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I can't think of any weakness about genetic analysis other than weakness in the way someone handles it. DNA encodes everything about you as a person, from bones to muscle. It doesn't necessarily trump everything as you figure. It isn't going to directly tell you how the body is shaped, as the limb-proportions can...unless you are able to isolate and read the marker(s) that encodes for such phenotype, but we are not that advance in genetics yet.
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Although the mtDNA and Y chromosome evidence of diversity is undisputed, a major drawback of this knowledge base is the absence of anthropological knowledge supporting the conclusions reached by genetics in relation to the study of evolutionary history and population relationships (Tripathy et al. 2008).
Some of the problems the researchers noted in relation to using molecular evidence solely to describe population relations was 1) the different coalescence ages assigned the same haplotypes and haplogroups by different researchers which “are vastly different among different studies” , 2) studies that demonstrate large confidence intervals that make the conclusion equivocal ; 3) conclusions based on small samples ; and 4) population affinities not supported by historical, archaeological and linguistic evidences (Tripathy et al.. 2008). To remedy this situation Tripathy et al.(2008) believes their should be more “anthropological insights into population structure” when discussing population studies. His view is held by many who now advocate the use of archaeogenetics to support population movements.
Tripathy V, Nirmala A, Reddy BM. 2008. Trends in Molecular Anthropological Studies in India. Int J Hum Genet, 8(1-2): 1-20.
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The Biometrics also have problems. The major problem as discussed above is the varence in coalescence ages assigned the same haplotypes and haplogroups by different researchers that are vastly different e.g., haplogroup M1; the failure to find ancient DNA supporting the ages asssigned different y-chromosome and mtDNA; and finally some researchers assign origin dates for y-chromosome and mtDNA in the Middle East before homo sapien sapiens replaced the Neanderthal.
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Your post only reaffirms my point. You are not disputing the value of the discipline; rather your issue is with the way a research may or may not have been handled.
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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quote:Originally posted by The Explorer: Your post only reaffirms my point. You are not disputing the value of the discipline; rather your issue is with the way a research may or may not have been handled.
Correct. Many population geneticist are not aware of archaeological and linguistic data and as a result they rely on Eurocentric traditions which may not correspond to actual evidence.
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Scientist are just now recovering from the ego deflating slap in the face they received after the results of the human genome project were published.
After making all sorts of preliminary predictions about what the human genome would be like in comparison to that of other, more simpler organisms, it dawned on them that they were in many instances completely unable to reconcile said predictions with their results.
They predicted for example, that humans have a number of genes that is in direct correlation to our constitutional and behavioral complexity, and thus, they came up with estimates that numbered 150.000 and higher. After doing the actual sequencing however, it dawned on them that more than half of their expected genes were non-existent. Using some estimates, we only have one third more genes (30.000) than simple roundworms have (20.000). This is a total contradiction to the argument that the higher number of genes equals complexity.
In addition, a large portion of their work, is riddled with inaccurate and unrealistic descriptions of how DNA operates. Examples are their mythological ''autonomic self regulating genes'' that can turn themselves on or off, cell nucleuses that function as cell regulators, and genes that give diseases, genes that control our life from beginning to end, when genes are simply information carrying agents, under control environmental factors.
One new and exciting discovery is that cells are actually capable of rewriting our genes to allow us to adapt and survive, and that they have in-built mechanisms to repair random mutations. Yes, the same random, accidental mutations that are supposed to be the very reason we're here. This makes some portions of Darwins theory obselete, but of course, those findings are under heavy fire from the same Darwinian douchebags as we speak.
This brings me to me next point.
One of the biggest challenges for modern science, including genetics is the slow pace in which new, paradigm changing discoveries are processed, and incorporated.
This means that we'll be seeing a lot of deeply cherished pre-conceived notions challenged by revolutionary findings, and subsequent career impairing academic redicule and obstruction from opposing sides that refuse to let go of their academic investments. Only for said data to be embraced and accepted decades later as if nothing happened.
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Afrocentric linguistic studies are dominated by the French-speaking African and Afro-Caribbean school (FAACS) of Afrocentricity (Diop, 1974). Here we will discuss the FAACS and pluridisciplinarian researchers. The FAACS made linguistic research their domain of intellectual inquiry. The Afrocentric researchers we called pluridisciplinarians is led by Anselin (1982,1993) and Winters (1985, 1989,1994). These scholars combine both historical and linguistic methods to explain the heritage of African and Black people.
