Re: Witzel and Sautsutras (was: Mapping the Origins and Expansion of

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:

> If you just consider the linguistic evidence at even a macro-level, it's obvious
> 1. That Indian-Aryan is derived from Indo-Iranian, which is derived from Indo-European
> 2. That Indo-Aryan acquired loanwords and phonological features such as retroflex consonants upon entering the subcontinent, as did languages from other families including Dravidian, Munda, Burushaski, and even some Iranian languages of the subcontinent.

> 3. None of those loanwords or phonological features show up in the Indo-Iranian ur-language and none show up in Indo-European. It is true that some loanwords left India but this happened in historical times and can be accounted for

These seem to be consistent with Johanna Nichols' suggestion of a Bactrian origin for Indo-European. Is that idea a form of 'Out of India'?

> 4. There is a stock of Witzel's BMAC words that shows up in Central Asian languages of the day as well as Indo-Iranian
> This shows to anyone that the direction is from Central Asia into the Indian subscontinent

Please remind me why these words weren't spread from Indo-Iranian to the others.

Richard.