Re: glossogenesis (was: Indo-European question)

> Date:         Sun, 24 Jun 2001 08:47:19 -0400
> From: Andreas Johansson <and_yo@...>
>
> Jesse Bangs wrote:
> >[T]he Inuit languages [...] are stretched in a series of languages
> >from Alaska all the way across northern Canada (I think). Each
> >region speaks a dialect nearly identical with the dialects around
> >it, but mutual intelligibility decreases linearly the further you
> >go from your starting point. And these languages are some of the
> >most complex and difficult languages known (from a European
> >perspective.)
>
> Actually, it stretches all the way to Greenland. It's also debateable
> whether there's any language border thru' Alaska - you could say the
> conintuum goes all the way to Chukchia in that direction.
The Aleutian languages are well-accepted as part of the continuum ---
but I didn't think there was much left on the mainland of the Asian
continent.

I don't know how current it is, but the assumption used to be that the
ancestors of the Inuit were the inhabitants of most of Siberia, before
the current Uralic speakers dislodged them and they emigrated East in
multiple waves. (The last small group reached North West Greenland
(Qaanaaq) from Canada as late as 130 years ago).

In other news, over on the Indo-European list a few weeks ago they
were discussing a new proposal to connect the verbal morphologies of
Uralic and Inuit --- and very unusually, it didn't get shot down even
though there are experts on both language groups on the list. So there
may be something there.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)