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From: petrich@netcom.com (Loren Petrich)
Subject: Indo-European Homeland -- India???
Message-ID: <petrichE1B4ME.C76@netcom.com>
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References: <54q9ou$85o_002@dialin.csus.edu> <32931066.253E@waterloo.border.com> <petrichE16GGA.EpA@netcom.com> <575k9a$1c1@reaper.uunet.ca>
Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 05:01:26 GMT
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In article <575k9a$1c1@reaper.uunet.ca>,
Sanjeev Shankar  <sshankar@waterloo.border.com> wrote:
>Loren Petrich wrote:

>>         Its speakers were pastoralist nomads that carried their language
>> from the Russian/Central-Asian steppes across the mountains to India.

>This is highly speculative conjecture.  Is there any archealogical
>proof for this movement??  Has any  Sanskrit-like language
>been found in Russia/Central-Asia??

	Mallory's book _In Search of the Indo-Europeans_ discusses this 
sort of question in detail. And it's a heck of a lot less speculative 
than the much *longer* journey from India that would be needed by the 
hypothesis that the IE languages originated in India.

	And as to languages close to it -- consider other early 
Indo-Iranian langs like Avestan.

>Comparitive linguistic theories on the "IE" movement have not 
>offered any definitive proof that the "IE movement" started in some
>Central Asian/East European homeland and ended in settlements in 
>India & Europe.  So far no "homeland" and no "Proto IE" language
> remnants have been conclusively established.

	And what would you consider acceptable proof? There are just no 
written records beyond a certain point.

	IMO, the Kurgan hypothesis seems like a strong one; they were at 
least semi-homogeneous over a large area for awhile, which does suggest 
something spreading. Also, the reconstructed IE vocabulary is consistent 
with the Kurgans' material culture -- horses, wagons, yokes, etc., but no 
sign of writing.

> The "out of India" scenario has both a definitive homeland and
> a vast amount of literature in Sanskrit plus archeological evidence
>that the various peoples in the area have been there way before the 
>time-lines proposed by any "IE into India" theories. 

	Who need not have spoken ANY Indo-European language. And what 
evidence *do* they present?

>The ancient Indian scriptures also do not record any knowledge of any 
>homeland other than Indian plains. 

	 Sure, sure (sarcasm). Why not consult rival scriptures some 
time? :-)

... If you consider Sanskrit to have
>"arrived" in India with the "IE" people then you would also expect
>their scriptures and books to speak of other lands which were passed
>during their movement or atleast of an original homeland .  No such
>record exists in the ancient Sanskrit scriptures of India.

	Maybe because it was too long ago. Beyond a certain point, even 
legendary memory fades out.
-- 
Loren Petrich				Happiness is a fast Macintosh
petrich@netcom.com			And a fast train
My home page: http://www.webcom.com/petrich/home.html
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