Most of the contemporary dynamic historians and anthropolo-gists writing from the AFROCENTRIC perspective and making important original contributions to Africalogical research in Africa and the Caribbean speak French. These scholars were heavily influenced by the work of Diop.
Most of the French speaking Afrocentrists are linguist and anthropologists. They have been heavily influenced by the late Cheikh Anta Diop of Senegal. Three of Diop's most famous disciples are Alain Anselin, a specialist on African and Asian studies; Echarevba, a historian in Benin who has traced the origin of his people back to the Nile Valley; and Theophile Obenga of the Republic of the Congo.
The FAACS Afrocentrists have their roots in Negritude. Aime Cesaire (1956) originated the term Negritude, which is a cultural expression of "Blackness".
Aime Cesaire was born on the Island of Martinique in the French Caribbean. In a poem written during World War II, Cesaire coined the phrase "African personality". This "African Personality", a major component of Diop's theory of African civilization, highlighted what Cesaire felt was the special qualities exemplified by African people. This "African Personality" exemplify the special qualities of African people that link the entire history of Africans from before the Egyptian pharaohs, up to the contemporary Black man throughout the world. It is the idea of an original and unique personality peculiar to Africans, that manifest the foundation Afrocentrism in the African diaspora where French is spoken.
Leopold Senghor of Senegal became a major proponent of Negritude. Senghor argued that the African emotional quality to life is different from the materialism of Europeans. He observed that:
"...Negritude is the whole complex of civilized values-cultural, economic, social and political- which characterize the black peoples, or more precisely, the Negro-African world" (Senghor 1963).
Leopold Senghor not only accepted the idea of an "African Personality", he also helped develop the idea of "Africanity". Africanity is a word which relates to the entire African continent's cultural heritage.
Negritude has usually been described as "passive" by many social critics (Loventhal, 1972 p.283; Fanon, 1967 p.45). Although Negritude concentrated on the cultural world of the African, one of the followers of this movement, Chiekh Anta Diop used the idea of "Africanity" to add a historical research component to negritude, that explained and discussed the African origin of Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization. Diop (1974, 1981) proved the African origin of Egyptian civilization and made it a major component of negritude.
Diop established an important base of Africalogical research at the University of Senegal. Until Diop died in 1986, he was a major advocate of the continuity of African history from Egypt to the medieval African civilizations. In numerous books and articles he has been able to show the unity of African cultures. Although Eurocentrists attempt to make Egypt a part of the Middle East, Diop has shown in such books as The African Origin of Civilization , Civilization or Barbarism , and The Cultural unity of Black Africa, that Kemet was an African civilization.
Diop is the only African Egyptologist of his generation and he has been called the most influential African author of the twentieth century. He is one of the founders of the African Historical Science and Philosophy of history first practiced by DuBois and Rogers. Like J.A. Rogers, Diop called for scholars to stop dabbling here and there, and become well trained , pluridisciplinary specialists.
A pluridisciplinary specialist is a person who is qualified to use more than one discipline, for example history, linguistics and etc., when researching aspects of African history and Africalogy in general. Diop noted that: "As long as we ignore ancient Egyptian culture, the oldest evidence of an African civilization, we will be unable to create anything in the domain of the social sciences, that can be considered as scientific. It is only by systematic reference to Egypt that we can introduce a true historical aspect to the social sciences, whether the field is linguistics, or any other. For instance, why not replace the study of Roman Law in our schools with the study of Egyptian jurisprudence (p.).
Two major Afrocentric pluridisciplinarians are Alain Anselin (1993) and Clyde Ahmad Winters (1989, 1994). The pluridisciplinarian school of AFROCENTRIC research will be discussed later.
The most interesting research inspired by Diop is in the area of semantic anthropology. Using linguistic data Anselin ( 1989, 1992, 1993) and Pfouma (1987) have compared Black African and Egyptian terms to illuminate the common royal heritage and religion shared by Blacks. Winters (1985a, 1985d, 1989, 1991) also used this method to confirm the unity between the African, the Dravidian, the Elamite and the Sumerian languages.
Anselin is an AFROCENTRIC pluridisciplinarian researcher . Anselin is the Director of Studies at the Laboratory of Research the A.M.E.P., at Fort-de-France Martinique. He has written three important AFROCENTRIC works: La Question Peule, Le Mythe d'Europe, and Samba and numerous articles.
