Re: [tied] Re:P & Q, and -pt- & -kt-

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 14423
Date: 2002-08-21

"Irish genes" is a potentially misleaing shorthand expression. OK, let's put it differently: there is no _other_ substrate in Icelandic (and the significance of the Irish one, whatever the genetic contribution, is uncertain: how many loans from Irish do we find in Icelandic?). At any rate, Irish influence does not explain the bulk of Icelandic sound changes.
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: guto rhys
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re:P & Q, and -pt- & -kt-

If you are interested in the genetic history of the population of Iceland I remember reading recently that an estimated 40% of the genes were Irish according to one study on genetics (of which Iceland is one of the world leaders, not only having quite a self-contained population but also having remarkable genealogical records). The records are currently used to predict incidences of breast cancer. This would consequently provide a very significant linguistic substratum.