Re: Catastrophism and syllable structure (was Re: subconscious sound preferences)

Andrew Smith wrote:

> On Sun, 27 Dec 1998, Tom Wier wrote:
>
> > I don't doubt it, but considering where a lot of theories like these
> > have come from, what with Soviet ideology always having historically =
been
> > a legitimate reason to discount theories in Russia, you can see how I
> > responded how I did.
> >
> I'm reading _Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans_ by Gamkrelidze and
> Ivanov at the moment. (Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 80=
)
> While it's a great resource to mine for IE con-cultures I am wondering =
how
> close to the fringe some of their interpretations come.  Would anyone c=
are
> to pass judgement or summerize commentary on this title?
Well, as usual with such things, it really depends on who you're talking =
to.
In general, I would say that most IEists would consider Gamkrelidze and
Ivanov's claims that IE actually had a whole series of glottalized conson=
ants
to be certainly very controversial, but according to those whom I've spok=
en
to (including my professor Mark Southern who's something of an expert in
the field), their ideas don't sound as wacky as they did, say, ten years =
ago.
The establishment is moving in their direction, apparently.

I'm not an expert in the field, but from what I've read about it, I think=
 I kinda
have sympathies for their position if I am not willing to declare my supp=
ort
for it outright.


(In case you're interested, here are some good sites about their work:

Something they published in _Scientific American_ about the IE Urheimat:
<http://chess96.com/Olympiad/indoeuro.htm>

One I posted on this list just recently about the Glottalic hypothesis:
<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~twier/mimungsociety/mimungglottalic.html>)



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Tom Wier <twier@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"S=F4=F0 is gecy=FEed / =FE=E6t mihtig God manna
cynes / w=EAold w=EEde-ferh=F0."
 _Beowulf_, ll. 700-702
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