***
This link should be better: http://www.sumerian.org/sumerian.htm
>Likely he didn't have access to Google.
Having
information on a language (even from Google) is not equivalent
to putting
it in Nostratic (or Eurasiatic). Greenberg likely did
consider
Sumerian, but found no evidence for linking it to Eurasiatic.
Or decided
the Sumerian evidence was too insecure and too difficult
(as it is) to do
anything with it.
*** Or another possibility is that he dinged
Sumerian because he was a supporter of Semitic as the first language.
Just flying kites though.
>3) Why have you placed ???
between Euroasiatic and Austronesian?
Because I though it was a list of
language families that could be
included in Nostratic. There is no
Euroasiatic language family.
*** Oh, don't know where that came
from. Likely it wasn't from Alexeev. I'll check it out and get
back to you.
>4) Thus, rather than a proto-World you
wish to compile a Nostratic
>list which includes Indo-European.
Am I correct in assuming that I/E
>has been completely
compiled?
No.
*** Now that's a good answer. Are you
referring to Basque? What other aspects of Indo-European continue
being unresolved? Sumerian? Are there many
others?
>5) If languages are fluid with each valley of
the world containing a
>separate dialect, how can any scholar determine
whether a particular
>language such as Basque is a true language
(thereby an ethnic group)
>or not?
True language?
Thereby an ethnic group? What does that mean?
Basque is a
language. It is not an ethnic group.
*** Perhaps my question should have been, how
does one separate a language from a dialect? Don't forget, I'm only the
gatekeeper here and really have a limited linguistics background. Is a
dialect something that all people can understand whereby a language is
something that when spoken, only those raised with the particular language
will understand it? But then, this doesn't hold true for one (or
several) of the Scandanavian languages which although they are considered
different languages, folks can understand each other.
Cordially,
Gerry