From: Mark Odegard
Message: 1389
Date: 2000-02-05
Me? O, mama. Anka bak mena.
Anka mena-mena Ruhlen kuku. Kuku-kuku.
Ooooo. Such a potty-mouth!Nonetheless, following the opinions of those whom I respect, I gather that Piotr's assessment of Merritt Ruhlen's work is right on.
The methods Greenberg, Ruhlen, et al., use to reconstruct 'Nostratic' and other such super-groupings are not the same methods which allow us to state -- with absolute certainty, as a matter of proven 'scientific fact' -- that Proto-Indo-European was a real language spoken in a real place at a real time.
While no one disagrees with the basic notion behind the Nostratic hypothesis, the evidence presented to 'prove' this hypothesis is inadequate. What is presented is, at best, learned speculation.
The next great triumph in historic linguistics would be the conclusive proof of the common descent of IE and Uralic using the same methods that conclusively prove the reality of PIE.
Mark.