Modelling Population Dispersal and Language Origins During the Last 120,000 Years

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Modelling Population Dispersal and Language Origins During the Last 120,000 Years Modelling population dispersal and language origins during the last 120,000 years Professor Harald Sverdrup Lund Universtity, Sweden Purpose l Model the dispersal of humans out of Africa l Model the divergence of language with time l Investigate the impact of agriculture on archaic language distribution patterns Method and basics l Demic diffusion l Substrate supported population growth l Environmental regulation of growth intensity l Distributed mathematical model l STELLA modelling environment Neolithic Mesolithic population Demic diffusion population 1 Population density Geographical distance When the nucear area reaches saturation density, then a wave 2 of advance starts to propagate Population density Outward from the core area. The Geographical distance rate is approximately 1,000 km per millennium on flat plains, but 3 the rate slows down significantly Population density under difficult environmental Geographical distance conditions and rough topography 4 Population density Geographical distance Basic population+ model Migration + Population density + - + + Birth rate Population Mortality - + + - - Water Soil fertility The competition model + Agricultural land R Farmer Mesolithic population population + + R + Hunting - areas for mesolithic - population Essential equations For each geographic element, we have: p/t=increase + D(in) - D(out) + growth + migration The general equation of continuity leads to: p/t=D * nabla2(p) + Q* nabla(p) + r Population growth is modelled as a first order growth equation with balancing and rate modifying terms Global temperature 5 0 -5 -10 o Temperature deviation in C -15 250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 kYr BP The great icesheets 30 20 40 50 50 Computer 20 15 30 simulation 40 40 60 for the time 50 50 from 60 50 70 120,000 BC 80 30 40 90 30 to 40 100 100 120 60 70 80 90 110 50 10,000 BC 120 40 30 110 140 90 100 110 120 Nostratic according to model SEMITIC AFRO-ASIATIC NORTH AFRICAN CENTRAL AFRICAN GERMANIC BALTO-SLAVIC INDO-ARYAN CELTO-ITALIC INDO-EUROPEAN GREEK ANATOLIAN ALTAIC URALIC ELAMITEª BRAHUI DRAVIDIAN Mbuti pygmy W. Africa Bantu Nilosaharan Genetic San Ethiopians Berber Levant Iranian data European Sardinian India Tamil Lapp Uralic Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994 Mongol Tibetan Korean Japanese Ainu Turkic Eskimo Chukchi Amerind Na-Dene Southern Chinese Mohn-Khmer Thai Indonesian Malaysian Filipinese Polynesian Micronesian Melanesian Papuan Australian 0.030 0.024 0.018 0.012 0.006 0.000 Approximate genetic distance Austric according to the model JOMON AINU MIAO MIAO-YAO AUSTRIC 20 YAO TAI 3 7 DAIC AUSTRO KADAI THAI 5 MALAY-PACIFIC AUSTRONESIAN 3 OCEANIC 6 MUNDA NICOBAR AUSTRO ASLIAN ASIATIC KHASI MON-KHMER Testing on time of initial arrival to an area 100 80 60 40 20 Calculated date, thousand years BC 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 Observed date, thousand years BC Testing against glottochronology 100000 10000 LANGUAGE model prediction 1000 1000 10000 100000 Standard glottochronological model MacroCaucasian in 40,000 BC MacroCaucasian in 30,000 BC MacroCaucasian in 25,000 BC Gravettian, the reindeer hunters of the ice- age Gravettian figurines 28,000-22,000 BC 23 1 t o 2 8 2 t o 5 Calculated language divergence LANGUAGE model 100 80 60 40 % retention Pictish retention of Proto-Eurasian 20 Basque retention of Proto-Eurasian Nostratic retention of Proto-Eurasian 0 75 80 85 90 95 100 Time Calculation of similarity drift LANGUAGE model 