In Samba, Alain Anselin illustrates how the corpus of Egyptian hieroglyphics explains not only the Egyptian civilization, but also the entire world of the Paleo-Africans. In this book following Winters (1985, 1991) he makes it clear that Kemetic civilization originated in the Fertile African Crescent (Anselin, 1992 pp.20-22). And that Black African and Kemetic civilization at its origination was unified from its foundations in the Sahara, up to its contemporary manifestations in the language and culture of Black Africans.
In 1993, Obenga published Origine commune de l'Egyptien ancien du copte et des langues Negro Africaines modernes. This book provides a detailed discussion of the historical links between African and Egyptian languages. In Obenga (1993) African languages are divided into three Superfamilies the Black African-Egyptian , the Berber and the Khoisan languages.
Obenga maintains that the Egyptian-Black African family is classified into the following subfamilies: Egyptian, Cushitic, Tchadian, Nilo-Saharan and the Niger-Kordofanian families. Most of these subfamilies of Egyptian-Black African were first grouped by Greenberg (1963).
Following the lead of Diop other African linguist have been presenting proof that Greenberg's classification of Egyptian into the Afro-Asiatic family of languages and not the Black African Superset is false (Ngom 1986; Obenga , 1992, 1993).
Obenga (1993) in addition to providing a detailed account of the Egyptian-Black African genetic connections also provides keen insight into the so called Afro-Asiatic family of languages. He proves that the Egyptian language is closer to African languages than the non-African languages grouped in the Afro-Asiatic family of languages.
Recently, this theme was also taken up by Tounkara (1989), he explained how Diop's theory of an Egyptian-Black African language connection has more linguistic and historical support than the Afro-Asiatic hypothesis.
Gilbert Ngom (1986) has done a fine examination of the correspondence between the Bantu, Duala and the ancient Egyptian language. Ngom (1986) elaborates on the Black African-Egyptian phonology. He also makes it clear that Egyptian is closer to the Black African languages, than the Berber and Semitic languages in syntax, morphology and phonology (Ngom, 1986 pp.48-52). Anselin (1989, 1993) provide an outstanding discussion of the affinity between the Egyptian and Black African verbal systems.
In La Question Peule, Anselin again moves back to his theme of unity for Egyptian, West African and Dravidian languages, political traditions and culture. The unity between Dravidian and African cultures was also examined by Th. Obenga (1973), Anta Diop (1974), Cheikh Tidiane N'Diaye and Winters (1980a, 1985c, 1985d, 1986c, 1991a). N'Diaye, a Senegalese national, wrote his doctorate on the relationship of Wolof and the Dravidian languages. Dr. N'Diaye, confirmed the research of the noted French linguist Lilian Homburger, who early discussed the kinship between Black African and Dravidian languages. N'Diaye uses phonology, grammar and lexicology to prove the genetic relationship between Dravidian and African languages.
In Le Mythe d'Europe, Anselin (1982) discussed the African and Dravidian settlement of ancient Europe. This book also attempts to outline the history of Blacks in West Asia . The discussion of the terms used to denote Blacks : li men "black heads" in China; sag gig "black heads" in Sumerian; and Ethiopian "black heads" in Greek appear to illustrate a common terminology to refer to the ancient Blacks.
Anselin demonstrates the unity between the boats and writing used by the Egyptians and Mesopotamians (Anselin 1982, p.36) and the fact that the Pelopnonnese was called the "island of the black heads" (Anselin, 1982 p.142). This supports the view that the African founders of world wide civilization preferred to call themselves "black heads" to differentiate themselves from other nationalities around the world. Anselin (1982, p.190) provides a detailed discussion of the " Black Ageans". There is also a fine examination of the affinities between the Agean and Dravidian civilizations (Anselin , 1982 pp.135-149).
Another pluridisiciplinarian Afrocentrist is Clyde Ahmad Winters. Winters earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Illinois-Urbana. He is the only African-American attempting to confirm the theories of Diop in relation to the genetic unity of the Egyptian , Black African , Elamite, Sumerian and Dravidian languages. Winters' is mainly concerned with the unity of ancient old and new world Black civilizations (Winters 1985a,1985d, 1989) and decipherment of ancient Black writing systems used by these Africans (Winters 1985b). This led Winters to learn many foreign languages including French, Tamil , Malinke/Bambara, Chinese , Arabic, Otomi and more.
