Proto-Indo-European - Laryngeal Theory

[@shirameirdrexler2940]

11:59 On the other side, the construction worker says: "Sorry, someone's doing some language reconstruction work"

[@williamwebb580]

Shira Meir Drexler lmao, the thought that they’re both equally annoyed at each other.

[@jakubpociecha8819]

Language Reconstruction Worker

[@SimonClarkstone]

LOL

[@NeglectedField]

There's no such thing as an English suburb without the sound of someone's bloody circular saw.

[@nikoGoroz]

I've been wired to find circular saw sound comforting. I'm from Poland tho, and never lived in UK haha. It's amazing we are so familiar.

[@bobstephens5599]

Right?! What are they actually doing?

[@gunner678]

Same here in France lol!

[@billywade7794]

Genius

[@chaosPneumatic]

Nor an American suburb without someone's goddamn leaf blower.

[@samuelmelcher333]

Most KZbinrs when completely inside with a great mic: “I’m so sorry guys the neighbor four doors down is doing some construction so if you hear anything sorry about that” and there’s absolutely no background noise the entire video Simon when he’s on the patio and a guy 30 ft away starts up a circular saw: “Well that’s annoying, anyway,” Edit addendum: I joke but I actually really love the honest straightforward way Simon makes his videos. Like, I’m not here for perfect sound quality; I’m here for the knowledge he has to share

[@hassanminbaghdad]

lol

[@hamarbiljungskile8953]

Well, this was absolutely ribbiting.

[@animalunaris]

Hamarbi Ljungskile oh no you didn’t

[@laurasauraus0350]

🤣 I am laughing way too much

[@jan_Masewin]

you f**king mad lad you

[@gunner678]

No that's frog language, it was gueeeerrrrate!

[@januarysson5633]

How do you say that in Proto-Frog? 🐸

[@burymycampaignatwoundedkne3395]

Came for the subject, stayed for the frog.

[@conlangknow8787]

Ф R Ø Ä G G H

[@IAmAlgolei]

For 25 seconds, I thought I'd clicked on the wrong video.

[@WestfaliaStuff]

I love everything about you and your comment isn't bad either.

[@everforward8651]

I love your profile name and profile pic. Pure genius.

[@skeletalbassman1028]

"that would have been quite an act of foresight" 🤣

[@varana]

We should start calling English and Chinese "proto-Alliance". :D

[@Herodollus]

Historians are the best at giving people chuckles

[@geraldchurchill5576]

@@Herodollus Maybe so, but only to other historians.

[@kingbeauregard]

Kind of like how the Lombards settled in a part of Italy known as "Lombardy". Imagine how surprised they must have been when somebody told them!

[@mytube001]

@@kingbeauregard There's an 18th century poetic work by Kellgren, where the following is said of the main character "Dumbom" (my translation from Swedish): "In his travels he saw how well fortune had provided rivers that lie where great cities flow" :D

[@wl2177]

Simon, on a serious note, you're a very unique person on KZbin; while the history of language has always been something of interest to me, you've brought out my curiosities in full through your videos. You have a very odd, almost entirely improvised style that leaves what's nearly a surreal touch to your videos, but your method of explaining things, as well as the familiarity that you bring about in your personality really do a strange wonder in educating. I feel very lucky to have stumbled upon your channel, and I do hope that you keep up your content; you're one of the few people who I get legitimately excited for once I see that you've uploaded; both for what I'm learning from your videos, and the rather relaxing experience in watching them. Thank you, and keep up the good work; stay safe as well.

[@marktyler3381]

I feel the same about Atomic Shrimp, and Alfie Aesthetic (he doesn't post anymore) - very english and calming, while being educational in a really individual way.

[@bashkillszombies]

[@marktyler3381]

@Nim Boo Thank you very much for that detailed reply. I will come back to it. Very interesting stuff.

[@WarLasso]

@Nim Boo "Evidence" doesn't mean what you think it means.

[@guilhemane]

Exactly

[@ChristopherRayMiller]

“What we found when we decoded the Hittite language, which was an Anatolian language, was that it was an Indo-European language spoken a very long time ago, and it had reflexes of those laryngeal sounds. That’s very, very annoying.” Obviously you were talking about the noise of the saw, but that made me laugh!

