CEUS U520 0679 Décsy
Uralic and Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic were spoken ca. 4,000 B.C.; they are the ancestral forms
of ca. 60 languages in Europe (including English, German, Russian, French, Hungarian, Swedish,
etc.). As introduction, the controversial problem of the original territory (homeland, Urheimat) of
Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Uralic will be discussed, then as main part of the course a
description of their reconstructed forms (phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics) on a
comparative basis follows. Special attention will be paid to the much discussed possible genetic
relationship between Indo-European and Uralic as well as to the typological features the two
protolanguages stressing their importance for the study of language universals.
Textbooks:
Décsy, Gyula: The Indo-European Protolanguage. A Computational Reconstruction.
Bloomington 1991. Bibliotheca Nostratica, Vol. 10.
Décsy, Gyula: The Uralic Protolanguage. A Comprehensive Reconstruction.
Bloomington 1990. Bibliotheca Nostratica, Vol. 9.
Days and Time: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 12:20-1:10.