Re: FYI re: Greenberg's Universals

Roger Mills wrote:

>  Supposedly the original inhabitants were Austronesian
> >speakers with a strict CV syllable structure.  That native language forced
> >a simplification of Japanese syllable structure (it is a known fact that
> >Japanese syllables have simplified) and a reduction in the number of vowels
> >(also known to be true).  Personally, I have doubts about the Austronesian
> >aspect.....>
>
>So do I, though again, "it would figure".  _Everyone says_ it is so, but
>I've never seen any very convincing citations of forms that show clear AN
>origin.  Not even in Miller.  Perhaps the etymological scholarship is in
>Japanese?
Perhaps.  I'm not very up-to-date with the subject either.  Miller is the
most recent, most comprehensive treatment I've seen a reference to.

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Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
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