THE MACRO-COMPARATIVE JOURNAL
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Thematic
issue No. 1
December
2011
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CONTENTS
EDITORIAL NEWS
The Thematic Issue No.
1 of The Macro-Comparative Journal is
dedicated to several methodological points about Proto-Uralic loanwords, the
historiography of the idea of proto-language and a survey of etymological
theories from Antiquity to present-day.
ARTICLES
A Historical and Cultural Sketch of the
Concept of Proto-Language
Arnaud Fournet
Abstract: The paper investigates the
cultural prerequisites and developments that ultimately led to the creation of
the concept of prehistoric unattested proto-languages from Antiquity to
present-day.
An Epistemological Approach of Theories of
Linguistic Signs and Etymology
Arnaud Fournet
Abstract: The paper deals with the
ontological and etymological status of words and linguistic units, especially
as regards the theoretical issues of the arbitrariness of the sign and the
potential motivation of linguistic signs in the extralinguistic reality. It
examines and discusses a number of authors and theories, developed since the
Ancient Greek philosophical tradition. The theoretical typology thus revealed
is more complex than the classical opposition between nature and convention. As
a mirror it also sheds light on the intrinsic features of modern linguistics in
the wake of Saussure's teachings and on the logical structure of the
Comparative Method.
Arnaud Fournet
Abstract: During their movements and splits
Uralic languages, and foremost those of the Finnic and Volgaic groups which
have the westernmost and southwesternmost locations, got in contact with different
branches of the Indo-European family. This issue has been at the center of
Uralic etymological and historical studies from the start. The paper first
presents the principles for the stratification of Uralic-Indo-European
loanwords and then examines a set of words that exhibit a very peculiar sound
correspondence in the initial syllable between Finnic va ~ Mokša u and
Erzia vi. These words can be shown to
be loanwords of Tocharian origin. These words conflict with the usual paradigm
that only the most widespread Indo-European loanwords into the Uralic family
could have a Tocharian origin. In addition they offer new insight on the
original location of proto-Tocharian.