100 Nostratic Austric, Sino-Tibetan Basque 10 Pictish 1 0.1 Isogloss loss rate, % per millennium 20 16 12 8 4 0 Thousand years BC Starting positions 10,000 BC Anyang, 7000 BC 7 Jeriko, 9000 BC Tibesti-Hoggar, 7000 BC Fukien, 7000 BC 3 4 5 7 4 3 4 5 6 AUSTRIC 6 3 Enter 5 4 SINOTIBETAN 4 agriculture; 5 4 3 3 Simulation 3 4 Burushaski 2 from 4 3 5 ELAMO- 3 Pict 3 DRAVIDIAN 10,000 BC 4 Caucasian 6 INDOEUROPEAN3 7 4 Sumerian 4 5 7 to Basque 6 6 8 7 2 5 Tart. 1,500 BC 3 4 5 6 3 AFROASIATIC 2 5 4 3 4 3 Dravidian 4 The Burushaski 5 Finnougroaltaic3 spread 6 3 4 North PictishIndoeuropean of 5 Caucasian 4 4 Rätian6 agriculture Basque 7 Etruscan 7 6 in the west Afroasiatic5 color 6 4 5 4 3 Capsian 5 4 3 Initial positions in Far East Asia at onset of agriculture The spread of agriculture in Asia Elamo-Dravidian languages 4 4 5 7 6 6 5 4 4 5 5 6 Sino-Tibetan languages7 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 Austric languages 4 3 2 3 Population in China according to model LANGUAGE model 1000 Mesolitic population Neolithic population 100 Total population Historic data 10 1 Chinese population, millions 0.1 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 Thousands of years BC Calculated population numbers 80 Indoeuropean 70 Dravidian 60 Afro-asiatic 50 Sino-Tibetan 40 Austric 30 North Caucasian Data, Europe 20 Data, China 10 Neolithic population in millions 0 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Thousand years BC Test against glottochronology 20000 16000 12000 8000 4000 LANGUAGE model prediction 0 0 4000 8000 12000 16000 20000 Standard glottochronological model The farmers outnumbered hunter-gatherers by 1:500 LANGUAGE model 1000 Hunter-gatherer 100 Neolithic World population 10 1 0.1 0.01 World population in million persons 1000 100 10 1 Thousand years BC Observed population densisties in agricultural societies 1000 Mesopotamian delta Egypt 100 Central america Mexico 10 1 2 Population 0.1 density, persons per km -8000 -7000 -6000 -5000 -4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 0 Years before present Indoeuropean homeland Pokorny, Grimm, m.m. Gimbutas 4 4 Gamkrelidze 5 6 6 9 Diakonov Renfrew Cavalli-Sforza Elite dominance, the rise of nomadism and horse warfare Pictish Basque Paleosibirian Etruscan Finno-Ugric Yukagir European Yenesseian Caucasian Altaic Indo-Aryan Korean Elamite Chinese Burushaski Brahui Burman Austroasiatic Austronesian Elamo-Dravidian Events correlate with climate Present 10 Nostratic split 30 Amerindian 50 Nostratic and Dene-Caucasian North and South Eurasian 70 90 ? 110 African and Eurasian Thousand years B.C 130 150 ? 170 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 Temperature deviation, o C Conclusions l The model is capable of reconstructing first time of arrival within +/- 5,500 years in the period from 140,000 BC to 9,000 BC l The model is capable of reconstructing the observed genetic patter in Europe and Asia l The model is giving populations estimates consistent with estimates based or archaeological data Conclusions 2 l The model reconstructs the Nostratic language family as determined by linguists down to small detail l The model reconstructs a Sino-Caucaso-Iberian language family, consistent with findings of long- range linguistist. The group diverged 25,000 BC and fractionated through isolation with the advent of agriculture Conclusions 3 l The model reconstructs Austric as a language family with depths of 25,000 BC for diversification and 7,000 years for rearrangement by agriculture Conclusion 4 l The LANGUAGE model is at present in awkward form and need reprogramming to FORTRAN90 in order to become generally useful for extensive scenarios l A fat, nice research grant is needed.
