Hi
Does anyone in this group have some knowledge about the gramatical
structure of nostratic? Was it s-o-v, s-v-o or v-s-o?
Did it use mostly case endings, prepositions, postpositions, or some
micture?
When lokking at the different members of this super-family, you get a
rather confusing picture.
Indo-european: s-o-v, but developing into s-v-o/v-s-o, using case
endings
Uralic: I think s-v-o. Using case endings. Historically uralic also
have a lot of postpositions, but those are mostly case forms of
former nouns.
Altaic: s-o-v, using postpositions.
Semittic: v-s-o/s-v-o Using mostly prepositions
Dravidian: s-o-v Using postpositions and case endings
Looking at the facts, I am inclined to think that nostratic was s-v-o
and used a mixture of case endings and prepositions.
I think this could most easily explain the historical facts.