PITFALLS IN DATING: ATHAPASKAN LANGUAGES, March 2008
In our analyses of changes in words over time, that is "glottochronology", we have generally found that the choice of words was not significant. This is particularly true of our analysis of Indo-European words where we examined almost 900 words found in Proto Indo European of a wide variety of meanings (see elsewhere in this website). We have further extended our study to include changes in Semitic from ancient Akkadian and from ancient hieroglyphic Egyptian to Coptic using information on the names of parts of the body. This latter study also gave no indication that the choice of vocabulary was significant.
However we have discovered one language group where some names appear to change and others do not. This is the Athapaskan or Na-Dene group of North American languages. From this circumstance we believe that there are possible or probable "pitfalls" in glottochronology so that the technique should be used with due caution.
Athapaskan Evidence, Keywords
In the 100 Athapaskan bodyparts names there are a large number that are very similar for all of the languages; these we call "keywords" (for lack of a better name). Some of these are very clear; some are less obvious, and so there is some element of judgment involved in selecting these cases.
Of the 100 bodyparts, we find that 7 are not given in Athapaskan languages. Of the remaining 93 we find 40 such unchanging keywords. throughout the different languages. The remaining 53 names vary from language to language and show differences that imply changes in the typical "normal" manner. There is some overlap between these groups since because there can be more than one name for a given bodypart, and 9 of the 40 bodyparts that show unchanging names also show such "second" names.
Thus there are 40 unchanging keynames, 53 that always show change and 9 cases where there is a second "changing" name as well as one that does not change.
The 40 body parts where there are unchanging names are listed below. All are two-syllable and we not only identify the part of the body but also give the initial consonants in the syllables. We have arm [G-N], belly [B-T/D], blood [D-L], bone [T(S)-N], buttocks [TL-], chin [Y-T/D], ear [DZ-G-], elbow [TS-L], entrails [TS-K/G], face [N-N], fingernail [L-G-N], flesh [TS/TH-N], foot [K-], hair [TS-G], hand [LA], head [TS-], heart [DZ-], heel [K-T-L], knee [G-D/T], leg [DZ-D], lip [DA], marrow [-G-], nape [TS- ?], neck [K-S], nose [TS-], nostril [N-Y-], palm [L-TL], scab [L-T/D], scar [S-T/D], sinew [TS-D], skull [TS-TS-N], sole [K-T-L], spittle [S/Z-G/K], stomach [B-T/D], thumb [L-T], tooth [GU], urine [L-Z], vein [TS-], womb [TL-], and wrist [L-TS-N].
The nine overlapping cases are hair, head, knee, leg, lip, nose, sole, stomach, and vein.
The 53 cases where names change are ankle, anus, armpit, back, backbone, beard, blister, body, boil, brain, breast, breath, calf, cheek, chest, clitoris, collarbone, corpse, earwax, excrement, eye, eyebrow, eyelash, eyelid, finger, forehead, groin, hip, jaw, kidney, larynx, liver, lungs, mouth, muscle, navel, nipple, penis, pus, rib, shin, shoulder, shoulderblade, sinew, skin, tears, temple, testicle, throat, toe, tongue, vagina, and waist.
The seven cases where Athapaskan names are not known are mucus, scrotum, semen, sore, sweat, thigh, and wound.
Implications for Dating
The existence of these unchanging "keywords" makes glottochronology difficult. We should surely not include these in a listing for dating since they do not change. We must then use other words, but what basis do we have for selecting? We have no answer to this problem and must merely point out that glottochronology should be used with discretion.