Recommended publications
  • Linguapax Review 2010 Linguapax Review 2010
    LINGUAPAX REVIEW 2010 MATERIALS / 6 / MATERIALS Col·lecció Materials, 6 Linguapax Review 2010 Linguapax Review 2010 Col·lecció Materials, 6 Primera edició: febrer de 2011 Editat per: Amb el suport de : Coordinació editorial: Josep Cru i Lachman Khubchandani Traduccions a l’anglès: Kari Friedenson i Victoria Pounce Revisió dels textos originals en anglès: Kari Friedenson Revisió dels textos originals en francès: Alain Hidoine Disseny i maquetació: Monflorit Eddicions i Assessoraments, sl. ISBN: 978-84-15057-12-3 Els continguts d’aquesta publicació estan subjectes a una llicència de Reconeixe- ment-No comercial-Compartir 2.5 de Creative Commons. Se’n permet còpia, dis- tribució i comunicació pública sense ús comercial, sempre que se’n citi l’autoria i la distribució de les possibles obres derivades es faci amb una llicència igual a la que regula l’obra original. La llicència completa es pot consultar a: «http://creativecom- mons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/es/deed.ca» LINGUAPAX REVIEW 2010 Centre UNESCO de Catalunya Barcelona, 2011 4 CONTENTS PRESENTATION Miquel Àngel Essomba 6 FOREWORD Josep Cru 8 1. THE HISTORY OF LINGUAPAX 1.1 Materials for a history of Linguapax 11 Fèlix Martí 1.2 The beginnings of Linguapax 14 Miquel Siguan 1.3 Les débuts du projet Linguapax et sa mise en place 17 au siège de l’UNESCO Joseph Poth 1.4 FIPLV and Linguapax: A Quasi-autobiographical 23 Account Denis Cunningham 1.5 Defending linguistic and cultural diversity 36 1.5 La defensa de la diversitat lingüística i cultural Fèlix Martí 2. GLIMPSES INTO THE WORLD’S LANGUAGES TODAY 2.1 Living together in a multilingual world.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Linguistics
    Topical Report 1. Linguistics MILTON E. BARKER Received I6 April I962 The linguistic sessions of the Tenth Pacific Science Congress, held in Honolulu from 21 August to 6 September 1961, were well attended; and those present report an increased interest in the field of linguistics. The following resolutions were approved and adopted at the closing Plenary Session of the Congress: Current research on Austronesian and Papuan languages is inadequate for scientific needs, and some of them face imminent extinction unless prompt action is taken. Though estimates place the number of languages in the area close to a thousand, ap­ proximately a fourth or a fifth of the total for the entire world, only a few of the world's small group of linguists have worked in the Oceanic area. As prehistoric population movements in Oceania have been a major interest of this Congress, and as linguistic information constitutes a principal line of evidence toward the reconstruction of po­ pulation movements, large-scale expansion of bothdescriptive and comparativelinguistic studies is essential to the efficient exploitation of linguistic evidence. RESOLVED that all possible steps be taken to expand research on Pacific languages. Further linguistic surveys in Southeast Asia are needed. RESOLVED that every possible assistance and encouragement be given to institutions of the new nations of Southeast Asia wishing to make linguistic surveys of their peoples. A number of linguists interested in the languages of the Pacific Islands and neighbouring areas held a series of discussions at the Tenth Pacific Science Con­ gress how to keep themselves informed of each other's work and finally decided to produce a bibliographical publication to be called Oceanic Linguistics whose primary purpose is to provide up-to-date information on research in progress, recently completed, or recently published anywhere in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Expression of Modifiers and Arguments in the Noun Phrase and Beyond a Typological Study Van Rijn, M.A
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The expression of modifiers and arguments in the noun phrase and beyond A typological study van Rijn, M.A. Publication date 2017 Document Version Final published version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): van Rijn, M. A. (2017). The expression of modifiers and arguments in the noun phrase and beyond: A typological study. LOT. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:24 Sep 2021 455220 Marlou van Rijn Marlou van Rijn Marlou van Rijn The expression of modifiers The expression of modifiers and arguments and arguments in the noun in the noun phrase and beyond phrase and beyond A typological study A typological study A major semantic distinction obtaining in phrases and clauses is that between in the noun phrase and beyond The expression of modifiers and arguments modifiers and arguments.
    [Show full text]
  • Mountains of Asia a Regional Inventory
    International Centre for Integrated Asia Pacific Mountain Mountain Development Network Mountains of Asia A Regional Inventory Harka Gurung Copyright © 1999 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development All rights reserved ISBN: 92 9115 936 0 Published by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development GPO Box 3226 Kathmandu, Nepal Photo Credits Snow in Kabul - Madhukar Rana (top) Transport by mule, Solukhumbu, Nepal - Hilary Lucas (right) Taoist monastry, Sichuan, China - Author (bottom) Banaue terraces, The Philippines - Author (left) The Everest panorama - Hilary Lucas (across cover) All map legends are as per Figure 1 and as below. Mountain Range Mountain Peak River Lake Layout by Sushil Man Joshi Typesetting at ICIMOD Publications' Unit The views and interpretations in this paper are those of the author(s). They are not attributable to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and do not imply the expression of any opinion concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Preface ountains have impressed and fascinated men by their majesty and mystery. They also constitute the frontier of human occupancy as the home of ethnic minorities. Of all the Mcontinents, it is Asia that has a profusion of stupendous mountain ranges – including their hill extensions. It would be an immense task to grasp and synthesise such a vast physiographic personality. Thus, what this monograph has attempted to produce is a mere prolegomena towards providing an overview of the regional setting along with physical, cultural, and economic aspects. The text is supplemented with regional maps and photographs produced by the author, and with additional photographs contributed by different individuals working in these regions.
