--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Abdullah Konushevci"
<akonushevci@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
> <richard.wordingham@...> wrote:
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, mimoza loki <larisa_loki@...>
> wrote:
> > > Albanians are descent of Illyrians. Science of History proved
> that.
> >
> > The *second* sentence sounds like a propagandist lie. What proof
> has
> > been offered?
>
> [AK]
> What proof you offer that Albanians are not the descendents of
> Illyrians?
My objection is to the use of the word 'prove'.
The evidence that I know of relates to the descent of the Albanian
language from the Illyrian language. It doesn't exclude the
possibility that a significant group of Illyrians switched from
speaking Illyrian to speaking Latin and then to speaking pre-Albanian.
The evidence that I am aware of shows the following points:
1) Illyrian was a centum language; Albanian is a satem language.
2) Albanian shows sound changes from PIE (o: > e:, I think, but I
haven't checked the precise details) that suggest a Dacian affinity.
I'm not sure that this evidence constitutes _proof_ that Albanian
does not descend from Illyrian. The demonstration of point (1) makes
use of Messapian being a form of Illyrian, and that is itself open to
debate. Point (2) *could* just be coincidence.
> > Isn't there a claim that Greeks are really descended from
Albanian
> > shepherds who switched to speaking Greek?
>
> [AK]
> Probably another yours hateful thinking.
It's not my suggestion. There seem to be a whole slew of arguments
that the modern Greeks have no connection to the ancient Greeks, and
they are probably inspired by the very different regard in which
modern and ancient Greeks are held. Even in Roman times there were
some who refused to accept that the contemporary Athenians had any
great connection with the Athenians of Pericles' time.
Richard.