Re: Celtic/Germanic

> From the little I know of Celtic languages, with respect to "style"
> they fit the stereotypical description of things Celtic:

Extravagant,

> when not downright suppletive then extremely complicated paradigms,

a

> typical elite language, that it would take a lifetime to learn
> properly

Come on - nearly every IE language takes a considerable amount of
time to learn properly, with even some native speakers never truly
mastering the language in their lifetimes (usually based on their
education level). Celtic languages are certainly no more harder than
Russian or Czech, and I really don't know how you can call Celtic
langauges typically "elite". I think your admitted lack of knowledge
of Celtic linguistics forces you to see more complexity in them than
they actually possess.

> (and I am pretty sure a good deal of the decade-long
> education of druids included Pan.nini-like rules learnt by heart),
> the kind of language students flee from at school, if they have any
> other interest than language for language's sake. And also
> diversified - each Celtic tribe would have a linguistic axe to

grind

> with the neighbor tribe.

<chuckling> What would possibly make you think that? What evidence do
you have of this? Do you have a linguistic axe to grind with YOUR
nighbors?

> Compare that to early Germanic which
> compared to some rival IE languages looks like a simplified trade
> language - a creole.

What makes you think this? I certainly see nothing that looks like a
creole in Germanic - as we have already discussed, the allged 30%
substrate in Germanic is probably bogus. Just because there was a
sound shift, doesn't mean that Germanic was a creole - similar sound
shifts occured in quite a few of the IE branches.

> The result is that if Celtic tribes are
> displaced and in contact with as yet unknown to them other Celtic
> tribes, they will try Germanic, much as Europeans today will use
> English on vacation, no matter where.

I am struggling to understand you here. You are saying that if a
Celtic tribe moves into a new area and comes into contact with
another Celtic tribe - but one that they don't know is Celtic yet -
they are going to try speaking to them in Germanic? This would be
truly bizarre - I hope I am misunderstanding you. Anyway - don't you
think someone would catch in within like...5 minutes that the person
they were talking to really spoke the same language as him/herself?

> If this were the case, it would be difficult for Roman writers to
> distinguish which tribe was Celtic and which Germanic, and so it
> was.

It was difficult for the Romans to distinguish Celts from Germans the
same way it is difficult for many westerners today to distinguish
Japanese from Chinese - most haven't studied these languages and
don't know much about either culture, so t's all just "Greek" to
them. This has absolutley nothing to do with whether or not a
wandering Japanese person will attempt to speak Chinese if he runs
across another eastern Asian-looking person while in a foreign land.

- Chris Gwinn