Winters has written hundreds of articles on linguistics, anthropology and archaeogenetics.The major works of Dr. Winters is Afrocentrism: Myth or Science and Atlantis in Mexico. Winters' Afrocentrism is divided into two parts.In part one of Afrocentrism, Winters explains the philosophical basis of Afrocentrism research methods. In the second part of the book Dr. Winters reviews the Black civilizations of Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Winters has used Diop's genetic model in his research which combines anthropological , linguistic and historical methods to confirm that the center for the rise of the originators of the Egyptian and Manding civilizations (1977, 1979b, 1986a, 1986f, 1983), the Magyar or Hungarian civilization (1984a, 1986e); the Dravidian civilization (1980a, 1981d, 1985c, 1985d 1986c, 1986d, 1986e, 1988a, 1989b) and the Sumerian and Elamite civilizations was the Fertile African Crescent of the highland regions of Middle/Saharan Africa (1984, 1985a, 1991, 1994).
In addition he has explained how Blacks founded civilization in the Americas (Winters 1977a, 1981d, , 1983b, 1986); and East and Southeast Africa (1979, 1979a, 1980b, 1981a, 1981b, 1981c, 1983c, 1983d, 1986c, 1987b). In Atlantis in Mexico, Winters' explains the Mande origin of the Olmec people. He discusses in detail, the religion, writing and culture of this Afro-American population.
An important finding of Winters is that the ancestors of the Dravidian and Manding speaking people appear to have left Africa at the same time around 2600 B.S. (Winters 1985c). And that these people founded civilization in Europe , Elam, India and ancient China (1991a).
Winters', like Diop before him has also discussed (1) the African substratum in European languages; (2) explained the conflict between African people and Indo-European speaking people ; and (3) the loss of early African settlements in Europe to the contemporary European people due to natural catastrophes and wars after 1000 B.C. (1988, 1989c, 1990, 1991a). This research provides valuable source material for the elaboration of the African influence on European languages and the languages of East and Central Asia (Winters, 1989b, 1990, 1991b).
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REFERENCES/Afrocentric Reading List
Anselin, A. (1981). Le Question Peule. Paris: Editions Karthala. Anselin, A. (1982). Le Mythe D' Europe. Paris: Editions Anthropos. Anselin, A. (1989). pour une morpologie elementaire du Negro-Africain, Carbet, no.6, pp.98-105. Anselin, A. (1992a). L'ibis du savoir-l'ecriture et le mythe en ancienne Egypte, ANKH, no.1, pp.79-88. Anselin, A. (1992b). Samba. Guadeloupe: Editions de L'Unite de Recherche-Action Guadeloupe. Anselin, A.(1993). Anamneses. Guadeloupe: Editions de l'UNIRAG. Armstrong,R.G. (1962). Glottochronology and African linguistics. Journal of African History,3(2), 283-290. Asante, Molefi Kete.(1987). The Afrocentricity Idea. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Asante, Molefi Kete. (1988). Afrocentricity. Trenton: Africa World Press. Asante, Molefi Kete. (1990). Kemet, Afrocentricity, and Knowledge. Trenton: Africa World Press. Asante, Molefi Kete. (1994). Classical Africa. Maywood, N.J.: The Peoples Publishing Group, Inc.
Baines, J. (1991, August 11). Was civilization made in Africa? The New York Times Review of Books, 12-13. Boas, F. (1911). The mind of primitive man. New York. Bynon,T. (1978). Historical linguistics. London: Cambridge University Press. Cèsaire, A. (1956). Cahier d'un retour au pays Natal. Paris: Presence Africaine. Crawley,T. 1992. An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Delafosse,M. (1901). La Langue Mandigue. Paris. Delany, M.R. (1879). Principia of Ethnology: Origins of Races and Color. Philadelphia, Penn. Diagne,P. (1981). In J. Ki-Zerbo (Ed.), General history of Africa I: Methodology and African prehistory (233-260). London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. Diop, C.A. (1974). The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. Westport, Conn.:Lawrence Hill and Company. Diop,C.A. (1977). Parentè gènètique de l'Egyptien Pharaonique et des languues Negro-Africaines. Dakar: Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire. Diop, C.A. (1978). Precolonial Black Africa. Wesport, Conn. :Lawrence Hill and Company. Diop, C.A. 1981. A methodology for the study of migrations. In African Ethnonyms and Toponyms, by UNESCO. (Unesco: Paris) 86--110.
