Re: Re[4]: [tied] How should Nostratic be viewed?

From: Glen Gordon
Message: 20004
Date: 2003-03-17

Gerry:
>If there was such a language/family as Proto-World, [...]

I don't think one needs to question whether there was a "proto-
World" or not since surely all languages derive from some common
ancestor, no matter how old. It's outright inconceivable for a
vocal language to appear out of nowhere so a monogenesis
is pretty much a done-deal, afaic. Proto-World could be compared
in concept to the mitochondrial Eve. We don't question that there
was such a person, because quite obviously there must have been.
All humans are related afterall and, like vocal languages, people
can't pop up out of thin air.

That is seperate from whether Proto-World reconstructions have
any merit thus far in the linguistic world -- They don't.


- gLeN


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