"Guessing is more fun"? Linguistic Prehistory Methods in Australia.
Claire Bowern, Rice University Dept. of Linguistics
While there have been several models for language split and spread in
Australia, all this work faces problems. On the one hand, diffusionist
models (such as Dixon's Punctuated Equilibrium) require assumptions
which would make Australia unique in world terms in both the manner of
split and the facts of change. Furthermore, they do not fit very well
with what we know about Australian prehistory. On the other hand, family
tree models appear to do little better, at least in some parts of the
country.
In this talk I discuss a third option for modeling language spread
in the Pama-Nyungan family. I describe a framework for modeling change
which draws on insights from sociolinguistics and dialect geography as
well as the more traditional areas of historical linguistics. I
illustrate the model with data from the Karnic subgroup of Pama-Nyungan.
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