THE MACRO-COMPARATIVE JOURNAL

http://diachronica.pagesperso-orange.fr/TMCJ_vol_1.1.html

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Volume 1 No. 1

November 2010
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CONTENTS

EDITORIAL NEWS

The Macro-Comparative Journal is launched!

ARTICLES

The Current Status of Nostratic Studies

Allan R. Bomhard

Abstract: The article is an up-to-date introduction to Nostratic, as reconstructed by

Allan Bomhard. It comprises an historical introduction, a phonological survey of
Nostratic and of the daughter languages, a presentation of sound correspondences and
the morphology of Proto-Nostratic. Bomhard's approach is also compared with that of
Dolgopolsky.

The Outcome of Afrasian Guttural Proto-Phonemes in Berber

Arnaud Fournet

Abstract: Current approaches of Afrasian hold pharyngeals and laryngeals to have

muted out in Berber. The article shows that pharyngeal phonemes have in fact become
palatalized into *s/z and *š/ž in this group of languages. They have not disappeared but
have changed their place of articulation. There exists a significant number of examples
of these phonetic correspondences which ultimately support the cognacy of Berber with
Semitic and therefore with the Afrasian in general. The hypothesis of a phonetic change:
pharyngeal > palatal explains many phonological and morphological features of Berber
languages.

Kartvelian and the Issue of Glottalization in Nostratic

Arnaud Fournet

Abstract: The article deals with the issue of glottalization in Nostratic with a special
focus on Kartvelian. Several hypotheses of sound correspondences are tested between
Kartvelian and Proto-Indo-European. It is concluded that Kartvelian glottalization is not
inherited but is probably a feature originally of prosodic nature. Pre-Proto-Kartvelian
only had a distinction between voiced and voiceless phonemes.
COMMENTS

Comment on: Fournet, A. 2010. Review of: Bomhard, Allan R. 2008.

Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic, Comparative Phonology, Morphology, and
Vocabulary. Volumes 1 (xxi, 875pp) & 2 (976pp). Leiden, Boston: Brill.
Allan R. Bomhard

REVIEWS

Bomhard, Allan R. 2008. Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic, Comparative Phonology,

Morphology, and Vocabulary. Volumes 1 (xxi, 875pp) & 2 (976pp). Leiden,
Boston: Brill.
Arnaud Fournet

REFERENCE MATERIALS

A Dictionary of Proto-Indo-European with Hurrian Comparative Indications. Part

I: Graphemes *b and *bh
Arnaud Fournet