Re: ? how would you classify this language ?

Rodlox wrote:

> Please bear with me for a moment, as your reply to this will greatly
> expand
> my understanding of language groups & language evolution...
>
>  Assume that, tomorrow or the next day, you either encounter or create a
> (con)language which has the following features:
> * Indo-European word order.
> * Semitic grammatical rules.
> * Sino-Altaic phenomes.
>
>  into which group would you classify it, however tenatively?
Usually a language is grouped according to where the bulk of the
_vocabulary_ comes from.  If the con-vocabulary is completely a priori
(invented) then you'd just have to say it's "a priori, with X word order, Y
grammar, Z phonemes" (note spelling!).

I'm not sure there's a typical Indo-European word order-- Proto IE is
assumed to have been SOV, most of the descendants vary between SOV and SVO.
>
>  also, which of those (rules/phenomes/order/other) is most prone to change
> through time?  which is least prone to change?
Most likely: sounds/phonemes, but in fact _everything_ can change, often as
the result of sound changes. Slowest change probably in vocabulary.

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