Re: [tied] Albanian as a satem langauge

alexandru_mg3 wrote:

> You cannot imagine any local population to gradually shift to another
> language?

Yes, shift. That's the operative word.

> Do you know the case of Ireland?
>
> There are no AmeriIndian in Latin America that learnt Spanish and
> didn't talk today after several centuries their original language?

I'm not sure what to make of this double negation.

>
> Your assertion seems more a wishfull thinking....

In all these cases a new language has REPLACED the old one. In Ireland,
most of the rural population SWITCHED from Irish to English during the
19th century. The switch was a DISCONTINUITY in the linguistic history
of Ireland. Irish English did not evolve out of Irish Gaelic. It does
contain lexical and structural BORROWINGS from its Celtic predecessor,
but to all intents and purposes Irish English is just one of the many
geographical varieties of Modern English. Ditto for Romanian, which is
an ordinary Romance language with a little "local colour" it owes to its
old Albanoid substrate.

Piotr