Hittites ~ Phrygians ~ Balkan peoples?

petegray petegray at btinternet.com
Mon Aug 9 18:42:24 UTC 1999


>From Rick:

> What is the current consensus re Phrygian, Armenian, Thracian,
> Macedonian, Albanian and Greek?
> Are they considered as part of an Indo-Balkan subfamily along with
> Indo-Iranian?

For the well attested languages we can say that there are too many
differences, not least the centum/satem, and the RUKI palatalisation, both
of which Albanian & Armenian show, but Greek does not.

There are close connections between Greek and Indo-Iranian, and many  points
of contact with Armenian, but they must be kept in perspective.  There are
many differences as well.   To talk of a sub-family is a bit too extreme.

As for the less well attested languages, I think the evidence is so slim
that opinions differ!

Peter



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