[@garrettwillett]

I think you explained laryngeal theory better than some if my past linguistics profs

[@user-bf8ud9vt5b]

Rude frog. Never said a word.

[@user-bf8ud9vt5b]

@A hc Definitely.

[@januarysson5633]

Not even “ribbit” (Modern Frog). 🐸

[@beback_]

Wtf he just gave a mini lecture on linguistics?

[@ADEpoch]

Maybe it was about to croak, and couldn't do anything ribbetting.

[@traktortarik8224]

He’s just shy

[@a05odst62]

"Quite an act of foresight" Got to love that British sarcasm

[@Mr.Nichan]

Understatement.

[@FrancisF23]

@@Mr.Nichan Irony? And anyway, anyway, a palindrome of Bolton would be Notlob.

[@Jusoon]

"you can see this yourself, just make the sound "C&%Yhggghfh" and then transition to "a"...see? so simple....." edit : Not going to lie, that ending was very cool - listening to a word evolve through millennia like that.

[@iosusito5683]

@Mirzə And how is this pronounced? The closest thing I have in the languages I know is /x/ and is not even a laryngeal

[@iosusito5683]

@Mirzə I'm not an expert in IPA and I'm only familiar with the symbols of Spanish, English and Korean. But I google it and they're pretty similar tho

[@kimonas70]

Υδωρ(Greek) - outor - outer - water

[@SimonClarkstone]

@@kimonas70 are suggesting that English got the word "water" from Greek?

[@alexandrbatora9674]

@Mirzə vulvar? geez, ic dont newill make sound like ðat.

[@MrFoofarew]

This may be the nicest comment section I’ve ever seen.

[@Sara88890]

So interesting, I love linguistics but when I try to read about it usually too dense for me and I end up down a rabbit hole of looking up definitions, your videos are great.

[@juch3]

Ah yes voiced uvular fricative

[@jordansernik]

I feel the same

[@alpinefolkman]

@@juch3 To be honest after you learn the terminology it gets really easy.

[@hassanminbaghdad]

lol right? I'm now trying to understand what the difference between laryngeal and pharyngeal is

[@Zorpazorp]

Hey man, can you do more of those graduated shifts through PIE to modern English? Like you did with 'wind' at the end? Fascinating stuff.

[@yogummler]

Well look who it is 😄

[@Zorpazorp]

@@yogummler Well hey there ;) how good is Simon's stuff haha :D

[@yogummler]

@@Zorpazorp didn't expect to find you here when I was just randomly scrolling through the comments lol

[@Zorpazorp]

@@yogummler I'll try and rope Simon in for a collab on Tolkien's influence on linguistics when I'm in the UK for ArdaCon and then your mind will explode hahaha

[@yogummler]

@@Zorpazorp 🤯

[@qui9]

Simon painting a goddamn rainbow on his nails

[@richardokeefe7410]

Perhaps he has a young daughter.

[@robbicu]

I like it. Needs no explanation.

[@spitfirefrench]

@@robbicu cringe

[@joeschultz2]

Very Cringe: Yeah, I noticed that too. Who knows what it means? Maybe his brother's in a band called Painted Nails and Simon figured he'll give 'em some free publicity.

[@Alice-gr1kb]

Callsign Frosty sure

[@mscrabson]

I love Simon’s videos: it’s like I just dropped by and we hang out in the garden and discuss vowels but there’s also a frog and trees and the sky

[@persallnas5408]

Clever ending and nice to see that you are sticking up for our amphibian friends

[@therealzilch]

Our amphibian friends can use all the help they can get.

[@pesnevim1626]

These are very chilled and interesting vids. Also, the goth nails on one hand and Shazzer style on the other added to the general oddness. Thanks.

[@dark_messiah8183]

A hc go outside

[@corvusboreus2072]

@A hc You can go outside, just not out into the public domain. That leaves you some options for obtaining a daily vitamin D input (unless you are misfortune enough to inhabit some kind of share-cage.

[@icefire6622]

@A hc Literally nothing required you to make that comment. Simon's linguistic videos rarely have non-linguistic topics even mentioned. You seem to be obsessed with defending something that literally has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

[@nodarkthings]

I think you nailed it there

[@vladpopescu9986]

My God man I cant stop laughing.

