Re: Odp: Odp: Cowboys on Horseback

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 164
Date: 1999-11-04

 
----- Original Message -----
From: tommy.tyrberg@...
To: cybalist@eGroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 1999 8:50 PM
Subject: [cybalist] Re: Odp: Odp: Cowboys on Horseback

I would also like to comment on a digression of Mark Odegar a few
messages back, where he asked if there is any language that might be
the ancestor of a new branch of IE. I submit that there is one:
English. This is admittedly a West Germanic language, but it is very
different from its' nearest relatives, it has a largely non-germanic
vocabulary and has lost practically all traces of case inflections.

Also it has spread over large parts of the Earth and split into a large
number of dialects, some of which are well on their way to turning into
separate languages (and if You don't agree with that, just try to speak
to a native of Jamaica or some other West Indian Islands or, even
better, to sombody who speaks Tok Pisin). 

Even with the stabilizing effect of writing it seems very likely to me
that in a millenium there will be an "Englic" branch of the IE family.
Exactly. And if no Old English documents make it to the 30th century, there will be heated debates about the genetic affiliations of Proto-Englic -- whether it was more closely connected with the Germanic or the Romance branch!
 
Piotr