Re: [tied] Reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European

> >Does anyone know if the Proto-Indo-European has been fully
> >reconstructed yet? Not only vocabulary, but grammar too? In other
> >words, is it possible to "learn" Proto-Indo-European, as one could
> >learn chinese or italian?
>
> It isn't, and it never will. ...part of the information (phonology,
> lexicon, grammar, syntax) has been irrecoverably lost along the way.

Also, what we reconstruct for one item (e.g. the phonology or noun system)
may not have existed at exactly the same time as what we reconstruct for
some other part of PIE. PIE was itself a natural language and underwent
changes even within the time for which we reconstruct it. Some of these
changes are recoverable, some can be suggested. But to say "this is PIE" is
just not possible.

Peter