Sociological Linguistics

[Patrick C. Ryan]

[ moderator re-formatted ]

Dear Nicholas and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Nicholas Widdows <nicholas.widdows at traceplc.co.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 1999 7:58 AM

Nicholas concludes:

> Complexity can't have arisen from proto-human simplicity in anything
> reconstructible from Sumerian or Egyptian, because they're a scratch on the
> surface compared to the actual time depth in which this complexity has been
> with us all.

Pat responds:

My apologies in advance for claiming, at least, to essentially agree with
you up to this final point.

You have identified the crux of the matter here. I believe that Sumerian and
Egyptian have morphemes that can be identified as earlier morphemes
(monosyllabic) by inspection or by analysis; and that languages like IE,
which have principally CVC roots, can be analyzed so that the CVC roots are
recognized to be the results of compounds of CV+CV elements in an earlier
(than Nostratic) language.

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)