A critical review of Illič-Svityč's Nostratic Dictionary By Allan R. Bomhard (1) Indo-European; (... more A critical review of Illič-Svityč's Nostratic Dictionary By Allan R. Bomhard (1) Indo-European; (2) Nostratic Theory
A critical review of Dolgopolsky's Nostratic Dictionary By Allan R. Bomhard (1) Indo-European; (2... more A critical review of Dolgopolsky's Nostratic Dictionary By Allan R. Bomhard (1) Indo-European; (2) Nostratic Theory
Following a suggestion made by Emil Forrer, Edgar Sturtevant championed the theory that Proto-Ana... more Following a suggestion made by Emil Forrer, Edgar Sturtevant championed the theory that Proto-Anatolian and Proto-Indo-European were sister languages descended from an earlier common ancestor, which he called "Proto-Indo-Hittite". According to Sturtevant, this theory was based upon the observation that the Anatolian branch (mainly Hittite at the time) contained a number of very archaic features that set it apart from the other daughter languages as a group. Consequently, Sturtevant concluded that the Anatolian branch must have become separated from the main speech community before the other branches came into being. Except for a small number of supporters, such as Warren Cowgill (1965 and 1971), this theory was not embraced by the majority of Indo-Europeanists, who regarded Anatolian as simply another branch of Indo-European, comparable to all the others. Gradually, as more work was done on Hittite and, as the remaining Anatolian languages became better understood, it became increasingly clear that Sturtevant's views were not so easily dismissed. The turning point seems to have been reached in the late 1990s, when work (namely, the application of computational cladistics to the problem of subgrouping) by Donald Ringe, Tandy Warnow, and Ann Taylor demonstrated that the Anatolian branch was, indeed, the first to become separated from the main speech community, followed, in due course, first by Tocharian (cf. Peyrot 2019), and then by the other branches. As a result, this view has now become more widely accepted, and "Indo-Hittite" has been renamed "Indo-Anatolian" to incorporate all of the Anatolian daughter languages, not just Hittite. According to Peyrot (2019:188), the Indo-Anatolian family tree may be represented as follows (this is modified from the chart given in Ringe-Warnow-Taylor 2002:87): 2 Chapter 1 1.2. The Reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-Anatolian Phonological System One of the things that is axiomatic about all languages is that they change over time. The rate of change may differ among languages and even within languages, but change is inevitable. And yet, this fundamental axiom is embarrassingly ignored when it comes to the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-Anatolian phonological system. The reconstructed forms given in the standard literature as the alleged ancestors of what is found in Hittite and the other Anatolian daughter languages are based almost always on the phonological system of Proto-Indo-European as reconstructed on the basis of a comparison of the non-Anatolian daughter languages, to wit (cf.
Prehistoric Language Contact on the Steppes: The Case of Indo-European and Northwest Caucasian By... more Prehistoric Language Contact on the Steppes: The Case of Indo-European and Northwest Caucasian By Allan R. Bomhard (1) Indo-European; (2) Northwest Caucasian; (3) language contact (2023).
References ………………………………………………..…………………… 2 CHAPTER ONE structure of the parent language in detail,... more References ………………………………………………..…………………… 2 CHAPTER ONE structure of the parent language in detail, though some common features (such as the distinction of grammatical gender, the existence of two verbal conjugation systems, at least one of which, namely, the prefix conjugation, probably goes back to Proto-Afrasian, and a common set of pronominal stems) have been noted. The Afrasian daughter languages are extremely diverse typologically. Some have complex phonological systems, including tones, while others do not. Some have intricate inflectional systems, while others do not. Syntactically, the classical Semitic languages, Egyptian, and the Berber languages are VSO, the majority of the Cushitic languages are SOV, and most Chadic languages are SVO. For more information, cf. especially Frajzyngier-Shay (eds.) 2012 and D. Cohen (ed.) 1988. 1.2. HOMELANDS So much controversy surrounds the subject of the homeland of Afrasian that none of the proposals advanced to date can be considered definitive (cf. Hamed-Darlu 2003). Diakonoff (1988:23-25) presents a summary of several of the proposalshis own view is that Afrasian was located in the "South-Eastern Sahara (say, between Tibesti and Darfur)".
