Re: IE common traits

"Simona Klemencic" simona_klemenci-@... writes: 1."In broad terms all human languages are most likely descended from a single language." What makes you so sure of that???

Mark: This gets into the origin of our species as well as the neurological basis of our ability to learn language. There are two models for the origin of  H. sapiens. The first says different groups emerged out of late H. habilis, in different parts of the world. The second, and most generally held view is that we all came from Africa, from a very small founder group. It is possible that language independently arose in more than one group, but extraordinary advantages conferred by language would give the founders an immense advantage over their pre-linguistic kin. Marc Verhaegen is better equipped to review these questions.

It's perhaps not the place here. We're discussing these things in http://www.onelist.com/community/AAT . It's now commonly accepted that the Last Common Ancestor of all living humans lived in Africa ca.150,000 year ago. Probably all humans can learn any language (though I'm not sure, eg, whether white or Asiatic babies can learn, when raised in Khoisan communities, the Khoisan clicks as easily as Khoisan babies can), so this suggests that this LCA must have had all the equipment (brains & speech organs) to be able to learn & speak "true" language (with phonemes, morphemes & grammar). Probably, earlier languages were simpler, eg, had less complicated grammar, or, still earlier, no grammar at all, but whether the neandertals (with brains somewhat larger than ours) had some sort of language, with or without grammar, etc., is not known (humans & neandertals probably split more than ca.500,000 ya). I agree with Mark that the LCA of living humans must have had some "grammaticised" language, the "Ursprache" or "Mother Tongue" from which all present languages descend. The reconstruction of that language might well be impossible of course (certainly when languages in those early times evolved as fast as they do now - we don't know whether early languages changed faster or slower). --Marc