From: tgpedersen@...
Message: 6099
Date: 2001-02-14
--- In cybalist@..., MCLSSAA2@... wrote:
[snip]
>
> If Hittite has H for PIE H3, and PIE H3 was the ayin sound, well, I
> have heard voiceless sounds similar to this H produced by modern
> Israelis of European descent trying to pronounce the Arabic-type
ayin
> sound. If you wonder why so few of the many peoples that the
> Indo-European speakers imposed their language on around 2000 BC,
got
> H2 H3 right, ask anyone who teaches Semitic languages to Europeans
> what tends to be heard when his students try to pronounce these two
> sounds.
I read a Nostraticist's statement somewhere that IE is most similar
to AA in vocabulary, but most similar to Uralic in structure. English
is most similar to the Romance languages in vocabulary (dictionary-
wise, at least) and most similar to the Germanic languages in
structure. Can you draw any conclusions about the history of PIE from
that?
Torsten