Re: Conlangs on based Slavic languages...etc

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 5:08 PM
Subject: Re: Conlangs on based Slavic languages...etc


> CC = Constentin Cornomorus
> J = Joe
>
> CC> Indo-Hitite; according to some linguisticians,
>
> How is a "linguistician" different from a "linguist"?
>
> CC> Hittite is not an IE language, but is a sister
> CC> language of IE. As far as the internal history is
> CC> concerned, it's simply "Aryan".
>
> J> Of course, that is quite a silly definition.  The very term
'Indo-European',
> J> AFAIK, means all the recorded languages in that family(that can be
proven to
> J> be related).
>
> The term "Indo-European" refers to all the languages descended from the
> ancestor language "Proto-Indo-European".  If Hittite were a sibling of
> PIE rather than a child, then it would not be part of the I-E family.
> But I think it is considered to be an IE language, on its own branch.
PIE is defined in terms of the IE language family, not the other way around.
PIE is the common ancestor of all Indo European languages.  The only
definition for what is an Indo-European language is that it can be clearly
shown to be related to other Indo-European languages.  As such, Hittite is
an Indo-European language, and is a descendant of PIE.

In my opinion, anyway.

> -Mark
>

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