[@alinbarba1418]

I'm just happy he mentioned Romanian, it gets very overlooked.

[@randomname2159]

cam asa e..

[@opidacul]

@@randomname2159 ai dreptate

[@rinolancierri]

Subscriu

[@onethirdofabrain]

Thank you for this, it feels like I'm just chilling in someone's garden while they tell me interesting shit about language, and I love it.

[@simonroper9218]

Thank you :) I'm glad it's come across well

[@alejandrosegovia4587]

As a Spanish speaker it is very interesting to hear the proto indo european pronunciation of Wind, for me sounds like "Uentos" and if you change the U to a V as it used to be written in Latin, then we end up with Ventos, and in Spanish Wind = Viento(s)!!! very interesting.

[@Bubu567]

You can almost hear where the language diverged paths when it moves further rather than closer to the end result. But that's not always accurate, as language evolution can be a curvy path.

[@albertodimaio496]

matter-of-factly, in Latin the used to be pronounced probably as /w/ and-or /u/.

[@andwhat]

Love the explanation, love the nails, great work

[@norgepalm7315]

Ugay

[@VaxzaLimeIsCool]

palmtrees - nothin wrong with being gay, but how do you know this person isn’t a girl?

[@reizayin]

@@VaxzaLimeIsCool isn't there though? also he's obviously male.

[@servantofaeie1569]

@Taiwanlight makeup is wrong on both men and women but wronger on men because its feminine

[@alfieburns9019]

@@VaxzaLimeIsCool okay this is one of these things about modern society that is really annoying. Firstly he is quite obviously a man, his name is Simon for fucks sake, that is just simple, contextual knowledge. Secondly I am on the left side of the spectrum, but I fucking hate when people say, "You can't just assume their gender!" YES I CAN, and if I'm wrong I will be corrected, people seriously can't be expected to actually ask for a persons gender, it is simply stupid.

[@FreeManFreeThought]

Love how everyone is near unanimous in loving your nails dude! Awesome video as usual.

[@norgepalm7315]

Gays are a tight knit group

[@nextgnrationboy]

Loved the video and the nails.

[@mariabaxter8843]

Agreed! Very cute!!

[@algonzalez6853]

@@mariabaxter8843 gay*

[@MainAcc0]

@@algonzalez6853 you called?

[@GiandomenicoDeMola]

@@algonzalez6853 if he were, what would be the problem? You are a poor minded person, THAT is a real problem.

[@paddyret7968]

@@GiandomenicoDeMola ah not really, the gay is though. It's a shame because I thought he was a man.

[@mert.e]

Came for the subject, stayed for the nails

[@algonzalez6853]

Gay

[@conlangknow8787]

@@algonzalez6853 Its ok to be gay😐

[@digitalspecter]

@@algonzalez6853 you sound like an edgy teenager who has learnt a new word..

[@nsk370]

@@conlangknow8787 it isnot okay to behave bizarrely because of it

[@conlangknow8787]

@@nsk370 no u

[@Hurlebatte]

For a moment I thought maybe this was going to be a fifteen minute long video of a frog, for April Fools.

[@eiremike1]

Interesting video and a nice way to make difficult linguistic concepts easier to understand. Love the nails too mate - very spring-themed

[@BudoReflex]

Environmental factors must also be a factor. I have been learning Russian as an English speaker, and it's my theory (probably not unique), that the Russian love of complex consonant sounds and simple back throat vowels is directly caused by the cold climate; you can speak Russian with your lips barely apart and be perfectly understood - indeed watching a Russian speak would be a lip reading nightmare. The large round vowels are very warm weather friends.

[@DaveTexas]

I love everything about this video - the content, the way it’s explained, the conversational tone, and the fabulous fingernails! Nothing like something delightfully unexpected to bring a smile to your face.

[@joebombero1]

It's pretty evident he has a daughter who wanted to practice nails and used him as a guinea pig :)

[@DarthCalculus]

This was truly fascinating.I am a science teacher, so the connection to biological evolution was really interesting to me. The transition to "wind" at the end was amazing, almost magical.

[@kaengurus.sind.genossen]

The way the story went reminded me of physics, where the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics predicted things discovered decades later, often after the originial inventor had long died.

