Pali Linguistic Algorithm? Some Buddhist writers seem to imply that they can apply a screen or test, linguistic or otherwise, to the Pali Canon and thus separate the original teachings of the Buddha from its "later" degenerations, and are thus able to describe "original Buddhism." 

However, any application of this "method" seems to degenerate almost immediately into an ideological argument based on implicit assumptions of what the Buddha's teaching was like or naive inferences that because a text appears to be later, that automatically disqualifies it from consideration (in fact, later texts can incorporate or revise older traditions, elaborate older doctrines, consist of valid inferences, or even consist of valid original insights based on the original set of insights and thus be valid in their own right). 

Yet despite these claims one finds only vague generalizations (e.g., Pande) or outright ideology. If such an algorithm existed, it should be possible to create a revised textus receptus and I have not seen this. A.K. Warder, a Pali scholar and a linguist, says nothing about this in Indian Buddhism, although he does imply that the Digha Nikaya is the oldest and therefore most authentic part of the Pali Canon. 

Does anybody know of an in depth and articulate description of such a linguistic algorithm or method that is free of ideological bias?
A.K. Warder, a Pali scholar and a linguist ... does imply that the Digha Nikaya is the oldest and therefore most authentic part of the
  Pali Canon


beneath is some gleaned info on the relative chronology of the canonical Buddhist texts



From T.W. Rhys Davids, Appendix to Chapter 10 of 'Buddhist India' Putnam, 1903. 
http://fsnow.com/text/buddhist-india/chapter10.htm

[The list] represents the probable order in which the extant Buddhist documents of this period were composed. They were not yet written, and a great deal has no doubt been lost.


  
  The simple statements of Buddhist doctrine now found, in identical words, in paragraphs or verses recurring in all the books.
  Episodes found, in identical words, in two or more of the existing books.
  The Sīlas, the Pārāyana, the Octades, the pātimokkha.
  The Dīgha, Majjhima, Aṅguttara, and Saṁyutta Nikāyas.
  The Sutta Nipāta, the Thera- and Therī-Gāthās, the Udānas, and the Khuddaka Pāṭha.
  The Sutta Vibhaṅga and the Khandhakas.
  The Jātakas and the Dhammapadas.
  The Niddesa, the Itivuttakas, and the Paṭisambhidā.
  The Peta- and Vimāna-Vatthus, the Apadānas, the Cariyā Piṭaka, and the Buddha Vaṁsa.
  The Abhidhamma books; the last of which is the Kathā Vatthu, and the earliest probably the Puggala Paññatti.
  


Alternative chronological order
from Bimala Law: A History of Pali Literature, Ch 1, pp. 29-66  

Chronological placement of the Octades (Atthakavagga) and Patimokkha,
whole Nikayas, regarding their strata, is questionable, same for Sutta Nipata


  
  The simple statements of Buddhist doctrine now found in identical works in paragraphs or verses recurring in all the books. 
  Episodes found in identical works in two or more of the existing books. 
  The Silas, the Parayana group of sixteen poems without the prologue, the Atthaka group of four or sixteen poems, the Sikkhapadas.
  Dlgha, Vol. I, the Majjhima, the Samyutta, the Anguttara, and earlier Patimokkha code of 152 rules. 
  The Digha, Vols. II and III, the Thera-Theri-gatha, the collection of 500 Jatakas, Suttavibhanga, Patisambhidamagga, Puggalapaññatti and
  Vibhanga. 
  The Mahavagga and the Cullavagga, the Patimokkha code completing 227 rules, the Vimanavatthu and Petavatthu, the Dhammapada and the
  Kathavatthu. 
  The Cullaniddesa, the Mahaniddesa, the Udana, the Itivuttaka, the Sutta Nipata, the Dhatukatha, the Yamaka, and the Patthana. 
  The Buddhavamsa, the Cariyapitaka, and the Apadana. 
  The Parivarapatha. 
  The Khuddakapāṭha.