ааааа 1. What Is Paleolinguistics?
The purpose of paleolinguistics is restoration of
culture through language. Put simply, paleolinguistics is an explicit
methodology which permits understanding of culture through language.
а Basic paleolinguistic
concepts and methods:
а Language very precisely transmits culture
through theа
а expression of fundamental cultural constants
(J.G.Herder,
а E. Sapir, B.L. Whorf, A. Wierzbicka);
а Language
is a way of organising reality (Jost Trier);
а
Non-linear perusal of the texts;
а The
semantic fields are extracted from facts of language
аа (Walter
Porzig);
а Contextual perusal of each texts.
Language through culture and culture through language. It may be the most
important paleolinguistic idea. СCause there arenТt many people who can
understand clearly what does it mean. Ha-ha-ha!!! Yeah! Here I can permit
myself to laugh and everybody who click at the hyperlink above understand it.
а
Anthropological and ethnographic literature devoted to the
а culture
under study can be used for interpretation only to
а the
extent that it elucidates meaning of different culture-
а specific
concepts, which is encountered directly in the
а
considered texts. In short, it is both possible and
а necessary
to use assorted literature on the culture under
а study,
but the object of research should be specific texts. If
а there are
two disputable interpretations, the dispute should
а always be
decided for the benefit of that interpretation
а which has
arisen directly from research of the texts,
а instead
of from ethnography and anthropology.
ааааа 2. Basic Paleolinguistic Method
ааааа
Suppose we have some texts on some language X, which
ааааа
serves some culture X.
ааааа We
need to elucidate concepts as understood in the given
ааааа
culture X, for example, space and time.
ааааа For
this purpose we have to do the following:
a) We list from the texts everything related to time, and
аааа in another list everything related to
space;
b) We grade the lexicon in these two lists on semantic
аааа fields; number and patterns language X
suggests;
c) Statistics (frequency analysis) is useful because it
аааа allows us to identify the most relevant
cultural
аааа constants. But when we have only
incidentally selected
аааа texts, the meaning and value of this
method is
аааааааааа
lacking. Only as quantity increases can such text be
аааааааааа
used for statistical purposes, and only as long as we
аааааааааа
have not considered all texts in general on theа
аааааааааа
language X. The texts can be selected by a random
аааааааааа
sampling, so the most important keywords for
аааааааааа
comprehending this culture in all samplings
аааааааааа
would be encountered just sometimes.
d) In short, a lexicon which is interesting for us is simply
аааа structured on semantic fields, and
statistics plays the
аааа slave role. We are not interested in how
many of this or
ааа аthat spatial or temporal markers we encounter in the
аааа texts; we are interested in the
relationship between
аааааааааа
number of markers of the given semantic field to the
аааааааааа
total number of markers identified from these texts.
аааааааааа You
can also look at the Aynu traditional space view IТveаааа
аааааааааа
received using this method