text_combined: typology historical change typology historical change note tries make explicit take granted discussed others occasion perhaps needs explicit statement one fruitful avenues research distant language comparison believe growth field call typology historical change rubric include example work johanna nichols whether agree data findings particulars method relevant point still think helps thinking along also include challenge want issue mode discourse mr vovin asked recently help finding typological parallels hypothesis interested phrase meaning water falls could fossilize basic word rain response query got back positive answers examples people claimed fit description method reasoning need accumulations attested examples particular changes educate intuitions naively think possible semantic shifts ever experience actual semantic shifts known suspected help us improve methods guestimating possible language relationships least say given hypothesized semantic shift frequently attested straining compare lexical items whose meanings differ way whereas contrast another hypothesized semantic shift firmly attested unattested semantic shift probably used distant language comparisons difficult large time spans number contextsensitive conditioning environments great number lexical items available compare thus recurring sound correspondences words move towards deeper comparisons must rely ways measuring distance semantic shift distance phonological change rather measuring repeating sound correspondences semantic identities yet tools well sharpened proceed gradually sharpen study known attested cases best start words someone really wants see methods fare gradually distant language comparisons see new methods may fare tabulate known language relationships proportion soundcorrespondence repetition comparable vocabulary comparable means variable exclusively defined b c b semantic distance along attested paths semantic change lexical items compared multiple shifts attested estimated distance counts closer smaller shifts attested estimated distance counts greater course enough information database form use present whatever used provisionally explained c phonetic distance along attested paths phonetic change lexical items compared relatively knowledge available phonological change exploring three measures vary go greater time depths using first assured cases less assured ones weighted average closeness compared lexical items vary go increasing time depths proportion regular often recurring sound correspondences unique rarely recurring sound correspondences vary go increasing time depths development tools b c advance abilities compare greater time depths improve methods grateful anyone points studies approximate parts program outlined comparative method currently benefit fully developed tools kind degree current comparative methods considered less rigorous ought reason powerful distant language comparisons sometime come future comparative method use tools precisely real challenge today existing comparativists avoid artificially fossilizing term comparative method avoid treating methods fixed subject improvement supplementing newer powerful methods methods science would healthy word dropped term made mass plural term comparative methods implies lessening rigor indeed pains point firmly believe limitations present state comparative methods result lack rigor area typology possible changes phonetic semantic grammatical work discussed bill croft topic syntactic reconstruction typology certainly relevant concerns raised think seeing beginnings new paradigm focus paths change language comparativehistorical linguists left behind add techniques box tools keeping good techniques already lloyd anderson