Re: Swadesh Lists

--- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, "Geraldine Reinhardt" <waluk@...>
wrote:

> I didn't realize that Nostratic was synonymous with Proto-

Nostratic.....had

> been under the impression that Proto meant ancestor to (or coming

before).

> I also was unaware that Nostratic LanguageS (in the plural) were

languages

> descended from a single ProtoNostratic language such as Proto-

IndoEuropean.

> Now that's REALLY confusing.

How so? It is the standard practice- Indo-European languages are the
languages descended from PIE, Germanic languages are the languages
descended from Proto-Germanic, Slavic languages are the languages
descended from Proto-Slavic, Celtic languages are the languages
descended from Proto-Celtic, etc., etc.

Also, just to be sure we have this straight: your phrasing above
might be open to misinterpretation. Rather than saying "I also was
unaware that Nostratic LanguageS (in the plural) were languages
descended from a single ProtoNostratic language such as Proto-
IndoEuropean" it would be much clearer if it was worded as "Nostratic
LanguageS (in the plural) [such as ProtoIndo-European, to choose one
example] were languages descended from *THE* single ProtoNostratic
Language."

> Plus, your listing below:
> "Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Afro-Asiatic, Proto-Uralic, Latin,

English,

> Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Tamil, Turkish, Korean...and on and on" is
> haphazard and includes languages and proto languages that show no
> subordination one to another. For example: Latin and English and

Spanish

> are all members of Indo-European. Perhaps you need to research the
> hierarchy of language families on the web (if indeed there is any
> pre-ordained hierarchy).

Well the list was only intended to be a small number of examples of
the huge range of languages included under the term Nostratic
Languages. It was not intended to be arranged hierarchically.

Ned