6 06 greenberg sigh 3 date thu 22 dec 1994 21 02 0500 est mike _ maxwell sil org subject evidence greenberg perhaps best evidence greenberg hypothesis would show methods applied way randomly chosen samples languages earth including amerindian languages group way degree un certainty methods group amerindian languages less athabaskan languages together put stars around way one easily distort someone else methods understand people tried applying greenberg method one amerindian language one language finnish one believe never heard largescale comparison done way believe greenberg says method best used mass comparison oneon one go bean counter day tot number times greenberg occurs rate corresponding work highly influential never mind difference mass comparison pair comparison engage mass comparison carry large number pair comparisons greater number comparisons chances finding cognates chance resemblances take two dice roll often show score take bagful empty onto floor matches galore matter recently long long exchange comparative method alexis manaster ramer made point seemed believe important language found retain less 86 sample wordlist swadesh 100 nt matter shall soon see per thousand years claim false never mind grant true even grant 90 retention america say populated 18 000 years ago well evidence brazil seem push back 50 000 bp grant 18 000 bp everybody since great crossing careful linguistically overly innovative exist least two maximally distant languages retained 90 vocabulary millennium millenium today could expect see 0 9 18 2 0 0225 e 2 25 words common famous 100 item highly stable basic vocabulary proto amerind reconstituted course taken chance resemblances account remember greenberg sci article calculations estimates probability chance resemblances 1 250 forgets allows bit metathesis fact read carefully ruhlen origin languages complete anagramming since list irish bligim cognate malk six ways combine 3 consonants really one chance resemblance 42 250 6 tad 42 using figure many chance resemblances show expect find 100 item wordlist 100 42 2 38 bingo real cognates 18 000 years conservative languages america really populated 50 000 years ago see 0 9 50 2 0 002656 100 item list preserved one word 37 649 every pair 100 item lists find average 1 37649 100 0 0027 wrods common meaning look forward examining 376 pairs find one single cognate thanks mass comparison sure find compare 50 seemingly unrelated languages want pick maximally distant languages gives 50 50 1 2 1225 pairwise comparisons bit luck give 3 4 cognates attested 2 3 languages stacks spurious resemblances attested far many languages true cognates perhaps america populated 50 000 years ago australia least 40 000 bp prevent reconstructing proto australian trying link indo european enough fun figures nt try simulate paltry 30 000 years worth evolution 30 languages represented 100 words onein 250 see generous chance resemblances warning advertisement follows download glotto02 zip directory pc linguistics garbo uwasa fi unzip read documentation programs glotsim glottree see de toutes facons autant souffler dans un violon c est tellement plus rigolo aller imaginer qu peut demeler le passe perdu dans la nuit des temps j guy trl oz au