Diop, C.A. (1991). Civilization or Barbarism. Brooklyn,N.Y.: Lawrence Hill Books.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1915). The Negro. New York. DuBois, W.E.B. (1946). The World and Africa. New York.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1971). The American Negro Intelligentsia. In Apropos of Africa, (Ed.) by Adelaide Hill and Martin Kilson, (362-374) New York: Anchor Books. Ehret,C. (1988). Language change and the material correlates of language and ethnic shift. Antiquity, 62, 564-574. Ehret,C. & Posnansky (Eds.). (1982). The Archaeological and linguistic reconstruction of African history. Berkeley: University of California Press. Fanon, F. (1967). Black Skin, white Masks. New York: Grove Press. Frobenius, L. (1913). The voice of Africa. 2 vols. New York. Hock,H.H. (1988). Principles of historical linguistics. Amsterdam: Mouton de Gruyter. Johnston,H.H. (1910). The Negro in the New World. New York. Johnston, J.W. (1971). Africa at the peace table and the descendants of Africans in American democracy. In Apropos of Africa, (Ed.) by Adelaide Hill and Martin Kilson, (pp.384-392) New York: Anchor Books. Labov,W.(1965). The social motivation of a sound change. Word, 19, 273-309. Labov.,W. (1972). The internal evolution of linguistic rules. In Stokwell,R.P. and Macaulay, R.K.S. (eds.) Linguistic change and generative theory (101-171). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Lefkowitz, M. (1992, February 10). Not out of Africa. The New Republic, 29-36. Lord,R. (1966). Comparative Linguistics. London: St. Paul's House.
Lowenthal, D. (1972). West Indian Societies. New York: Oxford University. Mbiti, J. S. 1970. African religions and Philosophy. Garden City: Anchor Press. Meillet, A. 1926. Introduction à l'etude comparatif des languages Indo-Europeennes. Paris.
Moitt,B. (1989) Chiekh Anta Diop and the African diaspora: Historical continuity and socio-cultural symbolism. Presence Africaine, 149/150, 347-360. McIntosh, S. K. & McIntosh, R. (1983). Forgotten Tells of Mali. Expedition, 35-47. Ngom,G. (1986). Rapports egypte-Afrique noire: aspects linguistiques, Presence Africaine, no.137/138, pp.25-57. Niane,D.T.(Ed.). (1984). Introduction. General History of Africa IV (1-14). London: Heinemann Educational Books. Obenga, T. (1973). L'Afrique dans l'antiquite-Egypte pharaonique-Afrique noire. Paris: Presence Africaine. Obenga, T. (1978a). Africa in antiquity, Africa Quarterly, 18, no.1, pp.1-15. Obenga,T. (1978b). The genetic relationship between Egyptian (ancient Egyptian and Coptic) and modern African languages. In UNESCO (Ed.), The peopling of ancient Egypt and the deciphering of the Meroitic script (65-72). Paris: UNESCO. Obenga, T. (1988). Esquisses d'une histoire culturelle de l'Afrique par la lexicologie, Presence Africaine, no.140, pp.1-25. Obenga, T. (1992). Le chamito-semitique n'existe pas, ANKH , no.1, pp.51-58. Obenga, T. (1993a). Origine commune de l'Egyptien Ancien du Copte et des langues Negro-Africaines Modernes. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan. Obenga, T. Origine Commune de l"Egyptien ancien du coptes et des langues negro-africaines modernes. Paris: Editions l'Harmattan.
