Re: Language tree rooted in Turkey

Seppo Renfors wrote:

> Languages aren't exactly stable. They are prone to change - the rate
> of change vary greatly. It very often depends on external matters to
> the people using the language. It can be geological activity (earth
> quakes, volcanos causing a people movement), drought, immigrants -
> emigration and even a return of people. How can anyone factor in these
> unrelated, at times chance events? They cannot even know that the area
> contained the same people that long ago as they claim - those that
> spoke Hittite. Lets face it, there are a number of languages that use
> the Hittite hieroglyphs to write their text, including Mitanni, Luwian
> etc. This shows a contact with people of different languages existed.

Earthquakes don't cause language change.

Try criticizing the actual article, not ignorant journalists' third-hand
retellings of it. There are no "Siberian horsemen" in the article.
-- 
Peter T. Daniels                       [EMAIL PROTECTED]