--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "mkelkar2003" <smykelkar@...>
wrote:
> A classic philologically tautological argument. Because the
> "Indo-Aryans" are nomads they are not traceable and why are they
> nomads? because they are not traceable. The non-IA substrate in
Vedic > proves the immigration of Indo-Aryans; and what proves the
non-IA > substrate in Vedic? The immigration of IA speakers of
course!
No tautology here. The non-IA character of the substrate words in
the Rgveda as first listed by Kuiper is argued on the basis of their
unexplainability in terms of IE or IIr. Substrate words in the
Rgveda are defined as such on the basis of their structure, which is
deemed to be irreconcilable with the structure of OIA words and to
fit not the IE structure of OIA words 'proper'.
Kuiper's list of about 300 non-IA words in the Rgveda, corresponding
to about 4% of its vocabulary, is available online at
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/kuiper.pdf
Moreover, as announced by Michael Witzel on the Indo-
Eurasian_research List a few days ago:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indo-Eurasian_research/message/2215
"[A] growing on-line dictionary of Indian substrate words [is] in
preparation by F. Southworth, D. Stampe, and M. Witzel, [and will] be
announced within the next few weeks."
Since this long-awaited resource will be the first specimen of a
kind of joint effort made by, respectively, a leading Vedicist, a
leading Dravidian linguist, and a leading Munda linguist to list all
of the putative substrate words in Indian languages, I am confident
you and Kalyanaraman will promptly incorporate a detailed discussion
of it in your _magnum opus_ by resorting to your masterly linguistic
expertise...
Regards,
Francesco Brighenti