sanskrit

Hi there everyone

Have been a member of this list for quite sometime although had never posted anything; mostly out of not having enough time and also out of ignorance... have been mostly learning from all the interesting information published in this list. Coming from the background of the Classics I was very interested in IE although later on became a general linguist and found no time for IE studies. Currently I work in Government Phonology, Ethnolinguistics, Israeli Hebrew & the Interface between Phonology and Morphosyntax (particularly in Semitic).

I had been reading with attention the different postings in regard to that "theory" of the sanskritic origin of IE languages, and funnily enough a certain colleague forwarded me a certain paper arguing a different date for the Rigveda placing it as the oldest IE language. I'm not an expert in Indo-Iranian and if at all I've studied Greek and Anatolian, so correct me if I'm wrong, isn't Anatolian the oldest? (Even according to Meierbrugger, as far as I'm concerned). The paper was incidentally from the same website where there was this paper that was discussed here in the list, a bit not... hummm well grounded.

www.omilosmeleton.gr/pdf/rie.pdf

what do you guys think about that paper? my colleague is not a linguist but a philosopher... and I explained him that linguistics is not religious contemplation and faith, it's an empirical science. Of course I can bring evidence to disprove him but I'd like to hear where the last theories stand as for now. Some people goes as far as to suggest that Sanskrit is the origin of all languages... same tale I heard about Greek and Hebrew. What are your opinions on the Anatolian theory?

Thanks

 

Ari