PIE vs. Proto-World (Out of Africa)

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

I wrote:
<<So that separation date is an arbitrary correlation as far as what left
Africa - e.g., the evacuation of New Guinea and 500 languages leave.>>

In a message dated 8/19/99 10:55:21 PM, rmccalli at sunmuw1.MUW.Edu wrote:
<<I don't understand your point here>>

I simply meant that if the Out of Africa contingent did have language, there
is no reason to think it was one language.  E.g., if the humans inhabiting
New Guinea for any imaginable reason suddenly left to colonize the world,
they would carry with them 500-700 different languages.  A 100,000 years in
Africa would have been more than enough time to develop that kind of
diversity.  And at this point in our knowledge there's no reason to assume
they didn't.

Please remember that I just gave this as an aside to the overall discussion.
It wasn't proving anything except what we don't know.

Regards,
Steve Long