Alex:
> Satem / Centum split : the most important division of INDO-
> EUROPEAN languages was detected based on the "Swadesh Lists" or
> Based on the PHONETICAL SYSTEMS OF THESE LANGUAGES???
Honestly, Alex. With all those question marks and capital letters it looks
like you've gone and flipped your little head. Faut pas casser la tête,
mon bonhomme. Breathe some calm.
Your opinions on languages are unfortunately very incorrect and oppose
linguistic fact. There is no "satem/centum split". There is a satem/centum
isogloss division and it's not as important a "split" as once thought. We
must keep that in mind because there are some "centum" languages that
share features with other "satem" languages. This is because the dialects
were side-by-side and affected each other. Do those centum languages
belong to "satem" or "centum"? The answer is: They don't belong to any
side per se because there is no centum-satem split.
Now, the phonetic system of a language has quite plainly no bearing on any
linguistic relationship. Two languages may have different sound systems
and still be related (like Hindi and English) or have two of the same
sound systems but not be related (like Akkadian and Etruscan). You place
importance on sound systems in opposition to all linguists world-wide. You
can either accept this or rant more with capital letters and triple
question marks but if you choose the latter, I'd rather it be on another
forum because it certainly doesn't foster an environment of learning.
= gLeN