“Southeast Asia is the Bosnia of historical linguistics, with a lovely landscape strewn with land mines!”

—  Paul K. Benedict

Context: Welcome to the field of Southeast Asian linguistics! This welcome comes with a warning: Southeast Asia is the Bosnia of historical linguistics, with a lovely landscape strewn with land mines! … 'Look-alikes' (look less and less alike the more we know about them) abound, as in Malay bĕras and Wr. Tibetan 'bras for 'rice', as do also unlikely-appearing cognate sets such as Thai pu 'grandfather' and Japanese o:i 'nephew'.

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Paul K. Benedict photo
Paul K. Benedict2
American anthropologist, mental health professional, and li… 1912–1997

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