megalocomparison

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English

Etymology

From megalo- +‎ comparison, coined by Matisoff (1990) in a critique of Joseph Greenberg's "mass comparison" (see quotation below).

Noun

megalocomparison (uncountable)

  1. (historical linguistics, uncommon, often derogatory) Long-range comparison; especially, far-fetched long-range comparison that cannot sufficiently demonstrate any genetic relationship.
  • 1994, J. T. Katz, “Review of Explanation in Historical Linguistics by G. W. Davis & G. K. Iverson”, in Language, volume 70, number 1, →DOI, pages 199–200:
    There have been many recent broadsides on megalocomparison, and those who still think them inappropriate may find this paper a revelation
  • 2009, J. Norman, “A New Look at Altaic ”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, volume 129, number 1, pages 83–89:
    It seems to be part of a larger project of megalo-comparison whose aim is ultimately to reduce the number of language families in the world to a much smaller number than is now normally accepted.
  • Derived terms

    References

    1. ^ Matisoff, J. A. (1990). On Megalocomparison. Language, 66(1), 106–120. →DOI