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The '''Paleolithic Continuity Theory''' ('''PCT''') aims to reconstruct the origin of languages using the concept of continuity as the basic working hypothesis. Its draws on the consequences of innate [[grammaticality]] as exposed by [[Chomsky]]'s principles of [[generative grammar]], that defines ''conservation'' as the law of language and languages, and ''change'' as the cline of grammaticality provoked by major external factors such as language contacts and hybridization, as well as ecological, socio-economic and cultural events. Theoretically, linguistic change would compare chronologically to the results of paleo-anthropology, genetics and archaeology. Proponents claim linguistic coherence, rigor and productivity in the persuit of this approach. |
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The '''Paleolithic Continuity Theory''' ('''PCT''') suggests that the [[Indo-European languages]] originated in or near [[Europe]] and have existed there since the [[Paleolithic]]. It argues that the appearance of [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]] coincides with the first regional settlement of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' in the Middle/Upper Paleolithic age. |
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Applied on the issue of origins of the [[Indo-European languages]], the approach resulted into a set of prepositions supported by generally accepted principles that lay the burden of proof on the shoulders of competing theories, especially when relying on invasions. By absence of irrefutable counter-evidence, Indo-European languages should be considered to originate in or near Europe and to have existed there since the [[Paleolithic]], while the advance of Indo-Europeans would by default coincide with the first regional settlement of [[Homo sapiens]] in the Middle/Upper Paleolithic age. |
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Its main proponents are the [[Italy|Italian]] linguists [[Mario Alinei]], [[Gabriele Costa]] and [[Cicero Poghirc]] as well as the [[Germany|German]] and [[Belgium|Belgian]] prehistorians [[Alexander Häusler]] and [[Marcel Otte]]. |
Its main proponents are the [[Italy|Italian]] linguists [[Mario Alinei]], [[Gabriele Costa]] and [[Cicero Poghirc]] as well as the [[Germany|German]] and [[Belgium|Belgian]] prehistorians [[Alexander Häusler]] and [[Marcel Otte]]. |
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==Continuity Theory== |
==Continuity Theory== |
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The Continuity Theory proposes that Indo-European speakers |
The Continuity Theory proposes that Indo-European speakers were native in Europe for tens of millennia, and that by the end of the Ice Age, had already differentiated into [[Celtic languages|Celtic]]/[[Italic]]/[[Germanic languages|Germanic]]/etc. speakers occupying territories within or close to their traditional homelands. It also suggests that the [[glacier]]s and pre-glacial basins that compartmentalised Europe during the [[Ice Age]] may actually have been the mechanisms for this process of differentiation of Indo-European into its component families. |
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The Continuity Theory also draws radically different conclusions about the rate of linguistic change from those of the traditional theories of [[Colin Renfrew]] and [[Gimbutas]]. Clearly, if a homogeneous proto-Indo-European people appeared in Europe 6,000 years ago, then firstly, all subsequent language evolution will necessarily be compressed into the 6,000 years between then and the present, and secondly, the projection of this rapid rate of linguistic change back into the Palaeolithic will lead to the evident conclusion that no useful inferences can be drawn about languages spoken at that time, since it will impossible to distinguish genuine cognates in extant languages from chance similarities. |
The Continuity Theory also draws radically different conclusions about the rate of linguistic change from those of the traditional theories of [[Colin Renfrew]] and [[Gimbutas]]. Clearly, if a homogeneous proto-Indo-European people appeared in Europe 6,000 years ago, then firstly, all subsequent language evolution will necessarily be compressed into the 6,000 years between then and the present, and secondly, the projection of this rapid rate of linguistic change back into the Palaeolithic will lead to the evident conclusion that no useful inferences can be drawn about languages spoken at that time, since it will impossible to distinguish genuine cognates in extant languages from chance similarities. |
Revision as of 18:29, 3 November 2007
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Indo-European topics |
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The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (PCT) aims to reconstruct the origin of languages using the concept of continuity as the basic working hypothesis. Its draws on the consequences of innate grammaticality as exposed by Chomsky's principles of generative grammar, that defines conservation as the law of language and languages, and change as the cline of grammaticality provoked by major external factors such as language contacts and hybridization, as well as ecological, socio-economic and cultural events. Theoretically, linguistic change would compare chronologically to the results of paleo-anthropology, genetics and archaeology. Proponents claim linguistic coherence, rigor and productivity in the persuit of this approach.
