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| | EJVS 7-3.htm |
 | | (a) North Iranians: Scythians in the vast steppes of the Ukraine and eastwards of it (surviving as the modern Ossete in the Caucasus), the Saka of Xinjiang (Khotanese and Tumshuq, mod. |
 | | The older languages of an area, even when they are no longer spoken, continue to influence the younger languages as substrates, not in the least in their sound system; new, dominant classes influence the language of the conquered as superstrates in many ways. |
 | | Autochthonists further neglect that language replacement, such as visible during the Vedic period, depends on a range of various socio-linguistic factors and not simply on the presence of nomads, increasing population density, etc. Rather, the situation differs from case to case, and the important factors for any particular replacement must be demonstrated. |
| www.people.fas.harvard.edu /~witzel/EJVS-7-3.htm (17476 words) |
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