[@Riurelia]

I really like this video's ending. I also realized that Proto-Indo-European h₂wéh₁n̥ts (idk if that's the right word) sounds similar to it's Latin descendant "ventus".

[@mariainesabrantes2781]

Great video! As a Portuguese native speaker, I completely related to the "phenomenon" of not pronouncing the letter H at the beginning of words, since we don't pronounce it at all. Quite the problem when speaking English or German...

[@FractalZero]

I think these are the most enjoyable videos i've ever watched. I briefly studied basic linguistics and have a deep love for language but the science has always been too dry - until you came along. Your personality is as beautiful as your nails :)

[@Nik_Stopher]

9:00 Thats why in german the "ch" [ç] in "Ich" has an other phoneme than the "ch" [x] in "Bach"

[@cairiss]

ohhhhhhhh, thank you, i’m learning german and i was always confused about this. major lightbulb moment right there

[@Nik_Stopher]

The special sounds are always the hardest. For example, the most germans I know (incluse me) can't pronounce "th".

[@Ida-xe8pg]

pretty common tbh even in greek tho i think they pronounce it more like [x̟] [ɣ̟] than purely palatal [ç] [ʝ]

[@albertconstantine5432]

Nailed it, and with your usual colorful manner evident.

[@solhamer3502]

Simon: it's an awkward sound to make repeatedly, *khee khee khee" Wales: hold my cheese on toast

[@retohaner5328]

Swiss-Germans: Hold my entire language

[@vastariner]

I'd love there to be a seminar or conference where everyone talked in Proto-Indo-European. I bet people would stumble across the mechanisms for sound changes or dropped letters or grammatical shortcuts almost spontaneously. Which would be a reflection of what would have happened over the centuries to turn PIE into the languages we have today. E.g. the verb "to be" was surely as irregular in PIE as it is in every daughter language - but we reconstruct it as regular. As if we reconstructed an English verb "I be, you be, he bes...I beed, you beed..." based on the infinitive. So if you get everyone together, surely they won't say "*h1ésmi" for "I am" all the time, they'd perhaps shorten it just to "esmi" ir even "smi".

[@zoeseglins131]

I have watched so many of these videos, and yet, still have such a difficult time wrapping my head around the mechanics of it all! I am so glad someone does, and can feed us all bite sized pieces. Thank you Simon!

[@heidikindon5182]

Genetically, darker pigmentation tends (in primates) to be autosomal dominant and all lighter colors tend toward autosomal recessive. This means that two changes- or changes in two individuals- would be necessary in order to achieve an orange-haired primate. This could be taken to Skew the percentage chance for a diversion, but of course genetics is never so cut-and-dried. For its purposes, your analogy holds up well enough. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[@simonroper9218]

I thought there must be some confounding variables! Would that push the probability in favour of a darker-haired ancestor, then? Even so, that could be analogous to the fact that certain sound changes happen more readily than others, or that certain changes require one or several intermediate stages :)

[@heidikindon5182]

Yes it could push the probability toward a darker ancestor, insofar as I have correctly applied my understanding of genetic inheritance. And yes I do believe you can extend the same analogy as you suggest.

[@riptidemonzarc3103]

There is also evidence from geographic distribution--the orange-haired apes are pretty localised to SE Asia, while the dark-haired apes are spread through Africa (and, in humans at least, everywhere outside of the western and northern fringes of Europe). Couple that with the conclusive evidence that the apes originated in Africa in the first place and that also skews probabilities. Though one could argue that the dark hair is novel and, coupled with the genetic properties you describe and some good old survival of the fittest, it could be more likely that orange hair was the start and was then superseded outside of Orangutans' ranges. I'm sure there are analogous tactics for arguing about linguistic classification.

[@My_Personal_Youtube]

@@simonroper9218 Heidi is actually wrong and is making a very common mistake. If, theoretically, only a single mutation is needed to go from an orange allele to a black allele (non-functioning melanin production vs functioning melanin production), or vice versa, then in either case only a single mutation is needed. The same number of steps is needed for all the copies of that gene in the population to be supplanted by this new version. Yeah, in one version we start with a heterozygous black ape in an orange population, and in the other we have a heterozygous black ape in a black population, but in either way the populations still have the same allele ratios (just inverted). Whether an allele is dominant or recessive plays no part in whether the offspring will inherit it. They're equally likely. Now, if you're making the argument that deleterious mutations -- like melanin production going from functioning to non-functioning -- are more common and generally require less mutations, then sure. That's a fine argument. But in terms of the original argument that was put forth: evolution happens at the population level. Whether or not the first one to get the mutation changes color doesn't make a difference.

