Origin of retroflexion in IA

[Dominique.Thillaud]

Vidhyanath Rao wrote:

>My problem is that ``substratum influence'' has become a deux ex machina (sp?)
>in Indology. If we see any change, then the immediate reaction is to
>say ``substratum influence'', without looking for possibility of
>internal evolution.

        Alas, not just in Indology! Supposed loan words and postulated
"substratum influence" are the medicine against the unknown in the all
range of the linguistic! Fabulous domains where there are no rules nor
laws: not even necessary to give any clue about the mysterious influencing
language, the best being to choose it very bad known or even undeciphered!
Thraco-Phrygian, Lycian, Illyrian, even Etruscan or Minoan are the common
shops of a lot of Hellenists...
        Regards,
Dominique

Dominique THILLAUD
Universite' de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France