--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3" <alexandru_mg3@...>
wrote:
I'd written:
> >Even if it could be proved somehow that Albanian
> >continued the language of some group that could be referred to as
> >Illyrians, what significance would that have?
Then Marius wrote:
> To find out for sure that the Proto-Albanians were Dacians or
> Illyrians has the same significance as any major study on the "Indo-
> European language".
> In other words it would have a huge significance.
I'm sorry, I was led astray by the confusion of linguistic and ethnic
labels that is endemic when these questions are discussed. If it
could be proved that Albanian continues the language of the Dacians
or the Illyrians, that would of course be interesting news from a
scientific point of view. But you know as well as I do that that
question is discussed primarily with an eye towards establishing
territorial claims and in order to support national myths of the type
that sooner or later tend to ruin innocent people's lives. I've seen
too much of that in ex-Yugoslavia to retain my peace of mind when
confronted with that kind of crap.
Personally I find the near-obligatory attachment of Albanian
linguists to the Illyrian myth heart-rending, because if it would
some day turn out to be wrong (which can happen very easily) what
then? If you do feel the need for a national myth, what is the use of
building one on quicksand?
Let's hope for the best,
Willem