[@heidikindon5182]

I did say It only held up so far as I applied it correctly. 😄

[@Deadeye777]

Man, this is beautiful. It's so calm and conversational, rational and informative, set to the sounds of birdsong and hand-cammed views into cherry trees atop a blue sky. These aren't just wholly engrossing educational videos, but glimpses into who Mr. Roper is as a person. I think these videos are art and I'm in love with them. You're an artist, Mr. Roper!

[@michaelnoyola7971]

Your nature shot intros add an incredible sense of awe and serenity to my day. I almost frogot my worries...

[@thenewdarling1]

Mate, I love your videos but also your shirt game is fantastic 👏🏽 edit: yas fellow Nail Gang!! 😍

[@simonroper9218]

Thank you friend

[@arachno4hobia852]

he looks so similar to the anglo saxon guy

[@minskdhaka]

LOL. 🙂 Good one.

[@daedbeetle]

i love ur nails :)

[@recurse]

Great video. Also, living for the nails, they're fantastic!

[@lils6334]

Man, I watch a lot of shit on KZbin, but your videos are always the most calming and informative. Glad I found this channel!

[@jaewilliss5407]

Love your work, love your nails.

[@redpillsatori3020]

What would be really cool is to use a bunch of indo euro patterns like this as AI training data and use machine learning to construct (or reconstruct?) hypothetical proto indo European languages

[@jwadaow]

Perhaps you could extrapolate back further?

[@JollyboatBros]

It's being done, but probably not the panacea you'd expect - essentially because AI is good at the first 90%, the low (and medium) hanging fruit, and all that work has been done decades ago. I expect your proposed method may help to block out other less-studied language families though :) and maybe after THAT work we'd find deeper connections (although professional linguists would be Very skeptical of basing reconstructions on other reconstructions).

[@5cr3aMeR]

Hello, Simon. Lithuanian linguist here. Just wanted to say I am quite happy to keep hearing my language mentioned in your videos. If you or anyone else would like any insights into Lithuanian, I'm more than happy to help.

[@ivankaramasov]

I really enjoy your videos, Simon. And there is something very spiritual and calming about your personality that adds to the interesting content.

[@taterbase]

The visuals on this video (and background sound) are top notch

[@Korea4Me]

That was the best You Tube ending I have ever watched.

[@MichaelAndersxq28guy]

On a separate note from my previous comment: I was just recommended to your channel today. I've watched several episodes because I enjoyed hearing you talk through your subject.

[@catsandcrows8880]

Enjoyed your explanation (forklaring), your nails (neglene), the images from the garden (hagen) and the frog (frosken). Thank you!

[@blacksmith67]

The illustration with great ape evolution is informative and really helps to visualize the relationship of languages that precede ancestors of our current languages (those that come before Latin, Sanskrit, Slavic, Germanic). One thought I had is that sufficiently divergent species cannot typically procreate or if they can the offspring are likely infertile, whereas languages can meld together (Old English and Norman French for instance). Are there good tools to see where languages have been _genetically_ crossed? You had given us the example of English sharing constructs of _do_ and _does_ with Welsh but not with any Germanic or Romance languages. Love your videos. Please stay safe.

[@bugzyhardrada3168]

I once adopted a frog.....but the he started speaking french so we had to return it to the orphanage......

[@honkytonk4465]

You made that up,didn't you?

[@catattack885]

@@honkytonk4465 did he?, seems like a likely story.

[@TheRunpoker]

I keep coming back to your videos, the are so interesting and strangely soothing ❤️

[@dfrenchorn]

YESS!!!! Go off with those nails! I love you videos on language history! It's such a fascinating subject makes me feel connected to my ancestors

[@davidcufc]

Many of the Spanish words which start with 'h' began with 'f' in Latin. For example farina - harina pronounced arina. Flour in English. The reason for this change in pronunciation, it has been suggested, is the absence of an 'f' sound in Basque.

