Re: Indo-European Studies
R. Wallace (cla02@cc.keele.ac.uk)
25 Jul 1995 11:50:07 GMT
Gerold Firl (geroldf@sdd.hp.com) wrote:
: In article <3trcqa$eel@gabriel.keele.ac.uk> cla02@cc.keele.ac.uk (R. Wallace) writes:
: >Mad racial theories arise when you
: >start arguing for an Indo-European racial group, as opposed to a family of
: >languages. So what? But I don't think that anyone (apart from recognised
: >loonies) now argues for a European source of Indo-European.
: Why do you say that?
You're right. I should have said Western European. I've never really thought
that the arbitrary line we draw through the eurasian steppes was significant
of anything very much.
: Judging from the afiliation between the horse, the
: early indo-europeans, and cattle, and looking at the places and times when
: IE peoples first enter the historical record, it seems the likliest
: homeland for the IE peoples was on the eurasian steppes, west of baihkal.
: Probably the best of these lands are west of the urals, which makes them
: european; while the eastern wing of the tribe may have had their
: territorial base in asia, it seems probable that the european grasslands
: have been inhabited by members of the IE family for a long time.
: And really, classifying IE as a racial group is hardly "mad";
Well, I didn't say it was! What I said was that mad racial theories don't
begin with the linguistic argument, but with the further hypothesis that
behind the linguistic grouping is a racial grouping.
: it's more
: like a case of extreme splitting. At one time, the speakers of proto-IE
: undoubtedly
This is by no means undoubted.
: consisted of a cohesive cultural unit, which I picture as a
: large tribe or primitive "nation". They certainly
Again, it is by no means certain.
: had distinctive cultural
: attributes; whether there was sufficient genetic differentiation from other
: tribes to warrent introducing a separate racial designation seems doubtful
: to me, though perhaps not quite mad or loony.
: --
Just so. But there are mad racial theories based on this hypothesis.
Richard wallace
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: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=---- Gerold Firl @ ..hplabs!hp-sdd!geroldf
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