Re: [cybalist] Re: Example: Burushaski

From: Gerry Reinhart-Waller
Message: 2185
Date: 2000-04-24

John Croft wrote:
>
> I have seen some evidence (Glen has also reported on it) that links
> Burushaski with the Yenesei (Ket) language of Siberia. Glen places
> it
> as a sub-family within Dene Caucasian. If he is correct in placing
> Niger Kordofanian in the Dene Caucasian macrophylum along with the
> other languages that are usually placed there (Sino-Tibetan,
> Cacasian,
> Basque, Na-Dene etc) then Dene Caucasian is a language family that
> started splitting at least 40,000 years ago (and you saw how little
> of
> common vocabulary survives that length of time (from my
> Glottochronology post). If Ket-Burushaski holds up, and if there is
> a
> Dene-Caucasian link, then Burushaski and the Na-Dene languages you
> mention (Hopi, Athabaskan-Mattole) should have a very distant
> (possibly 8,000 year old connection, as that is the date that
> archaeology/genetics gives for the arrival of the Na Denepeoples in
> North America). That is a better chance for language survivals. The
> split from Burushaski-Ket could have then been about 10-12,000 years
> ago, and may be associated with the post Ice-Age Holocene warming.
>
> Interesting work, although I don't know how it connects to IE
> studies.
> Personally I feel that the split between Burushaski and Ket-Yenesei
> was due to pressure from the west by Nostratic paleo-Altaics with a
> mesolithic culture (Dene-Caucasians were probably specialist Upper
> Paleolithic hunter-gatherers). This ties in both archaeologically
> and
> genetically.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Regards
>
> John

I guess I must be too impatient. Good luck linking Burushaski with the
Yenesei (Ket) language of Siberia. And Glen has placed it in the Dene
Caucasian family? Does what you say above mean that if I find NO common
word values between Burushaski and the American Indian languages, then
they are related? Huh? This sounds ABSURD! I must be missing
something. Please explain.

Gerry