Evidence for Nostratic? (was Re: Proto-Uralic?)

Rob Haden <magwich78@...> writes:

> > [me: traces of active-stative system in PIE]
>
> I think I just discovered something regarding the PIE stative conjugation.
>
> Here's a sample conjugation of the PIE stative verb woid- "know":
>
> woid-h2e   "I know"
> woid-th2e  "you know"
> woid-e     "he knows"
>
> Here's a sample conjugation of the Classical Arabic verb ktb- "read" in the
> imperfect aspect:
>
> ?a-ktubu   "I am/was reading"
> ta-ktubu   "you are/were reading"
> ya-ktubu   "he is/was reading"
>
> Do you see the similarities?  The Classical Arabic imperfect personal
> prefixes are very similar to the PIE stative personal suffixes.  If they
> indeed have the same origin, we can amend the reconstructed PIE forms to:
>
> 1sg *-?a (or perhaps *-ha, if an earlier glottal stop merged with a
> laryngal spirant)
> 2sg *-t(h)a (or perhaps *-t-?a/-t-ha)
> 3sg *-ya (or perhaps *-i-?a/-i-ha ?)
This has been noticed by several people before you, and it is one
of the more convincing arguments for "Nostratic", a hypothetical
macrofamily consisting of IE, Uralic, Eskimo-Aleut, Altaic, Kartvelian,
Dravidian and Afro-Asiatic.

As to me, I consider such a relationship possible, but I am not fully
convinced by the evidence I have seen.  I am pretty certain, though,
that IE and Uralic are related.  Both are indeed remarkably similar
with regard to morphology.  The IE phonology and syntax, however,
shows parallels to Kartvelian (e.g. ablaut alternations; active-stative
alignment).  My personal theory is that PIE was a sister language
of Proto-Uralic on a substratum related to Kartvelian, or something
like that.

> Also, I suggest that the personal endings in PIE occurred before there was
> any set plural inflection with the pronouns, due to the fact that the
> plural personal suffixes for both active and stative paradigms are very
> similar (and thus have the same origin).
I have noticed that.  Possibly, in pre-PIE, the verb agreed with the patient
not in number, only in person.

Jörg.

______________________________________________________________________________
UNICEF bittet um Spenden fur die Kinder im Irak! Hier online an
UNICEF spenden: https://spenden.web.de/unicef/special/?mc=021101