na-Dené=== {{main|Na-Dené languages|Yeniseian languages|Dené-Caucasian languages|Dené-Yeniseian languages}} According to Ruhlen, linguistic evidence indicates that the Yeniseian languages, spoken in Siberia, are most closely related to the Na-Dené languages (here including [[Haida]]), spoken in North America.<ref name="ruhl98c">{{citation | title = The origin of the Na-Dene | last1 = RUHLEN| first1 = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | journal = [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] | publisher = [[United States National Academy of Sciences]] | volume = 95 | pages = 13994–13996 | date = [[1998-01-28]] | year = 1998 | url = http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/95/23/13994.pdf | format = [[PDF]] | accessdate = 2007-05-04 | id = ISSN: 0027-8424 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.95.23.13994}}</ref> The hypothesis is supported by independent findings of other scholars, for example Heinrich K. Werner,<ref name="wern04">WERNER, Heinrich K. (2004): Zur jenissejisch-indianischen Urverwandtschaft [On the Yeniseian-[American] Indian primordial relationship]. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz</ref> or Edward J. Vajda (who nevertheless rejects Haida's membership in the Na-Dené language family).<ref name="vajd00">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000. Evidence for a genetic connection between Na-Dene and Yeniseian (Central Siberia). – Paper read at: January 2000 meeting of Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of America (SSILA) and Linguistic Society of America (LSA)</ref><ref name="vajd00a">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000a. Yeniseian and Na-Dene: evidence for a genetic relationship. – Paper read at: 38th Conference on American Indian Languages (SSILA), Chicago, Jan. 2000</ref><ref name="vajd00b">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000b. Yeniseian and Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit.' – Paper read at: Linguistics Department Colloquium, University of British Columbia, Mar. 2000</ref><ref name="vajd00c">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000c. Ket verb morphology and its parallels with Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit: evidence of a genetic link. – Paper read at: Athabaskan Language Conference, Moricetown, BC, June 9, 2000</ref><ref name="vajd00d">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000d. Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit and Yeniseian: lexical and phonological parallels. Read at: 39th Conference on American Indian Languages, San Francisco, Nov. 14-18, 2000 </ref><ref name="vajd01">VAJDA, Edward J. (2001): Toward a typology of position class: comparing Navajo and Ket verb morphology. Read at: SSILA Summer Meeting, July 7, 2001</ref><ref name="vajd01a">VAJDA, Edward J. (2001a): Linguistic relations across Bering Strait: Siberia and the Native Americans. Read at: Bureau of Faculty Research, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, March 8, 2001</ref><ref name="vajd02">VAJDA, Edward J. (2002): The origin of phonemic tone in Yeniseic. CLS 37 (Parasession on Arctic languages): 305-320 </ref><ref name="vajd04">VAJDA, Edward J. (2004): Ket. (Languages of the World, Materials, 204) München: LINCOM Europa</ref> This would mean that the Na-Dené represent a distinct migration from Asia to the New World, intermediate between the first migration of Amerinds around 13,000 years ago and the third migration of the Eskimo-Aleut around 5,000 years ago. Concurring with his earlier work,<ref name="ruhl94b" /><ref name="ruhl97">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | year = 1997 | title = Une nouvelle famille de langues: le déné-caucasien | journal = Pour la Science | publisher = Dossier | date = October 1997 | pages = 68–73}}</ref><ref name="ruhl98">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | contribution = Dene-Caucasian: A New Linguistic Family | title = The Origins and Past of Modern Humans-Towards Reconciliation | editor1-last = OMOTO | editor1-first = Keiichi | editor2-last = TOBIAS | editor2-first = Phillip V. | place = [[Singapore]] | publisher = World Scientific | pages = 231–246}}</ref><ref name="2001a">{{citation | last = RUHLEN | first = Merritt | author-link = Merritt Ruhlen | title = Il Dene-caucasico: una nuova famiglia linguistica | journal = Pluriverso | volume = 2 | pages =76–85}}</ref>Ruhlen thinks the Yeniseian–Na-Dené population can plausibly be traced to West Asia, where the more distantly related Caucasian and Burushaski languages, other members of the tentative [[Dené-Caucasian languages|Dené-Caucasian]] superfamily, are found. ===The Proto-Sapiens Hypothesis=== {{main|Proto-World language}} On the question of the [[Proto-World language|Proto-Sapiens language]] and global etymologies, most “mainstream” historical linguists reject Ruhlen's assumptions and methodology,<ref name="kess01">{{citation | last = KESSLER | first = Brett | year = 2001 | title = The Significance of Word Lists: Statistical Tests for Investigating Historical Connections Between Languages | place = [[Stanford, California|Stanford]] | publisher = [[Center for the Study of Language and Information|CSLI]] Publications, [[University of Chicago Press]] | ISBN = 1575862999}}</ref><ref name="pica98">{{citation | last = PICARD | first = Marc | year = 1998 | title = The Case Against Global Etymologies: Evidence from Algonquian | journal = [[International Journal of American Linguistics]] | volume = 64 | number = 2 | pages = 141-147 | place = [[New York City|New York]] | publisher = Douglas C. McMurtrie | id = ISSN: 0020-7071}}</ref><ref name="salm97">{{citation | last = SALMONS | first = Joseph | year = 1997 | place = [[Fullerton, California|Fullerton]] | title = 'Global Etymology' as Pre-Copernican Linguistics | journal = [http://hss.fullerton.edu/linguistics/cln/ California {{IPA|lɪŋ gwɪs tɪk}} Notes] | publisher = Program in Linguistics, [[California State University]] | volume = 25 | number = 1 | pages = 1, 5–7, 60 | id = ISSN 1548-1484}}</ref> holding that it is impossible to reconstruct a language spoken at least 30,000 years ago (possibly more than 100,000 years ago). Ruhlen has responded that he (and Bengtson) have never claimed to have reconstructed Proto-World, but have simply pointed out that reflexes of very ancient words can still be found in the world’s languages:<ref name="beng94">{{citation | last1 = BENGTSON | first1 = John D. | last2 = RUHLEN | first2 = Merritt | editor-last = RUHLEN | editor-first = Merritt | author1-link = John Bengtson | author2-link = Merritt Ruhlen | contribution = Global Etymologies | contribution-url = http://www.merrittruhlen.com/files/Global.pdf | format = [[PDF]] | pages = 277-336: p. 291 & note 3 | title = On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy | place = [[Stanford]] | publisher = [[Stanford University Press]] | year = 1994 | contribution-url = http://www.merrittruhlen.com/files/Global.pdf | ISBN = 0804723214}}</ref> {{cquote|''For each [global] etymology ... we present a phonetic and semantic gloss, followed by examples from different language families. ... We do not deal here with reconstruction, and '''these''' [semantic and phonetic] '''glosses are intended merely to characterize the most general meaning and phonological shape of each root'''. Future work on reconstruction will no doubt discover cases where the most widespread meaning or shape was not original.''}} Ruhlen also maintains that the “temporal ceiling” assumed by many mainstream linguists – the time depth beyond which the comparative method fails, considered by some<ref name="kauf90">{{citation | last = KAUFMAN | first = Terrence | editor-last = PAYNE | editor-first = D. L. | year = 1990 | contribution = Language History in South America: What We Know and How to Know More | pages 13-73 | title = Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American Languages | place = [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] | publisher = [[University of Texas Press]]}}</ref><ref name="nich92" /> to lie at roughly 6,000 to 8,000 years ago – does not exist, and that the now universally recognized existence of a language family as old as [[Afro-Asiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]], not to mention the even older [[Nostratic languages|Nostratic]] ([[Eurasiatic languages|Eurasiatic]]) whose existence remains controversial, shows that the comparative method can reach farther into the past than most linguists currently accept. ==References== {{reflist|2}} ==External links== * [http://www.merrittruhlen.com Merritt Ruhlen's homepage], including an exhaustive list of his '''publications'''. :* Including the latest version of [http://jdbengt.net/articles/burush2007.pdf An Amerind Etymological Dictionary] * [http://ehl.santafe.edu/main.html The Evolution of Human Languages Project] :* Members: [http://ehl.santafe.edu/ruhlen.htm Merritt Ruhlen] *[http://www.stanford.edu/dept/anthsci/faculty.html Stanford Anthropology Faculty] *[http://www.stanford.edu/dept/humbio/faculty_faculty.html Stanford Human Biology Faculty] [[Category:American linguists|Ruhlen, Merritt]] [[de:Merritt Ruhlen]] [[gl:Merritt Ruhlen]]