    [Show full text]
  • Malay Minorities in the Tenasserim Coast
    ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement Volume 4 Number 1 July Article 12 7-31-2020 Malay minorities in The Tenasserim coast Ma Tin Cho Mar Department of South East Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, [email protected] Pham Huong Trang International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/ajce Part of the Polynesian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Mar, Ma Tin Cho and Trang, Pham Huong (2020). Malay minorities in The Tenasserim coast. ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement, 4(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.7454/ajce.v4i1.1069 Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. This Review Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Universitas Indonesia at ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement. It has been accepted for inclusion in ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement. Ma Tin Cho Mar, Pham Huong Trang | ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement | Volume 4, Number 1, 2020 Malay minorities in The Tenasserim coast Ma Tin Cho Mara*, Pham Huong Trangb aDepartment of South East Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia bInternational School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam Received: December 29th, 2019 || Revised: January 30th, 2020 || Accepted: July 29th, 2020 Abstract This paper discusses the Malay Minorities of the Malay Minorities in the Tenasserim Coast. And Tanintharyi Division is an administrative region of Myanmar at present. When we look closely at some of the interesting historical facts, we see that this region is “Tanao Si” in Thai, or Tanah Sari in Malay.
    [Show full text]
  • A Dictionary of Linguistics
    MID-CENTURY REFERENCE LIBRARY DAGOBERT D. RUNES, Ph.D., General Editor AVAILABLE Dictionary of Ancient History Dictionary of the Arts Dictionary of European History Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases Dictionary of Linguistics Dictionary of Mysticism Dictionary of Mythology Dictionary of Philosophy Dictionary of Psychoanalysis Dictionary of Science and Technology Dictionary of Sociology Dictionary of Word Origins Dictionary of World Literature Encyclopedia of Aberrations Encyclopedia of the Arts Encyclopedia of Atomic Energy Encyclopedia of Criminology Encyclopedia of Literature Encyclopedia of Psychology Encyclopedia of Religion Encyclopedia of Substitutes and Synthetics Encyclopedia of Vocational Guidance Illustrated Technical Dictionary Labor Dictionary Liberal Arts Dictionary Military and Naval Dictionary New Dictionary of American History New Dictionary of Psychology Protestant Dictionary Slavonic Encyclopedia Theatre Dictionary Tobacco Dictionary FORTHCOMING Beethoven Encyclopedia Dictionary of American Folklore Dictionary of American Grammar and Usage Dictionary of American Literature Dictionary of American Maxims Dictionary of American Proverbs Dictionary of American Superstitions Dictionary of American Synonyms Dictionary of Anthropology Dictionary of Arts and Crafts Dictionary of Asiatic History Dictionary of Astronomy Dictionary of Child Guidance Dictionary of Christian Antiquity Dictionary of Discoveries and Inventions Dictionary of Etiquette Dictionary of Forgotten Words Dictionary of French Literature Dictionary of Geography
    [Show full text]
  • Greater Austric” Hypothesis
    The “Greater Austric” Hypothesis John D. Bengtson Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory “Austric” is a hypothetical language family proposed by Wilhelm Schmidt, a Lutheran clergyman from Germany who worked as a missionary in Southeast Asia. He hypothesized (1906) that the Austroasiatic language family and the Austronesian language family (see below) came from a common origin, and should be be grouped together into a new phylum named Austric (from Latin auster ‘south’). [Schmidt] presented phonological, morphological, and lexical evidence in support of this hypothesis. The consensus of the linguists who have looked into the matter has been that the phonological and morphological evidence is convincing, but not the lexical, and for that reason, Austric has never been generally accepted as a valid taxonomic unit (La Vaughn Hayes). 1 In the ensuing century various scholars have sought to “expand” the Austric family, to include other languages that seem to have the same grammatical and lexical features as Schmidt’s Austric. Beginning around 1996 I proposed a “Greater Austric” macro-phylum of macro-family that includes the following languages: • Nihali: a tribal language of central India, thought to be the last remnant of an ancient language family. • Austroasiatic (Munda - Mon-Khmer): about 155 languages spoken in India, Nicobar Islands, and Southeast Asia: includes Santali, Mundari, Sora (India), Nancowry, Mon, Khmer (Cambodia), Vietnamese, Pear, Katu, etc. • Hmong-Mien (Miao-Yao): a small number of languages (4-7?) scattered through southern China, Hainan, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand: includes Hmong, Ke-cheng, Kao- p’o, Kao-t’ung, Yao-lu. • Daic (Tai-Kadai): about 55 languages spoken in Southeast Asia: includes Thai, Lao, Kam, Sui, Lakkia, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • Hypothesis-An Evaluation
