Reconstructing the Lifestyles of Three Pre-Historic Amazonian Tribes

Oct 7, 2015 by

Reconstructing the Lifestyles of Three Pre-Historic Amazonian Tribes

[Note: this post is aimed mostly at the students in my current class, “The Science of the Deep Human Past: Linguistics, Genetics and Archeology”, but comments from other readers are very welcome as well. The post draws heavily on...

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Paleolithic Continuity Theory: Assumptions and Problems

Apr 2, 2015 by

Paleolithic Continuity Theory: Assumptions and Problems

As I have discussed in my earlier posts, the Steppe (Kurgan) and Anatolian hypotheses of Indo-European homeland remain the strongest contenders (the Balkano-Carpathian theory is another stronger candidate, to which I am hoping to...

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On healthy, wholesome “kissing”

Mar 13, 2015 by

On healthy, wholesome “kissing”

In one of the lectures I am now filming for the online “Languages of the World” course, I discuss the issue of language relatedness, stressing that common descent is not always apparent or conspicuous. Case in point is the following...

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“And He said, saying”?

Jan 13, 2015 by

“And He said, saying”?

[This post draws heavily on the work of Joel M. Hoffman.] In an earlier post, I have examined a millennium-long historical connection between Old Church Slavonic (OCS) and modern Russian. Here, I will look at another peculiarity of...

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The Influence of Old Church Slavonic on Russian

Jan 12, 2015 by

The Influence of Old Church Slavonic on Russian

As mentioned in my earlier post, besides being the liturgical language used by the Russian Orthodox Church, Old Church Slavonic (OCS) played a pivotal role in the formation of the Russian literary language. In the Middle Ages, OCS...

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Why the ‘Coffee’ Words Are Not Cognates

Dec 12, 2014 by

Why the ‘Coffee’ Words Are Not Cognates

A former student of mine drew my attention to a recent article in Slate written by Alyssa Pelish and titled “The Stimulating History of Coffee: Why You Hear This Word Around the World” (the image on the left is reproduced from the...

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