PIE vs. Proto-World (Proto-Language)

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Steven and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Steven Schaufele <fcosw5 at mail.scu.edu.tw>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 1999 1:08 PM

> I would, however, reject any suggestion that our knowledge of PIE is
> ipso facto on a par with our knowledge (or lack thereof) of
> `Proto-World'.  Though i admit frankly to being little more than an
> amateur at this game, i am quite confident of *most* of what we claim to
> know about PIE.  Although i'm not prepared to go as far as Calvert
> Watkins (i think it was?) who composed a fable in PIE, i certainly do
> not doubt that, in principle, it could be done with our current state of
> knowledge.  Whereas i regard `Proto-World' as little more than an
> entertaining fantasy.

There are others who are working on reconstructing "Proto-World" from a
totally different methodology.

What I have been working on, I call "Proto-Language".

I simply do not understand why some find it difficult to understand that
reconstructing the Proto-Language is only primarily different from
reconstructing Indo-European in the wider selection of source languages for
data. Of course, secondarily I have labored to reconstruct the underlying
monosyllables by analysis of attested compounds.

Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN (501) 227-9947; FAX/DATA (501)312-9947 9115 W. 34th St.
Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803 and PROTO-RELIGION:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit
ek, at ek hekk, vindga meipi, nftr allar nmu, geiri undapr . . . a ~eim
meipi er mangi veit hvers hann af rstum renn." (Havamal 138)