[Fwd: [ArchTheoMeth] genes and languages--Kurds and Georgians]

[anthony.appleyard@umist.ac.uk]

Geoffrey Summers <summers at metu.edu.tr> forwarded a message about
mitochondrial DNA (= mtDNA) and how it might be related to language; a
researcher compared mtDNA in Kurds and Georgians (= Kartvelians).

I read that mtDNA is transmitted from the mother only and reflects the
maternal line. If people A has a continuous habit of taking women from
people B, then B's mtDNA will come along with it. Also, mtDNA can't change
when a people is conquered by outsiders and so gradually learns another
language. People have been moving about so much that in any area their
racial types will be thoroughly mixed by now.

Sorry about this diversion into biology, but: They say that mtDNA comes
from the mother only. But I read that a spermatozoon has a few mitochondria
strapped round the base of its tail to give it power to swim. If so, how
often at fertilization does mtDNA from those mitochondria from the father,
get into the new individual? If so, that may upset studies based on mtDNA
types.