Re: [tied] Re: Renfrew's theory renamed as Vasco-Caucasian

At 8:10:25 PM on Saturday, September 29, 2007, tgpedersen wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:

>> At 12:39:05 PM on Saturday, September 29, 2007,
>> tgpedersen wrote:

>>> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister
>>> <gabaroo6958@> wrote:

>> [...]

>>>> Germanic began to split up sometime around 500 BC,
>>>> right?

>>> No. Runic has been characterized as almost pure
>>> Proto-Germanic,

>> It has also been suggested that runic, like ogam, was
>> more conservative than the spoken language.

> As a koine, Runic was hardly older than the the use of
> runes.

If the early runic inscriptions do represent a NWGmc.
written koine, as suggested by Makaev, then the spoken
dialects had obviously already at least begun to diverge,
and the written koine very likely *was* more conservative.

>>> and Grimm hasn't yet happened in some locales in Western
>>> Germania in Caesar's time, so much later, eg. 50 BCE.

>> Geographic spread alone is a good indication that
>> noticeable dialect differentiation must have begun
>> earlier than that.

> Obviously you must have some idea of dispersion speed of
> your own.

The maps that I've seen of Gmc. peoples ca. 300-250 BCE show
them covering a large enough area to imply a certain amount
of dialect differentiation.

Brian