Re: Witzel and Sautsutras (was: Mapping the Origins and Expansion of

At 3:00:03 PM on Thursday, October 25, 2012, shivkhokra wrote:

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

> [..]

>> Among items that I offered, Shiv doesn't tell why
>> retroflexed consonant sets do not show up in IE languages
>> that are not from the subcontinent.

> For the same reason:

> a) That British after living in India for many years did
> not pick up retroflex consonants. See the hindi spelling
> of Pune where the n is retroflex and contrast it with how
> british wrote it.

Not comparable: the British were a superficial layer of
Indian society that maintained continuous close ties with
England.

> b) That people in south east asia (thailand/burma/cambodia
> etc) who were taught religious texts both in Sanskrit and
> Pali did not pick up retroflex consonants.

Not comparable: they weren't living amongst large numbers of
native speakers of languages with retroflex consonants.

> c) And most importantly the Gypsies who migrated out of
> India lost their retroflex consonants once they got to
> Europe.

Because they moved into regions occupied by speakers of
languages that did not have retroflex consonants. This is
precisely the same reason that the Indo-Aryans acquired
retroflex consonants.

> d) Lastly do retroflex stops in Swedish and Norwegian
> count?

For what? They're retroflex stops. They have nothing to do
with Rick's question, however.