> I don't know in this instance, but isn't the rule of thumb that that the
> geographically peripheral branches of a language or culture will tend to
> remain constant more than those remaining in place?
Not exactly; peripheral stocks innovate, generally speaking, as much as central ones. But it is generally accepted that a feature shared by any non-contiguous peripheral stocks is likely to be old.
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Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
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