Re: Afro-Asiatic

From: Guillaume JACQUES
Message: 1263
Date: 2000-01-30

> Does anyone know if they have made any progress with Indus Valley
> script. The last I heard they were making progress on a Dravidian
> connection. Some Aryanists still clame it is an even earlier version
> of Sanscrit.
>

I think nothing much convincing. There is a web page (harappa.com, I
think), with an interview of Parpola, the specialist of Indus script
and a description of his work.
Anyway, I personnally think the dravidian connection of the Indus
valley is not a good idea; Brahuis are present in Pakistan, but they
emigranted only in the 13th century from the south.

There is another possibility for the language affiliation of the Indus
civilization : the burushaski. They have their own vocabulary for
agricultural terms and technical terms, it is not borrowed from indic
languages. They are located in the very North of the Indus region,
because they were chased by aryan invaders. What do you think of this
theory (from "La genèse de l'Inde" by Bernard Sergeant)

Guillaume