Applied on the issue of origins of the Indo-European languages, the approach resulted into a set of prepositions supported by generally accepted principles that lay the burden of proof on the shoulders of competing theories, especially when relying on invasions. By absence of irrefutable counter-evidence, Indo-European languages should be considered to originate in or near Europe and to have existed there since the Paleolithic, while the advance of Indo-Europeans would by default coincide with the first regional settlement of Homo sapiens in the Middle/Upper Paleolithic age.
Its main proponents are the Italian linguists Mario Alinei, Gabriele Costa and Cicero Poghirc as well as the German and Belgian prehistorians Alexander Häusler and Marcel Otte.
Continuity Theory
The Continuity Theory proposes that Indo-European speakers were native in Europe for tens of millennia, and that by the end of the Ice Age, had already differentiated into Celtic/Italic/Germanic/etc. speakers occupying territories within or close to their traditional homelands. It also suggests that the glaciers and pre-glacial basins that compartmentalised Europe during the Ice Age may actually have been the mechanisms for this process of differentiation of Indo-European into its component families.
The Continuity Theory also draws radically different conclusions about the rate of linguistic change from those of the traditional theories of Colin Renfrew and Gimbutas. Clearly, if a homogeneous proto-Indo-European people appeared in Europe 6,000 years ago, then firstly, all subsequent language evolution will necessarily be compressed into the 6,000 years between then and the present, and secondly, the projection of this rapid rate of linguistic change back into the Palaeolithic will lead to the evident conclusion that no useful inferences can be drawn about languages spoken at that time, since it will impossible to distinguish genuine cognates in extant languages from chance similarities.
It is based on a synthesis of linguistic studies, the archaeogenetical studies of Brian Sykes indicating that some 80% of the genetic stock of Europeans goes back to the Paleolithic, as well as on archaeological data indicating European cultural continuity.
Proponents point to a lack of archaeological evidence for an Indo-European invasion in the Bronze Age; to the lack of substantial genetic change since the Paleolithic; and to analogy with a theory of a Paleolithic origin of Uralic peoples and languages in Eurasia. Moreover, the continuity theory is much more parsimonious in comparison with classical approaches to the IE developments.
Criticism
The mainstream position of historical linguistics is that genetic continuity does not imply linguistic continuity and that theories of a literal "military conquest" have fallen into disfavour with most supporters of the theory of a Chalcolithic origin of Indo-European. The time frame proposed by PCT is far beyond mainstream estimates, by a factor of at least 500%, and the hypothesis is not taken seriously in Indo-European studies.
On the other hand, Alinei's book was reviewed favourably by Jonathan Morris in Mother Tongue, a journal dedicated to the reconstruction of Paleolithic language, judging Alinei's theory as being
- "both simpler than its rivals and more powerful in terms of the insights it provides into language in the Meso- and Palaeolithic. While his book contains some flaws I believe that it deserves to be regarded as one of the seminal texts on linguistic archaeology, although given its lamentable lack of citation in English-language circles, it appears that recognition will have to wait until a translation of the original Italian appears."[1]
See also
- Pre-Indo-European
- Proto-Indo-European language
- Proto-Indo-Europeans
- Neolithic Europe
- Urheimat
- Proto-Vedic Continuity Theory
- Devaneya Pavanar (postulates origin of the Tamil language in Kumari Kandam before 100,000 BC)