Record: 1
Title: Human mtDNA hypervariable regions, HVR I and II, hint at deep
common maternal founder and subsequent maternal gene flow in Indian
population groups.
Authors: Sharma, Swarkar1
Saha, Anjana1
Rai, Ekta1
Bhat, Audesh1
Bamezai, Ramesh1
bamezai@...
Source: Journal of Human Genetics; Oct2005, Vol. 50 Issue 10, p497-506,
10p
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *DNA
*GENETICS
*HUMAN genetics
*MITOCHONDRIAL DNA
*POPULATION genetics
Geographic Terms: INDIA
Author-Supplied Keywords: Indian populations
Mitochondrial DNA
Matrilineal
HVR I and II
Abstract: We have analysed the hypervariable regions (HVR I and
II) of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in individuals from Uttar Pradesh
(UP), Bihar (BI) and Punjab (PUNJ), belonging to the Indo-European
linguistic group, and from South India (SI), that have their linguistic
roots in Dravidian language. Our analysis revealed the presence of known
and novel mutations in both hypervariable regions in the studied
population groups. Median joining network analyses based on mtDNA showed
extensive overlap in mtDNA lineages despite the extensive cultural and
linguistic diversity. MDS plot analysis based on Fst distances suggested
increased maternal genetic proximity for the studied population groups
compared with other world populations. Mismatch distribution curves,
respective neighbour joining trees and other statistical analyses showed
that there were significant expansions. The study revealed an ancient
common ancestry for the studied population groups, most probably through
common founder female lineage(s), and also indicated that human
migrations occurred (maybe across and within the Indian subcontinent)
even after the initial phase of female migration to India. [ABSTRACT
FROM AUTHOR]
Author Affiliations: 1National Centre of Applied Human Genetics,
School of Life Sciences , Jawaharlal Nehru University , 110067 New Delhi
India
ISSN: 1434-5161
DOI: 10.1007/s10038-005-0284-2
Accession Number: 18711947
Database: Academic Search Premier
_____
Record: 2
Title: From words to dates: water into wine, mathemagic or phylogenetic
inference?
Authors: Atkinson, Quentin1
Nicholls, Geoff2
Welch, David2
Gray, Russell1
rd.gray@...
Source: Transactions of the Philological Society; Aug2005, Vol. 103
Issue 2, p193-219, 27p
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *GENERATIVE grammar
*GRAMMAR, Comparative & general
*INDO-European languages
*LEXICAL grammar
*LEXICOLOGY
*LINGUISTICS
*PHILOLOGY
Abstract: Gray & Atkinson's (2003) application of quantitative
phylogenetic methods to Dyen, Kruskal & Black's (1992) Indo-European
database produced controversial divergence time estimates. Here we test
the robustness of these results using an alternative data set of ancient
Indo-European languages. We employ two very different stochastic models
of lexical evolution â" Gray & Atkinson's (2003) finite-sites model and a
stochastic-Dollo model of word evolution introduced by Nicholls & Gray
(in press). Results of this analysis support the findings of Gray &
Atkinson (2003). We also tested the ability of both methods to
reconstruct phylogeny and divergence times accurately from synthetic
data. The methods performed well under a range of scenarios, including
widespread and localized borrowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Psychology, University of
Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1020, New Zealand
Database: Academic Search Premier
_____
Record: 3
Title: The Western Contact Field of the Uralic Languages.
Authors: Künnap, Ago1
Source: Mankind Quarterly; Spring2005, Vol. 45 Issue 3, p329-344, 16p
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *ESTONIANS
*FINNS
*INDO-European languages
*MITOCHONDRIAL DNA
*SAMI (European people)
*SAMOYEDS
*URAL-Altaic languages
*URALIC languages
Author-Supplied Keywords: Indo-European languages
Finns
Estonians
Saami
Samoyeds
Karelians
Mitochondrial DNA
Y-Chromosomes
Demic diffusion
Cultural diffusion
Uralic languages
Abstract: This paper, published in English for the first time only
now, seeks to enquire into the problem of the origin of the Finns and
Estonians, who on the basis of the biological evidence are clearly of
European origin, but who speak languages that are classified as
belonging to the Uralic family of languages spoken primarily in Asia by
persons who are biologically very different. His proposals have received
little support from linguists who specialize in the Uralic languages,
other than those scholars he mentions in his text, but the genetic
similarity between the Finns and Estonians, and their North European
neighbors who speak Indo-European (Germanic) languages, requires some
explanation, and the author hopes that the publication of an English
translation of his paper will attract research by scholars in fields
other than Uralistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Author Affiliations: 1University of Tartu, Estonia
ISSN: 0025-2344
Accession Number: 17097573
Database: Academic Search Premier
_____
Record: 4
Title: Mythe aryen et référent linguistique indo-européen dans la
Russie du XIXe siècle. (French)
Language: French
Authors: Laruelle, Marlène1
marlenelaruelle@...
Source: Historiographia Linguistica; 2005, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p61-85, 25p
Document Type: Article
Abstract: Like the other European countries, Russia of the 19th
century experienced much of the same scholarly discourse concerning the
Aryan idea. The Russian Aryan myth distinguishes itself from the German
and French versions by the absence of racialism and its Orthodox
anchoring, this way offering the possibility of a certain
âdecentralizationâ in the face of the Western experience of Aryanism.
This difference often permits Slavophile intellectual circles at the
periphery of the classic university life to develop a genealogical
discourse concerning nationhood and the legitimization of the imperial
expansion of Russia in Asia and the Far East. As a result, the Aryan
reference blossomed in the historical and archaeological arguments for
the justification of the supposed national continuity and statehood
between the ancient Scythian world and contemporary Russia. The
proximity between the Slavic and the Indo-Iranian languages, of the
Oriental branch of the Indo-European family, would naturally constitute,
for the Slavophiles, a scientific argument in favour of the Aryan
assertion of Russiaâ: the competition between the Germanic peoples and
the Slaves for the most ancient antiquity is then transposed into the
notion of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Author Affiliations: 1Centre d'études du monde russe de l'Ãcole des
Hautes Ãtudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris
ISSN: 0302-5160
Accession Number: 17811589
Record: 5
Title: Cross-Cultural Research as a Rosetta Stone for Discovering the
Original Homelands of Protolanguage Groups.
Authors: Ember, Melvin1
Ember, Carol R.1
Peregrine, Peter N.2
Starostin, Sergei3
Source: Cross-Cultural Research; Feb2006, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p18-28, 11p
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *ARCHAEOLOGY
*ETHNIC groups
*ETHNOLOGY
*RECONSTRUCTION (Linguistics)
CROSS-cultural analysis
Author-Supplied Keywords: homelands of protolanguage groups
historical linguistics
cross-cultural research (ethnographic and archaeological)
Proto-Afroasiatic
Proto-Indo-European
Abstract: This programmatic article describes how the two types of
cross-cultural research (comparative ethnography and comparative
archaeology) can provide a Rosetta stone to help as discover the
original homelands of protolanguage groups. Here, the focus is on
Proto-Afroasiatic and Proto-Indo-European. If words reconstructed by
historical linguists for a protolanguage reflect cultural and
environmental features, and if those features have material or
archaeological indicators (which we can discover by the two types of
cross-cultural research), then the archaeological record can be searched
for sites that have the expected combinations of features. The likely
homeland of the protolanguage should be the site or local region that
has significantly more of those indicator features than other sites or
local regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Author Affiliations: 1Human Relations Area Files
Database: Academic Search Premier
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