LL-L "Pronomina" 2002.07.20 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 20.JUL.2002 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: "Roman Laryushkin" <puka_2000 at mail.ru>
Subject:

Dear Lowlanders!
A few days ago I was looking through a Russian-Finnish Dictionary and
saw that
the word "I" in Finnish will be "min`a`" (`a` is a-umlaut, my keyboard
doesen't
have such a letter). This word sounds like Russian word, tht is
pronounced in
the sam way meaning "me". And sounds like many Germanic pronounces -
mijn, min,
mein, my eyc.
Finnish is not a Germanic language and not even Indo-European but the
pronounciation and meaning of this word reminds that of Germanic (and
Slavic).
Any suggestions?

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Pronomina

Privet, Roman, Lowlanders!

Roman, congratulations on your observation!

Indeed, this is one of the astonishing things in comparing languages and
language groups or families.  There are remarkable similarities in the
pronominal systems (both personal and demonstrative).  This is all the
more remarkable -- or should we approach it from the other end and say
it is telling? -- when you consider that pronouns are believed to be
among the most stable elements in languages in that they are virtually
never borrowed, although they may be dropped (e.g., English _thou_ and
Dutch _doe_) or shifted around (e.g., English _you_ and Dutch _jij_).
Yes, nominal forms in one group may correspond to objective forms in
another group.

Many years ago I did a special research project as a university student
where I compared the reconstructed pronominal systems of Indo-European,
Uralic and Altaic and came up with three systems that differed only
minimally.  (Unfortunately that was in the days before personal
computing, and this thesis is buried somewhere in a box not opened
since.)

You may or may not be aware of the "Nostratic" theory, heralded in part
by the Dane Pedersen and others and worked out by the brilliant young
Russian
Vladislav Markovich Illich-Svitych (1934-1966).  The pronominal systems
played a role in this.  This theory has it that the following language
families have a common ancestor: Indo-European, Uralic (e.g. Finnic,
Ugric, Samoyedic), Altaic (Turkic, Mongolic, (Manchu-)Tungusic, Korean,
Japanese), Afro-Asiatic (or "Hamito-Semitic"), Bantu, Dravidic, and
Kartvelic (Georgian, Svan, etc.).  This theory found approval mostly in
the Soviet Union and its allies, because it was politically compatible.
It found mostly ridicule or just ignored in the West at first (in some
cases probably in part due to racism).  This began to change in the late
20th century.  People have now gone beyond Nostratic, proposing even
larger families, and they are less and less regarded the lunatic fringe
of linguistics.

Here are a few relevant links:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/nostratic.html
http://www.jum.ru/finproj/protol.htm
http://hometown.aol.com/yahyam/page25/nostratic.htm
http://www.mega.nu:8080/protolanguage/PERSPRO1.htm

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

===
"Allan Lomax inspired millions to find their heritage and to relate it
to that of others."
    Collector, archivist and performer of folksongs Pete Seeger on
    the death of his colleague, July 20, 2002

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