Holger Pedersen and "Race"

[Alexis Manaster-Ramer]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I have just had a chance to look over Pedersen's book
The Discovery of Language, and contrary to the (in
my view libelous) claims by B. Wald posted on this
list, it is immediately apparent (pp. 101, 321)
that the late great Indo-Europeanist explicilty
and strongly criticizes work (e.g., Mu"ller's)
which used racial criteria to classify
languages, that he himself refers to purely
linguistic criteria as the basis for "Hamitic"
and for connecting this to Semitic (p. 122
and passim). I also not see that he is anywhere
dwelling on the Egyptians not being "negroes",
and the only possible interpretation of the
passage about Nubians' and Hausas' racial
affiliations is that he is in fact trying to
say that even though the former were not
supposedly (this is of course nonsense) "negroes"
and the latter are, this tells us nothing
about whether their languages belong, because
we do not (this is Pedersen speaking) know
enough of the Nubian language, and the status
of Hausa had not yet been sufficiently studied
to be certain that it is "Hamitic" (which is true).

There is also no hint of any suggestion that
the Hamitic languages are "mixed", some kind of
mongrel of Semitic and "negro" languages, which
apparently many Africanists did believe but
which Pedersen clearly did not (good IEnists, of course,
as a rule tended, and rightly, to reject the
rife speculation about "mixed languages" then
as now, Pedersen's French counterpart and rival
Meillet of course being the most vocal of the
whole of "mixed languages".

I really would ask that people be more cautious
about posting attacks on the integrity of great
(and esp. dead) scholars, esp. in areas as touchy
even now as "race", without doing their homework.

AMR