Re: [tied] Genetic Link between Albanian and Romanian

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 30548
Date: 2004-02-03

03-02-04 03:02, Abdullah Konushevci wrote:

> [AK]
> First of all, I think that were much bigger authorities in
> Albanology, like Gustav Meyer, Norbert Jokl, Holger Pedersen, Paul
> Kretschmer, Eqrem Çabej, Carlo Tagliavini, Waclaw Cimochowski,
> Radoslav Katicich, Shaban Demiraj, Eric Hamp - all proclaimed
> linguists and albanologists in the world, that backed up the origin
> of Albanian language from Illyrian, besides Gustaw Weigand and the
> big, big raw of Slavic linguists that deny the filiation of the
> Albanian language from Illyrian. Despite my deep respect to the
> Piotr's authority, I must confess that he is in Albanology very
> unknown figure.

First, it isn't true that all of the above great linguists support the
Illyrian hypothesis. Jokl and Cimochowski do so with some reservations;
Hamp refrains from speculating about Illyrian and is more or less
agnostic about the whole question, while Weigand connects Albanian with
Thracian and Dacian.

Secondly, in science it's sound argumentation that matters, not "bigger
authorities". Anyone who knows the tools of the discipline (even poor
little me) may disagree with the top brass if there are valid reasons
for disagreement. "Argumentum ab auctoritate" is just a silly rhetorical
device.

> Second, how would Piotr ore any one else deny the fact that, at most,
> all inherited (and accepted) Illyrian lexicon is present in Albanian
> language.

False. Some of the Illyrian lexicon, reconstructed from loose fragments,
can be twisted into agreement with Albanian through arbitrary
speculation. That's a far cry from what you claim.

> Third, how should one explain the simple fact that, at most, all
> place names, known from the antiquity, could be explained only
> through Albanian language. Indeed, through sound-law and appellatives
> in Albanian language.

I've shown that to be false on more than one occasion. Even the showcase
examples are flawed, and others are quite hopeless.

Piotr