An Introduction to the Hurrian Language (2020/2023; corrected December 2022; Hurrian Glossary add... more An Introduction to the Hurrian Language (2020/2023; corrected December 2022; Hurrian Glossary added in January 2023)
This image, which is based upon ancient Indian oral and visual tradition, is thought best to repr... more This image, which is based upon ancient Indian oral and visual tradition, is thought best to represent the Buddha as He actually appeared.
The purpose of this book is to provide a brief, reliable, clear, well-arranged
outline of the lif... more The purpose of this book is to provide a brief, reliable, clear, well-arranged outline of the life and original teachings (aggavāda) of the Buddha, as preserved in the Pāḷi scriptures of Theravādin Buddhism.
Revision by Allan R. Bomhard of the comprehensive and highly technical guide to Buddhist meditati... more Revision by Allan R. Bomhard of the comprehensive and highly technical guide to Buddhist meditation "Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice" by Paravahera Vajirañāṇa Mahāthera.
The Dhammapada, "The Path of the Dhamma," is so well known that it almost needs no introduction. ... more The Dhammapada, "The Path of the Dhamma," is so well known that it almost needs no introduction. It is by far the most widely translated Buddhist text. Therefore, I will keep my remarks to a minimum. The Dhammapada is the second book of the Khuddaka Nikāya, which is, itself, the fifth and last collection (nikāya) of the Sutta Piṭaka. The Dhammapada consists of 423 verses spoken by the Buddha on various occasions. These verses are arranged according to topic into 26 chapters. Though most of the verses were spoken to Bhikkhus, they are, nonetheless, of universal applicability. Indeed, they provide an incomparable guide on how to live a noble, rewarding, and useful life. In addition to the text of The Dhammapada, there also exist the stories of the events that prompted the Buddha to utter these verses as well as commentaries on the individual verses. The stories provide the context. The Commentary contains much useful material and, in some cases, provides the only means to understand the underlying meaning of the point that the Buddha was trying to get across. I had several goals in mind when I undertook the task of preparing yet another translation of The Dhammapada. The first was to prepare a version that was doctrinally accurate, that is, fully in accord with the doctrinal positions of Theravādin Buddhism. The second was to reduce sexist language as much as possible. The third and final goal was to render the verses into English that was fresh, alive, and easy to understand, and that would appeal to a modern reader. Consulting the Commentary made the first goal easy to achieve. Much of the commentarial material is included in the footnotes that accompany each chapter. In a number of cases, I followed the common practice of incorporating the commentarial material into the translation itself, especially when a word-for-word translation would have been incomprehensible by itself. The second goal required careful wording. I used two devices to reduce sexist language: (1) I used plural pronouns and (2) I used indefinite pronouns. In those cases where it was obviously males who were being spoken to or spoken about, I made no changes. As for the final goal, I will let the readers judge for themselves whether I have succeeded. As a final check on the accuracy of my translation, I compared it against several other popular translations. ■
This book aims to critically examine the fundamentalist approach to Christianity and highlight it... more This book aims to critically examine the fundamentalist approach to Christianity and highlight its many logical, philosophical, and ethical problems.
The purpose of this paper is to show that there are enough good cognates to establish that a set ... more The purpose of this paper is to show that there are enough good cognates to establish that a set of affricates should be reconstructed for Proto-Indo-Anatolian and that these affricates were lost in Proto-Indo-European proper.
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Books by Allan Bomhard
outline of the life and original teachings (aggavāda) of the Buddha, as preserved in the Pāḷi scriptures of Theravādin Buddhism.
Papers by Allan Bomhard