I don&#39;t consider myself an academic and have l...

I don't consider myself an academic and have little use for the overly careful and cautious academic tone, so at times, when I am expressing myself informally, and expressing enthusiasm, I admit that I might give the wrong impression.

For example, when I write "it [the gap] is most certainly present in the distribution of tone languages" I now realize that this might sound as though I am already convinced that tone languages can be explained by the same gap I've found in the musical evidence. That is NOT how I feel, I am NOT yet convinced and if you read carefully you'll see that all I'm saying is that there is a gap on the WALS map for tone languages, which is certainly the case. It is A gap, but perhaps not THE gap, and I should have made this clear.

But there are many other places where I go out of my way to explain that I am simply speculating. As when I write, in the same post: "I want to consider all possibilities and to make clear that I'm not in love with the interpretation I've been presenting."

You are right, however, to challenge me when I seem to be going overboard on such correspondances and I hope you'll continue to do so. But you too have a problem with your tone, which often comes across as dismissive and arrogant.

Fair enough. I think this sums it up. I admit I am somewhat arrogant by nature (which can be not such a bad thing if you are also self-critical and open to legitimate criticisms) though sincerely I wouldn't like to sound as dismissive.

Whatever the case, I know that, even if not any academic expert, I am much more familiar with the overall picture of population genetics than you are, because I have been following the matter with great interest for many years now. I am possibly also somewhat more familiar with some archaeological matters, another of my major interests - that can be sumed up as a deep interest for Prehistory, specially in what affects H. sapiens. On the other hand you are infinitely more knowlegeable than I am in what regards to musicology, issue on which I have only paid some attention to through this blog.

So when I perceive that you are becoming one-sided or confused on matters where my knowledge is probably wider, I try to explain it to you. This can of course sound "dismissive", I presume, but I really don't know how to express such necessary criticisms (of you or of some scholars too) without sounding that way.