This must be from that Japanese STD Zach29 was mentioning …
It does follow, which is the point of the article I linked too, which is why I said that.
Let’s say we have a probability of .00079 that any Polynesian word for taro will match any given South American language. There are over 500 languages in South America, which means that the probability that any Polynesian word for taro will match at least one South American word for Taro is 0.79, or near enough 80%.
But we know there are multiple Polynesian words for taro. Following the same reasoning and being very conservative, this should increase the chance of one of those words matching a South American words by one in 5000, which means that the the probability that any Polynesian word for taro will match at least one South American word for Taro is 0.99, or near enough 100%.
If we then allow for inexact matches, such as taro in one language matching “root vegetable” or " taro meal" in another, then the odds increase further still.
Or as I originally said: It’s a near certainty that one word for taro in one South American dialect will be identical to the word in Polynesian, by random chance.
:eek:
Bwaa haaa haa haaa.