Re: African Languages (was: Re: Re[2]: [tied] Re: beyond langauges)

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 58261
Date: 2008-05-01

--- Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

>
>
> Opinion and faith are one thing, facts supporting a
> conceptual framework are another. The framework has
> even been created yet and the facts to support such
> a
> relationship are still out there. I'd have to say
> not
> yet because AA as a reconstructed language
> acceptable
> to the majority of AA scholars does not exist yet
> --AFAIK. I don't dismiss attempts to link IE and AA
> and, in fact, support them because my belief is
> that
> all languages are ultimately related but it's a
> belief
> still unsupported by facts. Get past all the mass
> com
> stuff and you'll get there.
>
>
> If you believe all languages are ultimately
> related, does that extend to African languages as
> well? It is curious how there seems to be little
> scholarship on the origin and relations of African
> languages. I saw a program on TV which stated that
> one widely believed hypothesis is that the human
> ancestors of all Eurasians migrated from Africa
> through the Sinai peninsula about 50,000 years ago.
> Would linguistic affinities extend back all the way
> to this time, or have languages and language
> families arisen independently since then (i.e. no
> relationship between Eurasiatic and the various
> African languages)? And if they arose
> independently, did they all arise in one language at
> the time when ancestral Eurasiatic humans were still
> close to Africa (and hence close to 50,ooo years
> ago), or did they arise independently from each
> other once the various populations had reached their
> homelands in various parts of Europe and Asia, later
> than 50,ooo years ago?
>
Yes I believe all languages ultimately do go back to
Africa but, as I say, that's part of my belief in the
unity of mankind and not something I have the
wherewithal to prove. Give the recent revelations
about the small population of humans in Africa and the
split between Khoi-San and non-Khoi-San peoples, I
would guess--not pronounce-- that language arose
before the split and that Khoi-San was the first group
to split from the main body of languages. After that,
your guess is as good as mine


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