--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...>
wrote:
>
>
> Michael:
> >In other words, we see no family that is medial between Uralic
> >and Indo-European, or between Altaic and Ainu, or whatever
("genetic
> >spaces"), or between Hellenic and Indo-Iranian, or
> >Thracian and Phrygian, etc.
>
> Keep in mind that whatever traces of languages that may have
> existed in Europe before the coming of IE were pretty much wiped
> out by IE. Same with Hellenic and Indo-Iranian. There were most
> likely intermediates at some time but they died out or were
> replaced by the more popular languages around them.
>
> I already mentioned that one can think of a core IE being
> surrounded by "para-dialects" that are almost IE but not quite.
> Again, these para-dialects would be overthrown by the more
> popular core IE over time, giving us a "genetic gap", as it
> were.
>
>
> - gLeN
>
Very true, but I think there is another factor involved too. That is
the great time depth for divisions cited. When languages diverge they
don't just separate into close parallel entities and then develope in
tandem- they keep on diverging. If you picture it as rays coming out
from a common point of origin, in the beginning they would all be
close together; some might be considered "medial" between others.
After a certain period of divergence however, the distance between
any two rays has become quite large, regardless of how close they
might have been earlier. By that point even branches once considered
medial would be far distant from any other. The loss of language
diversity cited above would only accentuate this.
By the way Glen, when you describe a core PIE surrounded by para-PIE
groups, are you using "core" and "surrounded" metaphorically, or as
literal geography? If the latter, isn't very often the case that when
one of a group expands greatly in comparison to the other members it
is one on the periphery and not at the center?
Ned