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Description:
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By applying the most stringent principles of the comparative-historical
method nearly two hundred Burushaski words are analysed which display firm
Indo-European correspondences that do not originate from an Indo-Aryan or
Iranian source. The etymologies show consistent and regular phonetic
correspondences and highly specific semantic concordance with the ancient
Balkan languages (most notably Phrygian and Thracian) and with
Balto-Slavic. The basic and compact semantic fields to which the analysed
vocabulary belongs (body parts, age and family relations, agriculture,
plant names, sheep-farming, geographical features, names of vessels and
tools, core adjectives and verbs) together with the derivational,
grammatical and structural correspondences point to a rather close
relationship and affinity of Burushaski with these linguistic groupations.
It can be concluded that there is an ancient Indo-European layer in
Burushaski which indicates an early relationship or contact in its history
with the Southern (Aegean) branch of I.E. on the one hand and with the
Northern I.E. group on the other, with which it shows remarkable and very
close correspondences.
Further systematic study of Burushaski vocabulary and grammar should
clarify the implications of these findings and determine more closely
Burushaski's affiliation within Indo-European.
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