Re: Question about Latin.
| From: | Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, October 27, 2004, 12:32 |
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From: John Leland <Lelandconlang@...>
> I have always wondered if the Korean particle -kwa, which is used very much
> as -que is used in Latin could be related, or if that is just a coincidence.
> Certainly if the languages asa whole are related it must be very distantly.
Almost certainly, they are not related. Such chance similarities
arise all the time between any two given languages, whether or not
they are related: English 'bad' is not cognate with Persian /b&d/,
but they mean the same thing; mod. Greek _oma_ 'eye' is likewise not
related to Malay _oma_ 'eye'. Mark Rosenfelder has a good essay
on the subject:
<http://zompist.com/chance.htm>
NB his comparison of Quechua and Semitic lexical items.
=========================================================================
Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637
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