Wrote I:
>> "Proto-Linear" (I daren't say, lest you think I'm mad)
Wrote Julianus:
>What makes you think we don't already? C'mon, out with it!
Ah shucks. You're just sayin' that ;) Well, I was thinking more
about SinoDene, strangely enough. It's a loooong story...
My view is that both NWC and IndoTyrrhenian (ancestor of IE and
Etruscan) come ultimately from Central Asia. The migration would
have started around 9000 BCE for both language groups. I'm
reasonably convinced that NWC, NaDene and SinoTibetan are part of
a larger grouping usually called SinoDene, while, on the other
hand, IndoTyrrhenian would be also part of a larger grouping which
I call Steppe (Bomhard calls it Eurasiatic) that links the language group
with others like Uralic, Altaic, EskAleut and
ChukchiKamchatkan. So, around 9000 BCE, we have two, quite
unrelated, language groups sitting side by side in Asia, SinoDene
and Steppe. So far, there is nothing terribly wild about this
story since it has been proposed many times before, more or less.
Now, picture this. NWC and IndoTyrrhenian both travel west
finally arriving at the Black Sea. NWC is further ahead than
IndoTyrrhenian, the latter arriving to its hypothesized
location north of the Black Sea by 7000 BCE. IndoT then trickles
down southward toward the sea and severes the recently established
NWC languages who hug the north coast of the Black Sea. At this
point, the eastern side of the language area pushes into the
Caucasus as the IndoTyrrhenian language area spreads. Likewise,
the western edge of the Early NWC language area is pushed westward
towards the Balkans where it will stay until perhaps as late as
4000 BCE or so. It settles perhaps in the "Vinca" area.
So let's call this lovely language "Proto-Vinca" (or should we
stick to Proto-Linear?). As innovations come from the MiddleEastern
via the Semitish including agriculture, the Vinca language group
prospers. It would then appear to take from the autochtonous
culture and develop a rudimentary writing system, a syllabic
writing system to suit the qualities of Proto-Vinca. What I'm
saying is... maybe the underlying language of the Linear script is
in fact a NorthWest Caucasian language (???!).
We now come to 5500 BCE. The Tyrrhenian group expands and
marginalizes the Proto-Vinca and Semitish languages, perhaps even
pushing them slowly into Anatolia. And then who knows... maybe
Proto-Vinca and Semitish might have then become Hattic and
Kaskian, respectively.
The End. Wasn't that a nice story? Any comments or heckling
from the peanut gallery will be appreciated.
- gLeN
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