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Re: NATLANG:Proto-Pontic

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Sunday, October 19, 2003, 16:18
Joe wrote:


> According to Wikipedia, a theory has been put forth that Proto-NW
Caucasian
> and PIE are somehow related, as Proto-Pontic...is there any actual
evidence
> for this, does anyone know?
I believe that's part of the Nostratic hypothesis, though I'm not sure of the details. Most likely the evidence will involve suggestive resemblances in the pronoun system, and a handful of vocab.items that may be inherited, or loans, or simply coincidences...ya takes yer pick... In the past there has been lively discussion of this and other aspects of the theory on Cybalist (yahoogroups) but I'm not sure it will still be in their archive (truncated by Yahoo a while back). A slightly crazed (but interesting/amusing) member there named Glen Gordon has a website devoted to his concept of the wider relationships and developments in the pre-PIE period. Also-- there are at least two Nostratic lists in yahoogroups (one defunct now for several months), where you might find some info, to be viewed, I think, with caution....... I've given up reading them, as they become rather flame-y. Mr. Gordon participates there as well, and you might find his URL there more easily than on Cybalist. If you google for "Nostratic" you'll get a mixed bag of pure wacko and the occasional genuine scholar (mostly Russians).

Replies

Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
Richard Wordingham <richard.wordingham@...>
Wesley Parish <wes.parish@...>