Re: Contemporaneous protolanguages

Quoting Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>:

> On Sep 26, 2004, at 8:44 PM, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
> > From:    Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
> >> Quoting "Thomas R. Wier" <trwier@...>:
> >>> My understanding is that PAA is usually situated far to the South,
> >>> somewhere near the Red Sea.  It's clear that Akkadian started
> >>> arriving from southward into Sumerian-speaking lands, and the
> >>> overall center of gravity of PAA is along the Red Sea, but other
> >>> than these facts I don't know anything very specific about it.
>
> >> From southward? What I've read of Mesopotamian history rather seemed
> >> to suggest they came from the north or west; what evidence is there to
> >> allow us to tell, anyway?
>
> > I'm just reporting what Gene Gragg here at the Oriental Institute
> > told me.  He works on precisely Afro-Asiatic linguistics,
> > especially Southern Semitic languages like Ge'ez, and Cushitic
> > and Omotic languages.  Like I said, I don't know the details behind
> > the argument. (He also teaches courses on Hurrian, which is the
> > context in which I got to know him best.) I can email him for the
> > details if you like.
I'd like. Thanks.

> I think it was in _Guns, Germs and Steel_ by Jared Diamond where i read
> that it makes sense for the Semitic-speakers to have come from the
> South, since the vast majority (and greatest variety) of Afro-Asiatic
> languages are in Northern Africa.
That's part of the reason I'm surprised at the notion they entered Sumeria from
the south - if I were going to Sumeria from the Red Sea region without camels
or trucks, my first idea would be trekking up thru Syria, and then following
the Euphrates to enter Sumeria from the northwest, rather than cross the
Arabian desert.

                                                      Andreas

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