The Aryans (again); 19th century discourse.

[SNS]

>
>I haven't seen Mallory use that term, but in any case it's not common
>practice.

Mallory, A European Perspective on Indo-Europeans in Asia.
" One of the most frequently violated principles of establishing
the homeland of the Indo-Europeans states that there can be no
solution to the IE homeland problem that does not solve the
distribution of all the Indo-European stocks.  In the history
of research into Indo-European origins, a traditional dichotomy
has generally been proposed between the Asiatic Indo-European
stocks (Indo-Iranian,Tocharian) and those of Europe. This has
governed discussion of both the economy and the historical
trajectories of the various IE stocks. "

Could anyone please provide references that deal with proof
or provide sufficient reason to believe
that there was one PIE language and one PIE homeland.

Also, what are the characteristics of this IE homeland that would
help in identifying and confirming this homeland archeologically.
Coz, without such a specification there can be no end to the search
of this hypothetical homeland.  Also, if there is something that can
be identified archeologically, then the very idea the IE merely
refers to a language family is wrong.

So, is there a solution to this problem ? Are the initial fundamental
assumptions correct ?

Is Mallory right in assuming that IE has to mean something more
than just a language family and is more of a Culture -
because he now has a Encyclopedia of IE Culture !!.
(the usage of the term IE 'stock', which has all kinds of 19th century
connotations, is also puzzling).
So is IE now accepted as a culture ?

>
>  We might still take the % of
>cognates as a rule of thumb for distinguishing between families and
>stocks, but the "centuries of separation" are definitely out.
>
Yet another question:
How does one distinguish between what is genetic and what is
due to borrowing when many languages are adjacent to each other
for a long time?. It seems to me that in such cases, it just
depends on the whims of the scholars involved or majority acceptance.

I ask these questions because I do not know the answer and are
not rhetorical. Answers  will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Subrahmanya
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