[@mickrobertson7782]

How would that work? Do you think intermingling of Roman Spaniards with Basque populations could have contributed to their posterity's phonetic inconsistency? Jesus Christ, that's the most pretentious sentence I think I've ever written. I'm sorry.

[@davidcufc]

@@mickrobertson7782 I'm just pointing out that sound changes might take place due to contact with speakers of another language, according to one theory. The examples in Spanish are numerous.

[@nolynylon]

"F" and "H" surprisingly get interchanged in some languages. In some dialects of Japanese, they pronounce the same word with either an "F" or "H" sound

[@parisan9985]

Formosa and hermosa

[@simonholdsworth6867]

Thanks for all your lovely informative and interesting videos! Hope you're looking after yourself and coping well with the lock-down :)

[@johnelsworth2556]

Seconded.

[@simonroper9218]

Thank you! :) I am, I hope you are as well

[@markarellano6899]

Phenomenal work, man! Instantly one of my favourite channels!

[@keyboarddancers7751]

One of my favourite lockdown subscriptions!

[@foxpurrincess3209]

I love your nails!!

[@CORRDiesel]

Polish language displayed as direct descendant of PIE on diagram at 3:22. But in reality, polish is part of west slavic languages, and these languages belong to slavic family, and slavic family belong to balto-slavic branch of indo-europeans

[@atbing2425]

He knows this he just wanted to show a slavic language descended from PIE

[@solidus784]

I would say considering the content of his videos he may just be aware of that fact.

[@simonroper9218]

You're right - I only put in the intermediate stages where I had several languages listed on the same branch. Now that you mention it, though, Lithuanian and Polish are both balto-slavic - thanks for pointing this out!

[@YogZab]

@@simonroper9218 also SO much Latin in Polish!

[@Marubi2]

That diagram was absolutely useless

[@jennykuser6149]

Really interesting research. I enjoy broadening my knowledge on things I never formally studied. It was fascinating how you took the word 'wind' through it's maturation. I would love it if you could do this with many more words. Thank you for sharing your area of expertise. You have a bright mind.

[@jackilyncaraballo6586]

I really enjoy that you incorporate the local flora and fauna in your videos!...Language origins are very interesting to me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in such an easy going and informative style!

[@bilbohob7179]

Spsnish change "f" latin sound to unvoiced "h" because interferences of euskera/basque. All of the others Iberian romances conserve the "f". Funny thing is that we indicate the ausence with unvoiced h. Another Iberian caracteristic is the fusion "b" "v", aka dissapear of v. In Roman times, romans joke about "beati hispani quibus vivere est bibere" Happy Spanishs who to live is to drink...

[@jaojao1768]

So you subscribe to the substratum theory?

[@WilliamFord972]

From learning Spanish and observing certain words and their Latin ancestors, I noticed that "f" in Latin often turned into "h" in Spanish (fac- vs. hac-, ferro- vs. hierro-, etc.).

[@pierreproudhon9008]

To live is to drink

[@moodist1er]

The v-b happened in India first

[@antonxuiz]

@@WilliamFord972 Being from Galicia, a Spanish nation with our own language, separated from Portuguese around 700 years ago, and due to Galician preserving those f, I don't even need to know the latin word, and the same with the Spanish j (x in IPA), I know in Galician it will probably be a ch or a x (sh in English), and the latin pl and cl, which in Spanish gave ll, gave us ch: Hijo -> Fillo (Filius) Lluvia -> Chuvia (Pluvia) Llave -> Chave (Clavis) Hierro -> Ferro (Ferrum) Hacer -> Facer (Facere) Hoja -> Folla (Folia)

[@JoshFerge]

Does language evolution always progress from more complex to simpler? In terms of grammar and phonetics it seems like rules / sounds are dropped, never added. Are there any rules / sounds in English today that evolved to be more complex? Is simple / complex a false dichotomy? Thanks for the video Simon.

