On the precision of semantic reconstruction of proto-language lexis: The Latin Swadesh list put to test as an example

Abstract

Only applying data from the Romance languages, the author carries out a linguistic experiment in an attempt to reconstruct the Proto-Romance 110-word list of basic lexis. The received data are then compared with attested Latin forms. Cases where the reconstruction doesn’t correspond to the reality are brought to light, while the reasons behind it are explained. The results of the research can be most useful for lexicostatistics, where reconstructed Swadesh lists are widely applied, but at the same time they are valuable for the methodology of comparative linguistics on the whole.