The issue of
‘knowability’ in relation to the origins and distribution of
the language families of the world is addressed, and recent advances in
historical linguistics and molecular genetics reviewed. While the
much-debated problem of the validity of the concept of the language
‘macrofamily’ cannot yet be resolved, it is argued that a time
depth for the origins of language families greater than the conventional
received figure of c. 6000 years may in some cases be
appropriate, allowing the possibility of a correlation between language
dispersals and demographic processes following the end of the Pleistocene
period. The effects of these processes may still be visible in the
linguistic ‘spread zones’, here seen as often the result of
farming dispersals, contrasting with the linguistic ‘mosaic
zones’ whose early origins may sometimes go back to initial
colonization episodes during the late Pleistocene period. If further work
in historical linguistics as well as in archaeology and molecular genetics
upholds these correlations a ‘new synthesis’, whose outlines
may already be discerned, is likely to emerge. This would have important
consequences for prehistoric archaeology, and would be of interest also to
historical linguists and molecular geneticists. If, however, the proposed
recognition of such patterning proves illusory the prospects for
‘knowability’ appear to be less
favourable.
MALT Lymphoma : Recent Advances in Aetiology and Molecular Genetics