Linguistica storica e reificazione de linguaggio in margine a un articolo-recensione di Adiego

Abstract

In this reply to the criticisms Adiego made to the first volume of my Origins of European Languages I reaffirm my principle theories, which are: (1) the «static condition» is the only law of language, and linguistic change is exclusively due to external forces; (2) even the linguistic mutations that Adiego attributes to organic causes (those analogic, syntactic and of grammaticalisation) are clearly the result of external causes; (3) lexical self-dating is a valid tool; (4) the common IE is located in the Palaeolithic; (5) the Neolithic terms that traditional theory attributes to PIE, such as the names of ¿wool¿ and ¿sheep,¿ are borrowed; (6) dialects and some of their typical features are already present in the Latin era and could have contributed to the formation of Latin. My conclusion is that Adiego¿s vision is inspired by an eighteenth century ¿reification¿ of language and motivated by the search for an impossible compromise between myth and science