early IE dialect areas diagram

[ECOLING at aol.com]

I use visual aids to help my thinking.
The following dialect map I did recently, and was assisted by conversations
with Joat Simeon during the process.

It is in a Monospaced font, using only spaces not tabs,
so after you receive it, convert it into a Monospace font
(like Courier on the Macintosh).  The horizontal positions
should then align nicely.

Rotate it 45 degrees or so counterclockwise, to get the right results.

You should have a dialect chain from Indo-Iranian to Armenian
to Phrygian-Thracian-Illyrian-Albanian to Greek,
and another from Indic to Indo-Iranian to Slavic & Baltic to Germanic etc.

Different time periods are shown, so the separation of Anatolian
is much earlier, and it can be excluded when considering later isoglosses.

Finno-Ugric has loans from Indo-Iranian (though not many from PIE),
and Finnish has loans from German.  They were placed off to the sides
in the appropriate relative positions as reminders of this.

In a map of dialect areas which is done correctly, it should be possible
to draw most isoglosses as convex ovoids with no concave portions
(within the limitations that a single two-dimensional positioning
cannot represent a history of different contacts during migrations,
first with one group, then with another).  See whether you think this
one helps the deliberations.

It is designed to reflect the possibility that the Armenian-to-Greek
dialect chain, and the IndoIranian-to-Indic dialect chain,
both migrated southwards at about the same times.

If anyone can suggest the scenario for the positions of Celtic
and Italic especially at the very ealiest stages, and whether
their neighbors changed very much during the expansion of IE
dialects westwards, I would be grateful for any help with thinking.

Best wishes,
Lloyd Anderson
Ecological Linguistics


          Celtic





Italic              Germanic                           Finnish





                               Baltic




Greek                                 Slavic

          Albanian
          (Illyrian-                 [Ukraine
                    Thracian            Homeland of PIE]
                 Phyrgian



                 Armenian


(Anatolian
Isolated)

                                Indo-Iranian           Finno-Ugric


                 Iranian


Indic