[@SwordTune]

I don't think it has evolved to be simpler at all. The problem is that it's so different, it's like learning a new language without having a native speaker to teach you. In a way, it was probably very simple, but just seems complex to us now that we try to understand it with modern concepts of language. In a language with no writing, difficult sounds were probably easier to remember. If you think about all the homophones that exist now, the reason why we can distinguish them is because of their different spelling. But in a system with no concept of writing, or perhaps a basic idea of symbols and pictures, spelling was not something they could rely on.

[@Uriel333]

@@SwordTune this makes sense!

[@Zeutomehr]

simple/ complex is a false dichotomy say we define "complex" as a language having complex syllable codas and a word having many syllables. we've got the language examplish. in it, the word "njesom" developed into "njesm". this word has got both more complex and simpler, so what is it? not even mentioning the fact that what counts as "complex" to you heavily depends on cultural upbringing

[@simonroper9218]

That's a really good question! It often seems that way, but a lot of that is probably because we're less familiar with ancient languages than we are with modern ones. In reality, it's a bit of a balancing act between complexity and ambiguity; features of a language may tend towards simplicity, but if things became too simple, people would start to have trouble communicating effectively, and new rules would appear. For example, the distinction between singular and plural 'you' disappeared some four hundred years ago in most dialects of English, and this makes the language a bit more ambiguous in some situations (e.g. you might get confused about whether someone's speaking directly to one person, or to the whole group). Some dialects have developed new pronouns (like 'y'all') to remove this ambiguity. So if a language loses complexity in one area, it often gains it in another. Old English had a complicated system of cases but this allowed it to have a looser word order; the case marker told you if a word was nominative or accusative, so word order didn't matter so much. In modern English, now case markers are no longer a feature, we compensate by having a more rigid word order in which the word in the nominative normally comes at the start of a sentence, etc. Another example is articles; Latin had no definite or indefinite articles, but modern Spanish has developed both. It makes the language a bit more complicated from the perspective of a non-speaker, but it reduces ambiguity a tiny bit. In terms of pronunciation, each language has its own inventory of sounds. To a speaker of Proto-Indo-European, it would have been easy to produce those sounds, as they'd have been practicing from a very early age :)

[@JoshFerge]

@@simonroper9218 Thank you for the reply Simon! Your videos have been a bright spot during quarantine!

[@aquariuslove5709]

I thought you would be the person who would choose soft and muted colours for nails. I would never expect these vivid splendour that are displaying upon your nails right now. ^u^

[@HellDogas]

Amazing insight and beatiful nail work!

[@daisybrain9423]

Love the shirt!

[@rolig49]

thanks, Simon! Very helpful and clear. One note, however, on your language chart: Polish and Lithuanian are both in the Balto-Slavic family of languages (also satem languages). Otherwise, very interesting!

[@HoosierRallyMaster]

@Roli G Them are fightin' words to some :)

[@DaisyLee1963]

I love your videos. Very interesting. Thank you.

[@sanveerbindra7190]

Mate it'd be beast if you could do a vid on PIE phonology. The laryngeals and platal velars are sending me round the twist

[@AK-ed4sn]

Lovely nails!

[@LuisAldamiz]

8:30 - My impression is that is that 'pa:ti' is NOT related to 'feed' but something else like 'fend' and 'defend' (cognates from Latin). There's two different meanings (plus teh maybe unrelated *ph₂tḗr, father) in the IE reconstruction of *peh₂-: to protect (defend) and to feed, a different meaning altogether. Latin 'defendo' (defend, protect) and 'offendo' (offend, attack) are made instead to derive from an unattested *fendo, which in turn is made to derive from PIE *gʷʰen- (to strike), which may be even less consistent. Latin de- has not the English meaning of reverse but just "of, from", thus de-*fendo would be "of fend" (relative to fend), while its antonym offendo does include ob- (mostly 'against' such as in obstruct, etc.) so it seemst to make 'against fend/fence', what makes 'attack'. These two Latin words sound like created in military drills of some sort and the *fendo root (legit IMO) would be in the 'protect' group of *peh₂-, along with Sanskrit 'pa:ti' and others and distinct from 'feed' and the 'food' words in the *peh₂- category. I thought two hudred years of Indoeuropean linguistics would have been more fruitful, really. There's still much to prune and clean.

[@LuisAldamiz]

PS - Maybe English did not make 'fend' and 'fence' from French but from a retained Latin *fendo and *fensa lost everywhere else?