    Benedict's Austro-Tai Hypothesis-An Evaluation LAWRENCE A. REID INTRODUCTION THEPOSSIBLE CONNECTIONS among the hundreds of languages of Southeast Asia have been the subject of considerable research and a fair amount of speculation since at least the beginning of this century. Three major language families have generally been recognized -Austroasiatic (including languages such as Vietnamese, Mon, Khmer, Khasi, Nico­ barese, and Munda), Sino-Tibetan (including Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, and scores of other little-known languages), and Austronesian (represented in Mainland Southeast Asia by the Chamic group and Malay). Attempts to relate various of these families into super­ stocks and to establish the position of Thai within one or another of these families dates back to Schmidt's (1906) attempt to relate Austronesian and Austroasiatic in a family that he called Austric. Thai, primarily because of its monosyllabic word structure and its tonal system which is similar to Chinese, was generally classified as belonging to a Sino-Thai group within Sino-Tibetan. In 1942, Paul Benedict published a paper in the American Anthropoioyist that proposed what he called "a new alignment." He proposed that Thai was not genetically related to Chinese at all, but to the Austronesian language family, which he at that time, following Dempwolff (1938), called the Indonesian languages. A series of papers followed, culmi­ nating in a volume, Austro-Thai Language and Culture (Benedict 1975), which reprinted his earlier papers and included a glossary of over 200 pages of Austro-Thai reconstruc­ tions with extensive discussion of sound correspondences and lexical evidence from each of the major branches of his proposed family.
    [Show full text]
  • Peopling of India
    PEOPLING OF INDIA Madhav Gadgil and N.V. Joshi Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Bangalore 560 012, India. U.V.Shambu Prasad Centre for Research in Indo-Bangladesh Relations 107, Jodhpur Park (Ground Floor) Calcutta 700068, India. S.Manoharan and Suresh Patil Anthropological Survey of India, Southern Regional Office 2963, Gokulam Road, Mysore 570002, India. Table of contents Abstract Introduction Role of innovations Genetic affinities Gene analysis reveals people radiating out of the Middle East and the Orient Language families reveal ancestries and movements Language and economy Archaeolgical evidence Horse and iron as pointers of heritage A plausibile scenario A segmented society Acknowledgements References Comments, suggestions, reprint requests to : [email protected] OR [email protected] Citation : Gadgil,M., Joshi, N.V., Shambu Prasad,U.V., Manoharan,S. and Suresh Patil 1997. pp.100-129. In: The Indian Human Heritage, Eds. D. Balasubramanian and N. Appaji Rao. Universities Press, Hyderabad, India. Abstract We examine the demographic history of India on the basis of a new investigation of mitochondrial DNA base sequences of 101 Indians, in light of the recent synthesis of global genetic history of humans by Cavalli-Sforza and his co-workers. To this population genetic evidence we add fresh insights into linguistic and anthropological pattern based on the People of India project of the Anthropological Survey of India and a review of the pertinent archaeological evidence on waves of diffusion of technological innovations over the subcontinent. The Indian subcontinent has been populated by a series of migrations propelled by significant technological innovations outside India since the first major expansion of non-African Homo sapiens , probably around 65,000 years before present.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Thoughts on the Problem of the Austro-Asiatic Homeland