Olderogge, L. (1981). Migrations and ethnic and linguistic differentiations. In J. Ki-Zerbo (Ed.),General History of Africa I: Methodology and African History (271-278). Paris: UNESCO. Pawley,A. & Ross,M. (1993). Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history. Annual Review of Anthropology, 22, 425-459. Pfouma, O. L'abeille royale, Carbet, no.6, pp.98-105. Robins, R.H. (1974). General Linguistics. Bloomington: Indiana State University Press. Ruhlen, M. 1994. The origin of language. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Senghor, L.S. (1961). Negritude and African socialism, African Affairs, pp.20-25. Toukara, B. (1989). Problematique du comparatisme , egyptien ancien/langues africaines (wolof), Presence Africain, no.149/150, pp.313-320. Welmers, W. (1968). Niger Congo-Mande. In T.A. Sebeok (Ed.), Current Trends in Linguistics, 7,113-140. Williams, B. (1987). The A-Group Royal Cemetery at Qustul:Cemetery L. Chicago: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago Press. Winters,Clyde Ahmad (1977). "The influence of the Mande scripts on ancient American Writing systems", Bulletin l'de IFAN, T39, serie b, no2, (1977), pages 941-967. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1977a) "Islam in Early North and South America", Al-Ittihad) . Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (January 1979b). "Trade between East Africa and China", Afrikan Mwalimu, pp. 25-31. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1979c). "Manding Scripts in the New World", Journal of African Civilization 1, no1 , pp. 61-97.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1980a). "The genetic unity of Dravidian and African languages and culture",Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Asian Studies (PIISAS) 1979, Hong Kong:Asian Research Service. Winters, Clyde Ahmad.(1980b) "A Note on the Unity of Black Civilizations in Africa, IndoChina, and China",PISAS 1979, Hong Kong: Asian Research Service. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1981a) "The Unity of African and Indian Agriculture", Journal of African Civilization 3, no1,pp. 103-110. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1981b). "Are Dravidians of African Origin", P.Second ISAS,1980,( Hong Kong:Asian Research Service) pp.789- 807. Winters,Clyde Ahmad (1981c). "Further Thoughts on Japanese Dravidian Connection",Dravidian Language Association News 5, no9, pp. 1-4. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (December, 1981/ January 1982a) "Mexico's Black Heritage", The Black Collegian,pp. 76-84. Winters,Clyde Ahmad, (1982b) "The Harappan script Deciphered :Proto-Dravidian Writing of the Indus Valley", P Third ISAS,1981,(Hong Kong:Asian Research Service) pp.925-936. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1982c). Lectures in Africana: Kushite Diaspora, Chicago: Uthman dan Fodio Institute. Winters,Clyde Ahmad (1983a).The Ancient Manding Script",In Blacks in Science:Ancient and Modern, (ed) by Ivan van Sertima, (New Brunswick:Transaction Books ) pages 208-214.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1983b) "Les fondateurs de la Grece venaient d'Afrique en passant par la Crete", Afrique Histoire, no8,pp. 13-18. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1983c). "Blacks in Ancient China,Part 1:The Founders of Xia and Shang", Journal of Black Studies 1,no2. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1983d). "Possible Relationship between the Manding and Japanese", Papers in Japanese Linguistics 9, pp. 151-158. Winters,Clyde Ahmad Winters. (January 1984). "Magyar and Proto-Saharan Relationship",Fighter (Hungarian language Newspaper) Cleveland,Ohio , p.2. Winters,Clyde Ahmad(1984a). The Indus Valley Writing is Proto-Dravidian",Journal of Tamil Studies , no 25 , pp.50-64. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (Juin 1984b). "A Note on Tokharian and Meroitic", Meroitic Newsletter\Bulletin d"Information Meroitiques , No.23 , pages 18-21. Winters,Clyde Ahmad(June 1984c) "Further Notes on Japanese and Tamil ,International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 13, no2, pp. 347-353. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1984d). "The Inspiration of the Harappan Talismanic Seals", Tamil Civilization 2, no1 , pp. 1-8. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1984e). "The Harappan Writing of the Copper Tablets", Journal of Indian History LXll, nos.1-3, pp. 1-5. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1985a). "The Proto-Culture of the Dravidians, Manding and Sumerians", Tamil Civilization 3, no.1 , pp. 1-9. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1985b). "The Indus Valley Writing and related Scripts of the 3rd Millennium BC", India Past and Present 2, no.1 ( 1985b), pages 13-19.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1985c). "The Far Eastern Origin of the Tamils", Journal of Tamil Studies , no27 , pp. 65-92. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1985d). "The genetic Unity between the Dravidian, Elamite, Manding and Sumerian Languages", Sixth ISAS ,1984,(Hong Kong:Asian Research Service) pp. 1413-1425. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1986). The Migration Routes of the Proto-Mande", The Mankind Quarterly 27, no1 , pp. 77-96. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1986b). "Blacks in Ancient America", Colorlines 3, no.2 , pp. 26-27. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1986c). "Dravidian Settlements in ancient Polynesia", India Past and Present 3, no2,pp. 225-241. Winters,Clyde Ahmad Winters. (1986d). The Dravidian Origin of the Mountain and Water Toponyms in central Asia", Journal of Central Asia 9, no.2 , pages 144-148. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1986e). "Dravidian and Magyar /Hungarian", International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 15, no.2. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1986f). "The Rise of Islam in the Western Sahara",Topaz 2, no.1 , pp. 5-15. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1987). The Harappan Script. Journal of Tamil Studies, no. 30, pp.89-111. