Dear colleagues,
I wanted to add that Antonia's point about such magazines is well taken. Caveat
lector.
Best wishes,
Brendan
On 2/7/25 10:45, Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY wrote:
Dear Benjamin,
Indeed! My criticism was not so much referring to the study itself - which, as
others have also pointed out in the meantime, is a refinement of research that
has been going on for some time and whose general direction is accepted by the
very large majority of scholars. But Howard asked 'Is this study as final and
definitive as the article claims?', and so I offered my views on why articles
of this kind, from magazines that ultimately are advertisements for their
respective institutions, should be enjoyed with caution.
I am *not* saying there is anything wrong with the research itself (I've looked
at it in the meantime, but I am not a geneticist, so there is a lot here I
cannot comment on), just that I'm usually hesitant when a non-scholarly outlet
claims that questions have been 'solved'.
All my best,
Antonia
On Fri, 7 Feb 2025 at 13:49, Benjamin Fleming
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Dear Antonia,
I would just note that the study itself does not discuss "when Europeans
noticed that Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek were related". That is coming only from
the alumni magazine article.
Best wishes,
Ben
On Thu, Feb 6, 2025 at 3:04 PM Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
My take as someone who has not read the original study: I am cautious about
this for several reasons.
-- A person's genes do not tell you what language they're speaking.
-- University alumni magazines love to talk up research from their institutions
and make its results sound much more 'decisive' than they are.
-- That they get wrong simple things like when Europeans noticed that Sanskrit,
Latin and Greek were related by well over a century does not inspire
confidence. (But hey, scientists don't need to read early 17th-c sources in
Latin, right:-)?)
That said, if further study of the Nature article corroborated these findings,
I'd be more than delighted. I'm definitely going to take a look.
--Antonia
On Thu, 6 Feb 2025 at 15:22, Howard Resnick via INDOLOGY
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Dear Scholars,
Is this study as final and definitive as the article claims? Thanks!
Howard
<https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/02/landmark-studies-track-source-of-indo-european-languages-spoken-by-40-of-world/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Gazette%2020250206%20(1)&spMailingID=35820945&spUserID=MjM4ODIxNjk1NDQyS0&spJobID=2843202028&spReportId=Mjg0MzIwMjAyOAS2>
[020425_Yamnaya_016.jpeg]
Landmark studies track source of Indo-European languages— Harvard
Gazette<https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/02/landmark-studies-track-source-of-indo-european-languages-spoken-by-40-of-world/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Gazette%2020250206%20(1)&spMailingID=35820945&spUserID=MjM4ODIxNjk1NDQyS0&spJobID=2843202028&spReportId=Mjg0MzIwMjAyOAS2>
news.harvard.edu<https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/02/landmark-studies-track-source-of-indo-european-languages-spoken-by-40-of-world/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Gazette%2020250206%20(1)&spMailingID=35820945&spUserID=MjM4ODIxNjk1NDQyS0&spJobID=2843202028&spReportId=Mjg0MzIwMjAyOAS2>
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--
Brendan S. Gillon email:
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
Department of Linguistics
McGill University tel.: 001 514 398 4868
1085, Avenue Docteur-Penfield
Montreal, Quebec fax.: 001 514 398 7088
H3A 1A7 CANADA
webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/brendangillon?usp=sharing
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