Hi, Gerry:

 

I’m not sure whether you’re inferring that Homo erectus might have spoken Proto-Nostratic or one of the languages derived from it.  I can’t give literary references to back up my statement because I don’t have access to an academic library.  However, I did a search of the web based on a Google search of “Homo erectus” language.  There are mixed opinions on whether Homo erectus could speak based on cranial capacity, presence and/or degree of flexion of the base of the skull, position of the larynx, presence or degree of presence of various cranial features, and presence or absence of a hyoid bone.  However, those, who do agree that H. erectus could speak, seem to agree that H. erectus did NOT have the full range of vocal articulation that is possessed by modern humans, and that it was limited to “proto-language”, equivalent to a toddler first learning to talk – simple words and perhaps short phrases.  Also, in this case, perhaps “prelanguage” would be a better term, so as to not cause confusion with “proto-language” as related to, say, “Proto-Nostratic”, which is the proto- or root language of the Nostratic language macro-family.

 

In the event that you are inferring that H. erectus might have spoken Proto-Nostratic, I would have to disagree, for two reasons.  One is that Proto-Nostratic was, in all likelihood, a full-blown language, with a full range of linguistic “features”.  As I mentioned earlier, H. erectus seems to have been limited to simple words and phrases.  The second reason is chronology.  By most guesstimates/estimates, Proto-Nostratic was spoken approximately between 15,000 BC and 8,000 BC – not all-inclusive, but within that time-range.  Homo erectus is last attested from approximately 200,000 years ago, with the exception of Java, where they apparently persisted until 50,000 years ago.  That is quite a gap in time, even using 50,000 years ago as the “drop dead” date (please pardon the bad pun) for H. erectus.

 

Andy Howey

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Geraldine Reinhardt [mailto:waluk@...]
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 20:17
To: Nostratica@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Nostratica] Re: Swadesh Lists

 

//snip//

 

OK Richard.  I read Jens' posts and I still can't figure out what is being said.  Is there more than one Nostratic Language?  The reason for my inquiry is because I need to explore the language(s) spoken by Homo erectus.

 

Gerry