| Popis: |
This chapter deals with possibility of copying morphological structures between polysynthetic languages. It has not been observed that languages change their order of morphemes under the influence of other languages, or take over complex morphological structures from neighboring languages. There are enough striking similarities in their verbal morphologies, traits considered stable, indicative of genealogical relatedness, and immune to borrowing or diffusion. Both contact and genealogical scenarios would entail that the proto-languages were spoken in the same area, by the same or by overlapping populations. There is some historical connection between Salish and Algonquian - in line with the archaeological evidence. A genealogical connection is much more likely, even though it is at present unprovable with the standard methods in historical linguistics. The suggestion of deep borrowing is, however, less likely than a genealogical solution, since such borrowing on the morphological level is globally unheard of. Keywords:archaeological evidence; diffusion; genealogical connection; genealogical solution; languages; morphemes |
