Academic Journal
Sources of lexical replacement and synonymy in Swadesh wordlists for proto-languages / О возможных источниках лексических замен и синонимии в праязыковых списках базисной лексики
| Title: | Sources of lexical replacement and synonymy in Swadesh wordlists for proto-languages / О возможных источниках лексических замен и синонимии в праязыковых списках базисной лексики |
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| Authors: | Burlak, Svetlana |
| Source: | Journal of Language Relationship; 2026, Vol. 23 Issue 3/4, p187-206, 20p |
| Subject Terms: | Reconstruction (Linguistics), Taboo, Historical linguistics, Synonyms, Variation in language, Sociolinguistics |
| Abstract: | In the practice of step-by-step reconstruction, situations are encountered where more than one word competes for the same slot in the protolanguage Swadesh-wordlist, and there is no way to dismiss one of the potential synonyms using standard methods. At the same time, in real languages it is almost always possible to choose which lexeme is the most suitable one for a particular slot in the wordlist. The difficulties in making such justifications for protolanguages may be related to both linguistic and sociolinguistic factors. Since we do not know the social landscape of the proto-language, as well as its evolution in descendant populations, there may not be enough material to draw conclusions about whether a word that was restricted to certain social situations in the proto-language (for example, used only by one gender, or only in relation to those higher or lower in the hierarchy, or only in conversations with children, etc.) could have become the primary term in one of the descendant branches after a change in the social structure. The practice of taboo leads to an increase in the number of synonyms in the language: at any given moment, one word is primary, but this can vary over time, so some descendant populations may inherit one word as primary, while others inherit a different one. Additionally, in descendant branches, phonetic or morphological alignments could have diverged in different directions, causing bases that once formed a single (possibly suppletive) paradigm to become the only representatives of the corresponding meaning in each of the descendant branches. The more time has passed since the separation of the protolanguage, the harder it is to identify the alternations that caused the initial differences between the observable forms, so that they look apparently unrelated to each other. Perhaps the main difficulty in identifying the primary word lies in the fact that the proto-language may have had a differently structured nominative grid, so that contexts which appear homogeneous to the present observer were only considered so during the existence of the descendant languages, with some of them adopting one word as p rimary and others selecting a different one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of Language Relationship is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Complementary Index |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Sources of lexical replacement and synonymy in Swadesh wordlists for proto-languages / О возможных источниках лексических замен и синонимии в праязыковых списках базисной лексики – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Burlak%2C+Svetlana%22">Burlak, Svetlana</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: Journal of Language Relationship; 2026, Vol. 23 Issue 3/4, p187-206, 20p – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reconstruction+%28Linguistics%29%22">Reconstruction (Linguistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Taboo%22">Taboo</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Historical+linguistics%22">Historical linguistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Synonyms%22">Synonyms</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Variation+in+language%22">Variation in language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sociolinguistics%22">Sociolinguistics</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: In the practice of step-by-step reconstruction, situations are encountered where more than one word competes for the same slot in the protolanguage Swadesh-wordlist, and there is no way to dismiss one of the potential synonyms using standard methods. At the same time, in real languages it is almost always possible to choose which lexeme is the most suitable one for a particular slot in the wordlist. The difficulties in making such justifications for protolanguages may be related to both linguistic and sociolinguistic factors. Since we do not know the social landscape of the proto-language, as well as its evolution in descendant populations, there may not be enough material to draw conclusions about whether a word that was restricted to certain social situations in the proto-language (for example, used only by one gender, or only in relation to those higher or lower in the hierarchy, or only in conversations with children, etc.) could have become the primary term in one of the descendant branches after a change in the social structure. The practice of taboo leads to an increase in the number of synonyms in the language: at any given moment, one word is primary, but this can vary over time, so some descendant populations may inherit one word as primary, while others inherit a different one. Additionally, in descendant branches, phonetic or morphological alignments could have diverged in different directions, causing bases that once formed a single (possibly suppletive) paradigm to become the only representatives of the corresponding meaning in each of the descendant branches. The more time has passed since the separation of the protolanguage, the harder it is to identify the alternations that caused the initial differences between the observable forms, so that they look apparently unrelated to each other. Perhaps the main difficulty in identifying the primary word lies in the fact that the proto-language may have had a differently structured nominative grid, so that contexts which appear homogeneous to the present observer were only considered so during the existence of the descendant languages, with some of them adopting one word as p rimary and others selecting a different one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: Abstract Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Language Relationship is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.31826/jlr-2026-233-403 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 20 StartPage: 187 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Reconstruction (Linguistics) Type: general – SubjectFull: Taboo Type: general – SubjectFull: Historical linguistics Type: general – SubjectFull: Synonyms Type: general – SubjectFull: Variation in language Type: general – SubjectFull: Sociolinguistics Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Sources of lexical replacement and synonymy in Swadesh wordlists for proto-languages / О возможных источниках лексических замен и синонимии в праязыковых списках базисной лексики Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Burlak, Svetlana IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 07 Text: 2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 22193820 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 23 – Type: issue Value: 3/4 Titles: – TitleFull: Journal of Language Relationship Type: main |
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