ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the section of the book describing different approaches to reconstructing language, by describing the archaeolinguistic or palaeolinguistic method. The initial section gives the background of the approach, which is rooted in nineteenth- and twentieth-century research reconstructing past societies by means of the comparative method. Thereupon, the chapter describes three common types of reconstruction in this approach: the reconstruction of past societies through vocabulary, of culture and beliefs through linguistic systems, and of contact and migrations through borrowing. In its final section, the chapter will overview some of the methods and models by which linguistic reconstructions are connected to cultures of the past. Throughout the chapter, these methods and models will be both described and scrutinized for their reliability and possible restrictions in their usage.
