Re: OT: slightly OT: language ID's?
| From: | Roger Mills <romilly@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, May 4, 2001, 0:03 |
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Andreas Johansson wrote:
>>highly aberrant Austronesian lgs. of Nouvelle Caledonie; or Melanesian,
but
>>I dont think the French ever got into Melanesia.
>
>Hm, your definition of "Melanesia" must differ from mine, according to
which
>Nouvelle Caledonie is part of Melanesia!
>
No, you're quite right, as I realized shortly after sending. Another lapsus
mentis.
I really must take it in for a tune-up. :-(
But unless I'm mistaken again, NC is France's only Melanesian
possession--and the languages tend to be _so_ aberrant (vocabulary and
phonology-wise) that per lexicostatistics (which I don't believe in) they
measure near the "random resemblance" percentage, 5-6%.