15.986, Disc: How China discovered America...?

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-15-986. Wed Mar 24 2004. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 15.986, Disc: How China discovered America...?

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1)
Date:  Thu, 18 Mar 2004 22:05:10 -0500
From:  "colkitto" <colkitto at sprint.ca>
Subject:  How China discovered America...?

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 18 Mar 2004 22:05:10 -0500
From:  "colkitto" <colkitto at sprint.ca>
Subject:  How China discovered America...?


The recent work
	Menzies, Gavin. 2003. 1421. The Year China Discovered
	America. New York: Harper & Collins.
makes some very interesting, albeit vague, suggestions about possible
Chinese linguistic influence on the languages of the Andes (p. 226).

"A sailing ship is chamban in Colombia, sampan in China, a raft is
balsa in South America, palso in China, etc."

He also makes the startling statement that until the late 19th century
villagers in a mountain village in Peru spoke Chinese, citing an the
Peruvian historian Padron.

It looks a little bit suspicious, but Menzies ' does seem to have done
his homework in the book as a whole.

Any comments?

Thanks, Robert Orr



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