Re: Was there really any Proto-Greek?

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "aquila_grande" <aquila_grande@...>
wrote:

> The common thinking abour Greek and also other IE branches, is that
> each branch had their proto-language descended from common IE, and
> that these proto-languages branched further into the historic
> attested dialects.
>
> However, the greek language is attested very far back in time,
> espesially the greek of Kreta.
>
> The strange ting is this: Even the most early attested Greek shows
> the main dialectical differentiation that is seen in later times.
>
> This means that any such thing as Proto-Greek has to been placed
> very far back in time, and very near common IE.
>
> Perhaps Proto-Greek never existed. Perhaps the Greek language
> evolved in a geographically confined area from several IE dialects
> or branches that mutually influenced each other.
>
> Perhaps the Greek dialects even were independent IE branches before
> the tribes speaking them entered the Greek Sone.
>
> Does anyone have thoughts or additional comments about this

question.

This same thesis has been advanced by Berkeley linguist Andrew
Garrett. See:

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~garrett/BLS1999.pdf

Perhaps his basic thesis can be stated this way: proto-Greek was so
close to PIE that there was a high degree of mutual intelligibility
with other proto's (proto-Anatolian, proto-Italic, etc.) Thus,
Garrett sees the late IE-speaking community as a dialect continuum,
with no clear boundaries, and with still a great deal of diffusion
and mutual influence into the stage where recognizable proto-Greek
had formed. Thus, from his point of view, the distinction between
proto-Greek and other IE "dialects" was largely one of geography.

Personally, I'm not ready to accept all this, but....

---Greg