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1988). "The Dravidian and Manding Substratum in Tokharian",Central Asiatic Journal 32, nos. 1-2, pp. 131-141. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1986b). Common African and Dravidian place name elements, South Asian Anthropologist, 9, no.1 pp.33-36.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1989)"Tamil,Sumerian and Manding and the Genetic Model",International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics ,18, no.l. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1989b). "Cheikh Anta Diop et le dechiffrement de l'ecriture meroitique",Cabet: Revue Martinique de Sciences Humaines et de Litterature 8, pp. 149-152. Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1989c). "Review of Dr. Asko Parpolas' "The Coming of the Aryans". International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 18, no2 , pp. 98-127. Winters, Clyde Ahmad.(1990). "The Dravido Harappan Colonization of Central Asia", Central Asiatic Journal 34, no1-2, pp. 120-144. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1991). The Proto-Sahara. The Dravidian Encyclopaedia. (Trivandrum: International School of Dravidian Linguistics) pp.553-556. Volume 1. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1991b). Linguistic evidence for Dravidian influence on trade and animal domestication in Central and East Asia, International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, 20, no.2, pp.91-102. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1994). Afrocentrism: A valid Frame of References. Journal of Black Studies 25, no.2 , pp.170-190. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1995a). The inscriptions of Tanyidamani. forthcoming Nubica IV und Nubica V. Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1995b). The meroitic chamber inscription. forthcoming Nubica IV und Nibica V. Yurco, F. (1989). "Were the ancient Egyptians Black?", Biblical Archaeological Review 15, no5 , pages 24-29,58.
One of the best methods to determine the relationship of peoples is through linguistics. Linguistics is the scientific study of languages. Language is the system of communication by sound. A person who studies linguistics is called a linguist, because he has certain specialized knowledge about language.
To determine the past of man, scientists use historical and comparative linguistics. Historical linguistics seeks to describe the way languages change or maintain their structure over a period of time. The present state of a language is its synchronic state; whereas the transition from one state to the next is the diachronic state. Comparative linguistics is that branch of linguistics, which discloses and studies similarities and difference between related languages.
There are two types of relatedness between languages: genetic and typological. The closeness of languages depends on the number of rules the languages have in common. A genetic relationship means that a group of languages descend from a common ancestor. A typological relationship means that languages have a few common structural features. The closeness of languages depends on the number of rules the languages have in common.
There is an ethnic relationship behind a genetic relationship of languages because a genetic relationship suggests a family relationship. The basic objective of the comparative linguist is to isolate words with common or similar meanings that have systematic consonantal agreement with little regard for the location of the vowels. Consonantal agreement is the regular appearance of consonants at certain locations in words having similar meanings and representing similar speech sounds.
Phonology is the study of changes, transformations, modifications, etc., of phonemes or speech sounds during the history and development of a language. To denote these changes the linguist considers each phoneme in the light of the part it plays in the structure of speech forms.
There are no clearly established linguistic markers that can measure language change. Languages are not constrained by a preprogrammed reproductive cycle. This means that language can undergo extensive and radical changes over a short time span.
This makes it very difficult for historical and comparative linguist to chart linguistic changes based solely or archaeological data. Thusly, borrowing and convergence are important factors, which must be accounted for in any discussion of language change.
Linguists therefore, can not examine language change in isolation from the social and historical factors affecting the speaker of the language(s) being examined and discussed. The socioderme is the transitional unit in language change. This view is especially true, given the fact that language is communal property, i.e. the property of the social or ethnic group, which speaks it.
It is the group that identifies aspects of a language and legitimizes its proper usage in society. Group membership not only produces variations across gender and ethnic groups; it also helps establish the norms of language spoken by that particular group.
People who speak a related language, no matter what ethnic group they belong too, they are descendants from a single ancestral society or they have borrowed words from the language of their neighbors. For example, the fact that the inhabitants of Malagasy speak a Malyo-Polynesian language spoken along the coast of east Africa, proves beyond a doubt the former existence of contact between the peoples of east Africa and Indonesia.
According to American linguist Joseph Greenberg, there are five language families or Supersets in Africa. These groups are made up of the Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic, Macrosudanic, Central Saharan and Koisan/Click Supersets. Peripheral status as a Superset of languages is the Mande group of West Africa.
In 1993, Obenga published Origine commune de l'Egyptien ancien du copte et des langues Negro Africaines modernes. This book provides a detailed discussion of the historical links between African and Egyptian languages. In Obenga (1993) African languages are divided into three Superfamilies the Black African-Egyptian , the Berber and the Khoisan languages.
