Abstract:
The global distribution and chronology of spread of Y chromosomal haplogroups ap-pears correlated with the spread of language families. This Father Tongue correla¬tion is ubiqui¬tous globally, but the pattern is neither perfect nor universal. Autosomal and mitochondrial DNA render our view of the past far more complex. Moreover, ancient DNA findings have enhanced our understanding of the prehistory and proven¬ance of our biological an¬cestors. The phylogeny of language families, chronology of branch¬ing of linguistic family trees and the historical and modern geographical distribu¬tion of lan¬guage communities in¬form us about the spread of languages and linguistic phyla. A number of well-established language families are presented, and Fortescue’s Uralo-Siberian theory, Starosta’s East Asian theory and Osta¬pirat’s Austro-Tai theory are introduced. Together recognised language families, theories of distant linguistic relationship and known ancient contact situa¬tions can inform population genetic research. Conversely, molecular genetics sheds new light on ethnolin¬guistic prehistory. The talk presents snippets of Asian ethnolinguistic prehistory, of which a far more detailed account is provided in the speaker’s latest book.
(Recommended reading : van Driem, George. 2021. Ethnolinguistic Prehistory: The Peopling of the World from the Perspective of Language, Genes and Material Culture. Leiden: Brill. )
About the Speaker:
George van Driem (Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Bern)
George van Driem is a distinguished linguist renowned for his contributions to historical linguistics, ethnolinguistic prehistory, and the study of Asian languages. Awarded the Rolex Associate Laureate Award in 1996, he is celebrated for his development of the "father tongue hypothesis" and his extensive interdisciplinary research, often collaborating with geneticists to reconstruct Asian ethnolinguistic prehistory. Van Driem's pioneering work has utilized linguistic palaeontology, ethnolinguistic phylogeography, and studies in rice genetics and faunal distribution during the Holocene. He identified ancient Hmong-Mien and Austroasiatic speakers as early domesticators of Asian rice, and his theory on the origins and prehistoric dispersal of the Hmong-Mien, Austroasiatic, and Trans-Himalayan language families has had significant influence. His research also redefined the "Sino-Tibetan" language family with the "Trans-Himalayan" model, which he proposed in 2004 as a more accurate, neutral alternative. Van Driem developed the Symbiosism theory, a Darwinian view of language as a semiotic organism in mutualistic symbiosis with the human brain. His philosophical work on "Symbiomism" positions language as a dynamic, co-evolving entity. In 2019, he published The Tale of Tea, the most comprehensive historical account of tea's cultural and economic impact. This authoritative work was translated into Mandarin and published for a Chinese audience in 2023. His latest book, Ethnolinguistic Prehistory (2021), explores the peopling of the world through language, genes, and material culture. Currently, he is completing a new edition of his 1987 Limbu Grammar and preparing the first-ever grammar of the Lohorung language for publication with Jagadambā Prakāśan in Lalitpur.