Research

What particularly inspires me is the large variety of linguistic forms and meanings. Deeper insight into the nature and origin of this diversity requires first of all more research into deviant patterns and meanings in exotic languages and furthermore new conceptualizations in terms of the evolutionary origin and development of the human species. The fact that it has turned out to be impossible to formulate an adequate "universal grammar" is a consequence of both interference of faulty intuitions of researchers and unreliability of naive translations from lesser known languages. Greater emphasis on the empirical side of linguistic science and more attention to the flexibility of meaningful elements are necessary prerequisites for a further development of the field.

Publications

• The origin and nature of the linguistic parasite [206e] http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications
• The Indo-Uralic verb [203e] http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications
• General linguistics and Indo-European reconstruction [130e] http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications
• On the meaning of the Japanese passive [113e] http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications
• From Proto-Indo-European to Slavic [66e] http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications

See also: http://www.kortlandt.nl/bibliography.html

Curriculum vitae

See: http://www.kortlandt.nl/spinoza

Publications