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The first item in the list, ''I/me'', has been replaced in none of the 140 languages during their recorded history; the fifteenth, ''dead'', has been replaced in 25% of the languages. |
The first item in the list, ''I/me'', has been replaced in none of the 140 languages{{Which|date=June 2023|reason=Which 140 languages? Dolgopolsky's work on Nostratic included Japanese, which has very fluid pronouns, changing multiple times over the centuries.}} during their recorded history; the fifteenth, ''dead'', has been replaced in 25% of the languages. |
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The twelfth item, ''louse/nit'', is well kept in the [[North Caucasian languages]], Dravidian and Turkic, but not in some other proto-languages. |
The twelfth item, ''louse/nit'', is well kept in the [[North Caucasian languages]], Dravidian and Turkic, but not in some other proto-languages. |
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Revision as of 06:21, 24 June 2023
The Dolgopolsky list is a word list compiled by Aharon Dolgopolsky in 1964.[1] It lists the 15 lexical items that have the most semantic stability, i.e. they are the 15 words least likely to be replaced[why?] by other words as a language evolves. It was based on a study of 140 languages from across Eurasia.
List
The words, with the first being the most stable, are:
- I/me
- two/pair
- you (singular, informal)
- who/what
- tongue
- name
- eye
- heart
- tooth
- no/not
- nail (finger-nail)
- louse/nit
- tear/teardrop
- water
- dead
The first item in the list, I/me, has been replaced in none of the 140 languages[which?] during their recorded history; the fifteenth, dead, has been replaced in 25% of the languages.
The twelfth item, louse/nit, is well kept in the North Caucasian languages, Dravidian and Turkic, but not in some other proto-languages.
See also
References
- ^ Dolgopolsky, Aharon B. 1964. Gipoteza drevnejšego rodstva jazykovych semej Severnoj Evrazii s verojatnostej točky zrenija [A probabilistic hypothesis concerning the oldest relationships among the language families of Northern Eurasia]. Voprosy Jazykoznanija 2: 53-63.
- Trask, Robert Lawrence (2000). The dictionary of historical and comparative linguistics. p. 96.
External links
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