Re: House and City

From: tgpedersen@...
Message: 6626
Date: 2001-03-19

--- In cybalist@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
>
> Torsten:
> >With respect to the *b/p-l/r- lump/dump I put it out on two
separate
> >occassions for two separate reasons:
> >
> >1) To establish a connection between Austric and IE/AA. [...]
> >2) Someone was arguing for a link between some of the particular
> >glosses that were also listed in my *b/p-l/r- lump/dump.
>
> As anyone knows, I'm big time "long-range" so I don't reject a
connection
> between Austric and IE outright, but let's not expect a close or
even a
> "slightly remote" one, 'kay? It's brutally clear to most that any
> connection, as disjointed in time as these two stages are to each
other to
> begin with, would be on the order of tens of thousands of years
which makes
> it extremely improbable that similarities are due more to
> inheritance/borrowing rather than the abundant, garden variety
coincidence.
> There's just nothing one can do to convincingly argue against this.
>

I might begin with this:
You put up a very good temporal argument that the similarities can't
be caused by inheritance. You then replace "inheritance" with
"inheritance/borrowing". You have now proved that the similarities
can't be caused by borrowing and therefore any similarity must a
coincidence, since tertium non datur. Or was it quartum non datur?


> What you're doing is mass comparison but without the firm
conclusions. It's
> a technique that doesn't produce meaningful data, no matter how
extensive
> (as has been said a nauseating amount of times to no avail),
especially when
> using languages so clearly unconnected both temporally and
geographically.
> Whether you claim anything from your listings or whether you're
> dispassionately objective about what similarities you catalog, the
> information is unlikely to do much for yourself or anyone else in
the end
> because a logical foundation just isn't there. It seems like so
much work
> for so little reward. If any benefit at all, it's more likely to
illuminate
> the existence of wanderwords, aiding to discount further any
convictions you
> have about close connections between IE and Austric.
>

A Wanderwort is a (several times over) loan word. What you are
saying, although you don't seem to realize it, is that I have proved
my theory.

> In re of Oppenheimer and AA-IE-Austric connections I refuse to read
anything
> that involves the resurrection of quaint and very dead theories of
the 19th
> century, just like I refuse to entertain anti-evolutionists when
they come
> knocking on my door... like my parents... They're Jehovah's
Witnesses
> afterall. But hey, you don't get to pick and choose your parents
(but
> there's nothing wrong with ignoring the doorbell and turning off
all the
> lights when they come).
>
But at least you share with them the conviction of the all-importance
of a long-term diffusion of ideas from the Eastern Mediterranean area
(I'm pretty sure it's spelled this way, because I've just been to the
library). Don't you think that could form a basis for a dialogue?

> Back to Oppenheimer. This guy feels the need to take just about any
world
> folklore that suits his personal needs, to combine it with amazing,
> dyschronistic catastrophes of biblical proportions, and to use
questionable
> anthropological, linguistic & genetic data to support his moving
fantasies.

That guy Oppenheimer sounds like a horrible person. I'm glad he
doesn't post his long-range ravings in this list.

> Now, the less romantic idea of a long-term diffusion of cultural
elements
> from the Eastern Meditteranean area, beginning in the neolithic,
won't sell
> as many books I suppose but it remains far more logically
satisfying a
> solution for linguists, archaeologists, geneticists and
anthropologists.

That's not true. The Bible has sold a lot of copies.

Of
> course, I'm silly - I should try and rely more on today's
sensationalistic
> marketing to get my point across. Rather than spending my time in a
library
> researching the validity of my ideas, I should be spending my time
on my
> laptop whipping up the next best-seller like Oppenheimer. Thanx,
Tor, You've
> helped me make an important career move.

A small linguistic note: Danish, like Norwegian and German, but
unlike Swedish, English and Dutch, does not form nicknames by
dropping the last part of the compound name.

>
> What else can you say about that? Not much. So I'll shutup now.
("Hooray!"
> the crowd cheers, "We thought that arrogant blabbermouth would
never shut
> his trap!")
>
> - gLeN
>
>
No, no, please continue!

Torsten