    Ilia Peiros Santa Fe Institute Some thoughts on the problem of the Austro-Asiatic homeland In a recent publication (“The Austroasiatic central riverine hypothesis”, JLR 4), Paul Sidwell came up with a new conception of what he considers to be the optimal localization of the original homeland of the Proto-Austro-Asiatic language: the Mekong valley in and around In- dochina. The current paper is written in response to Sidwell’s conclusions. These are, first of all, evaluated from a strictly linguistic (lexicostatistical) point of view, and then compared with some of the available evidence on the most likely geographical distribution, cultural and eco- logical status, and ethnic surroundings of speakers of Proto-Austro-Asiatic. It is concluded that the overall complex of available data much more often contradicts Sidwell’s theory than con- firms it, and that, consequently, there is no need to abandon the older hypothesis of a mid- Yangtze valley homeland for Austro-Asiatic (Peiros & Shnirelman), nor is there sufficient evi- dence to rearrange previously offered models of the internal classification of Austro-Asiatic languages (Diffloth; Peiros) in order to better accommodate the «central riverine» speculation. Keywords: Austroasiatic, comparative method, lexicostatistics, linguistic homeland. In issue 4 of Journal of Language Relationship, Paul Sidwell (further — PS) has published a paper under the title “The Austroasiatic central riverine hypothesis” (pp. 117–134). In the paper the author proposes a new localization for the Austro-Asiatic homeland, challenging some of the previously stated hypotheses on that subject. In this submission, I would like to evaluate PS’s paper along with the currently available data on the topic.
    [Show full text]
  • Are Austro Asiatic Tribes Original Native Inhabitant of India?
    Biotechnology International, Vol 2(4): 91-115. Dec 2009 Are Austro Asiatic tribes original native inhabitant of India? Fahim Ahmad*, Amna Siddiqui** ,Aswin Ashok Raut** and P.K. Pandey** *Department of Biomedical Sciences and centre for excellence for infectious diseases, Paul Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech university, 5001 El Paso Texas(USA). TX- 79905; **Department of Biotechnology, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi(India). Corresponding Author :- Dr. Fahim Ahmad Department of Biomedical Sciences and centre for excellence for infectious diseases, Paul Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech university, 5001 El Paso Texas(USA). TX-79905. Key words: Homo sapiens, Austro Asiatic, mitochondrial DNA Summary: The most current issue is about the people who had settled first in Indian sub continent. It has been suggested that the Austro Asiatic linguistic family are perhaps the first to settle in India and the Palaeoanthropological evidences suggest the earliest settlement probably around 60,000 years BC. Homo sapiens evolved in Africa and replaced archaic human in other parts in world. One of the first waves of out of Africa migration came into India. India served as a major corridor for dispersal of modern humans. Mitochondrial DNA sequence data of hypervariable segment (HVS-1) and Y- chromosomal haplogroup data indicate that the Austro Asiatic tribal population may have been the most ancient inhabitant of India. Introduction India has served as major corridor for the dispersal of modern human (Cann, 2001 ). The entry date of modern human remains uncertain, by the middle Paleolithic period (50,000 to 20,000 years before). The modern human migration routes remains enigmatic, whether there were also return to Africa from India /Asia is unclear (Maca-Meyer et al 2001, Roychodhury et al 2001, Cruciani et al 2002).
    [Show full text]
  • Indian Languages
    Indian Languages India is a land of vastness and continuity. It is now certain that the inhabitants of the country are not her original people. They entered India in different spans of time and got settled here. Most of them belong to the Asian parts-Central, Eastern and Western. It is natural that differences and variations exist in their languages and dialects owing to their coming into India from different parts of Asia. After coming into India, cultural mixing has taken place among various races and it led to the mixing of their languages and dialects to a great extent. Despite all this, people of different races and classes live in different parts of the country and they speak different languages and dialects. Classification of Indian Languages: People of India speak a large number of languages which are broadly divided into the following four families: 1. Indo-European Family (Arya), 2. Dravidian Family (Dravida), 3. Austric Family (Nishada), and 4. Sino Tibetan Family (Kirata). The above classification is based upon the number of people speaking each family of languages. The first is the Aryan family which is numerically and also culturally, the most important in India. About 73% of the Indian population speaks different languages of the Aryan family. Next comes the Dravidian family which is spoken by about 20 per cent of the Indian population. The Austric and the Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken by small percentage of people. 1. The Aryan Languages: This is the most important of all the families of languages and spoken by a little less than three fourths of the Indian population.
    [Show full text]