Re: [tied] On Non-Linguistic IE Languages

--- Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:

(Piotr) The fact that in

> the last case [Germanic GK] the languages in

question are still

> mutually intelligible and form dialectal continua is
> irrelevant; what counts is that they are [all] the
> offspring of a common ancestor.

*****GK: I don't believe anyone could have better
stated the difference between the world of the elite
and that of the hoi polloi. I still think that a
language is primarily a method of communicating
meaning to someone else and find the exclusion of the
"mutual intelligibility" factor troublesome to say the
least.*****

>
> >>(Piotr:) Germanic as we know it (with Grimm,
> Verner and the stress shift) is also a recent
> product -- not even 2500 years old.
>
> *****GK: About as "recent" as Baltic and Slavic*****
>
>(Piotr) Hey, it was you who claimed that nothing

exciting

> has happened for the last 2500 years. Have you
> changed your mind? :))

*****GK (new) While I find the emergence of Ukrainian
as "exciting" an event as you (probably, hopefully)
find that of Polish, I don't consider either of these
occcurrences to be important watersheds in the history
of Indo-European languages systems. All right then,
let's put it differently for your elite benefit. When
did the last congeries of languages you would consider
to be a "family" constitute itself (and don't say
"Romance" because you will never get me to accept that
Latin is not a part of THAT family)******

(Piotr)There you're in the position

> of someone who knows Portuguese but no Romanian and
> is trying to figure out the meaning of a sentence in
> the latter: "p&m�ntul era pustiu Si gol; peste faTa
> adincului de ape era �ntunerec". ("S, T" = "s, t"
> with underhooks, "&" = "a" breve). Even with your
> Latin you might be at a loss.

*****GK: You're right. But hey! I have a solution! How
about translating this for me into PIE?(:=)))?******

>
> Piotr
>

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