Obenga maintains that the Egyptian-Black African family is classified into the following subfamilies: Egyptian, Cushitic, Tchadian, Nilo-Saharan and the Niger-Kordofanian families. Greenberg first grouped most of these subfamilies of Egyptian-Black African. Following the lead of Diop other African linguist have been presenting proof that Greenberg's classification of Egyptian into the Afro-Asiatic family of languages and not the Black African Superset is false .
Obenga (1993) in addition to providing a detailed account of the Egyptian-Black African genetic connections also provides keen insight into the so-called Afro-Asiatic family of languages.
He proves that the Egyptian language is closer to African languages than the non-African languages grouped in the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. Recently, Tounkara also took up this theme , he explained how Diop's theory of an Egyptian-Black African language connection has more linguistic and historical support than the Afro-Asiatic hypothesis.
Gilbert Ngom has done a fine examination of the correspondence between the Bantu, Duala and the ancient Egyptian language. Ngom elaborates on the Black African-Egyptian phonology. He also makes it clear that Egyptian is closer to the Black African languages, than the Berber and Semitic languages in syntax, morphology and provide an outstanding discussion of the affinity between the Egyptian and Black African verbal systems
The comparative method is based upon two assumptions: 1) the relatedness hypothesis and the regularity hypothesis. The relatedness hypothesis seeks to explain similarities between words; while the regularity hypothesis assumes that sound changes are regular. For example, where as in English father begins with the consonant /f/, in German which is related to English, the term for father ‘vader’ begins with a /v/, the regularity hypothesis explains this feature, by noting that both of these consonants belong to the labio-dental fricative series, and while the fricative in English is voiceless, the German fricative is voiced. The regularity theory would explain the fact that many other German and English cognates would also share this pattern e.g.,
code:
English Dutch German Swedish Five vijf funf femm Father vader vater far
In comparative linguistics we look to discover cognate terms which have similar or the same meaning, and also share common structural elements:
code:
English Dutch German Swedish Mouse muis maus mus
Father vader vater far
Cow koei kuh ko
Five vijf funf femm
code:
Language
Agaw asau, aso 'masculine Sidama asu 'man' Oromo asa id. Caffino aso id. Yoruba so 'produce' Meroitic s' man Fonge sunu id. Bini eso 'someone' Kikongo sa,se,si 'father' Swahili (m)zee 'old person' Egyptian sa 'man' Manding si,se 'descendant,posterity,family' Azer se 'individual, person'
The appearance of cognates between two or more languages suggests that these terms descended from the same parent or proto-language.
There is also a relationship between Dravidian and African languages as illustrated below: [code] ENGLISH DRAVIDIAN SENEGALESE MANDING
MOTHER AMMA AMA,MEEN MA
FATHER APPAN,ABBA AMPA,BAABA BA
PREGNANCY BASARU BIIR BARA
SKIN URI NGURU,GURI GURU
BLOOD NETTARU DERET DYERI
KING MANNAN MAANSA,OMAAD MANSA
GRAND BIIRA BUUR BA
SALIVA TUPPAL TUUDDE TU
CULTIVATE BEY ,MBEY BE
BOAT KULAM GAAL KULU
FEATHER SOOGE SIIGE SI, SIGI
MOUNTAIN KUNRU TUUD KURU
ROCK KALLU XEER KULU
STREAM KOLLI KAL KOLI
African languages are divided into Supersets (i.e., a family of genetically related languages, e.g., Niger-Congo) sets, and subsets. In the sets of African languages there are many parallels between phonological terms, eventhough there may be an arbitrary use of consonants which may have a similar sound.
The reason for these changes is that when the speakers of Paleo-African languages separated, the various sets of languages underwent separate developments. As a result a /b/ sound in one language may be /p/ or /f/ in a sister language. For example, in African languages the word for father may be baba , pa or fa, while in the Dravidian languages we have appan to denote father. We can also note /k/ /g/ are interchangeable, for example: boat kulam (Dravidian) and gaal (Senegalese).
To sum things up, in comparative linguistics we look for words possessing similar meanings and structure. Evidence of cognate morphological units between different languages usually indicates a family relationship. Below are a few good books on Comparative and Historical linguistics that can provide keen insight into the methods associated with these fields of linguistics.
Further Readings
Jeffers,R.J. & Lehiste,Ilse. (1982). Principles and methods for historical linguistics. The MIT Press.
Lord, R. (1966). Comparative Linguistics. St. Paul House: Teach Yourself Book.
Bynon, T. (1977). Historical Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Lsss,R. (1997). Historical linguistics and language change. Cambridge University Press. .
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