Indo-European archaeolinguistics

Oxford University Press eBooks, pp. 341–352

Abstract

Abstract Proto-Indo-European was spoken in a society that consisted primarily of nomadic pastoralists that had no or very limited knowledge of agriculture. There was knowledge of animal traction and wheeled vehicles, as well as of metals (gold, silver, copper). This package is consistent with the hypothesis that Proto-Indo-European was spoken in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe. A homeland south of the Caucasus does not find support in the linguistic data, especially in view of the absence of inherited agricultural terminology both in Anatolian and in core-Indo-European. Language contact places prehistoric stages of the Indo-Iranian and Tocharian languages in the vicinity of the Uralic languages.

Authors 2

1. Alexander Lubotsky Aachen Linguistics

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Linguistics, Leiden University

2. Tijmen Pronk Aachen Linguistics

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Linguistics, Leiden University