Bangani is a _satem_ language -- an
unconspicuous and little-known member of the Western Pahari group of Indo-Arian,
spoken in the Indian Himalayas. What gave rise to the current
controversy over Bangani was the 1987 announcement, by the German
linguist Claus Peter Zoller, of the discovery of an alleged stratum of
centum _loanwords_ in it. The most startling aspect of that story is that for
various reasons no known centum group matches the linguistic profile
of the hypothetical source language (it can't have been Tocharian or Greek, in
particular). More recent studies have partly undermined the original claims of
Zoller, though according to some eminent Indologists (cf. H.H. Hock's statement
below) an interesting residue remains and the case cannot be regarded as closed.
We shall probably have to wait a few more years till more fieldwork is done
before reliable conclusions can be reached. A hitherto undetected "lost tribe"
of centum IEs in the East is not something that cannot be imagined (not after
Tocharian!), but an extraordinary hypothesis like this requires a really solid
proof.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 1:18 PM
Subject: [tied] Bangani
Hello all,
I have a question: I heard that Bangali is a kentum
indo-european
language, could you give me light? It's a strange fact because
the
geographical situation of Bangani.Thank you very much.