Definition of Comparative Method
Source: A Glossary of Historical Linguistics
"comparative method"
The most important method of historical linguistics; a method (or set of procedures) for comparing languages to determine whether they are related and, if related, how they have developed from a common ancestor. The method compares forms from related languages, cognates, that have descended from a common ancestral language (the proto-language), in order to reconstruct the form in that ancestral language and to determine the changes related languages have undergone. It is also the basis for subgrouping related languages and establishing their family tree. See also basic assumptions of the comparative method, limitations on the comparative method, reconstruction.
Lyle, GHL, 34. [View as image] [Read on OMNIKA]
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Citation
PsychLing Contributors. "Comparative Method." PsychLing, OMNIKA Foundation, 3 Sep. 2023, psylng.org/glossary/term/comparative-method. Accessed 7 Sep. 2024.
PsychLing (2023, September 3). Comparative Method. Retrieved from https://psylng.org/glossary/term/comparative-method
Bibliography
APA Contributors. "APA Dictionary of Psychology." Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Accessed September 14, 2023. https://dictionary.apa.org. [Visit]
Campbell, Lyle R., and Mauricio J. Mixco, eds. A Glossary of Historical Linguistics. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2007.