Languages and genes don’t always match — part 2

Feb 5, 2011 by

In the previous posting, I noted that the commonly held assumption that if the languages of two groups are related, the peoples must be related as well doesn’t always hold. As you can see from the chart below, the genetic tree...

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Languages and genes don’t always match

Feb 4, 2011 by

When it comes to classifying ethnic, racial and linguistic groups, many people still believe that if the languages of two groups are related, the peoples must be related as well. But relying on linguistic connections to establish...

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The lost "middle Finns"

Feb 2, 2011 by

In several postings in mid-January 2011 I discussed Finno-Ugric languages (see here, here and here). However, one issue I didn’t not discuss there is the peculiar distribution of Finnic-speaking peoples. The languages from the...

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The invisible minority of Europe

Jan 7, 2011 by

To stay with the theme of languages of India, let’s look at the “invisible minority” of Europe: the Roma people, also known as the Gypsies, and their language, Romani. First of all, although the majority of the Roma...

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Controversies surrounding Bnei Menashe

Jun 9, 2010 by

Bnei Menashe is a group of more than 9,000 people from India’s North-Eastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram. They look the part and speak a Tibeto-Burman language. But, as their name suggests, they claim descent from the...

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