[@Urdatorn]

You manage to combine a beautiful artsy video with a deep and insightful lecture. Well done!

[@maia8823]

This is so cool! It was so interesting to hear the progression of pronunciation of a word at the end. Amazing.

[@ig14tesjahrhundert79]

and here we are, you just got me interested in your topic and subscribe :-D

[@tempsperdu9278]

As children, my brother and I used to marvel at a little toad that lived in a flowerpot. It would let us caress its head and would close its eyes as we did so. One day it disappeared never to return, and we were melancholy for many days after. As you were transitioning from proto-Indo-European to the final «wind», there was a moment in which you said: "it's floating in the «wiehndos»" or some similar combination of sounds. For a moment there I was sure you were going to deviate into a side branch and end up pronouncing «vientos», modern Spanish for «winds». Thank you for the poetry.

[@GaiusCaligula234]

It's h₂wéh₁n̥tos

[@tempsperdu9278]

@@GaiusCaligula234 I was about to write it down myself, thanks.

[@tenns]

are you some sort of french boi?

[@tempsperdu9278]

@@tenns? No. Just a lover of Proust

[@tenns]

@@tempsperdu9278 ah sorry about that... Hope there are madeleines where you live :)

[@TravisSurtr]

You really could make an album or series of speaking PIE words and transitioning them to Modern English. That was outstanding.

[@StefanNeher]

Well well well . . . I had the video playing while I made breakfast, so I could listen. I happened to turn to the screen the one of the moments you flashed those nails, and it just made my day. Keep up the good work :)

[@nomadicmonkey3186]

As others have pointed out there's something magical about your style of presentation blowing in the *H₂weH₁n̥tos. I'm a sucker for comparative linguistics and language reconstruction stuff but as far as I know a lot of KZbin contents on prehistoric (European) civilisation/culture and languages tend to be fraught with certain kinds of worldview implicit or otherwise, especially in the comment sections. But your videos are different as your approach to the topic is unapologetically academic while not coming across as too clinical or boring.

[@flatplant]

I like your nails :). The language stuff is great interesting too!

[@pemacal57]

Thanks very much for your very interesting videos.

[@gastonrobles2870]

Refearing to the images, sounds and structure os the video, this is super poetic stuff, I enjoyed it all the way

[@Karim-is7ew]

ngl, i'm gonna do my nails the way you did. Always a pleasure watching your videos, Simon! love you

[@charliegolsan2509]

the beginning with the frog (toad?) made me very happy

[@isaacelliottsloman4276]

love this video! my go-to example to illustrate just how amazing historical linguistics is

[@helensarkisian7491]

I enjoyed the shots of your yard. I also didn’t know the depth of linguistics, if that’s the proper word. What really caught my attention was the last bit when you said “wind” in the various languages. It takes only small changes over time to create a wholly different language.

[@card44]

Bro really hit us with the 💅

[@robbicu]

If I lived in the UK, I'd ask if you fancied a pint at the local.

[@raygoodspeed2382]

As a English Language graduate (1980), history geek and a retired TEFL teacher, i find these videos totally fascinating. But can i also say that i adore your painted nails

[@jackgraeme3557]

I've become fascinated with the "genetics" of language from watching your videos. You make the subject accessible.

[@gustavorussi9459]

I always come for the content but stay for your shirts, nails and overall look. Really cute. And really smart & kind to share all of this with us. I wish we were friends lol

[@simonroper9218]

Those are lovely things to say, thank you! We are friends, friend

[@SirEdward96]

When you were pronouncing "khi" it perfectly sounded like the colloquial word for "why" in Armenian

[@GeorgeSPAMTindle]

That'll be the Spanish influence.

[@AKABILASETOFICIAL]

Que?

[@KatzRool]

Your unique video format is really refining itself man, keep it up.

[@sarahpassell226]

I love these older videos that reveal the magic of historical linguistics and Simon's onscreen charisma. The frog in your English weather wraps the day's topic in a fairytale package. How deeply satisfying it would have been to sit like Dumbledore in his tower rooms or Murray in his scriptorium, with uncombed hair kept in check under a wizard's hat or a midnight scholar's cap, surrounded by ancient manuscripts and passages in every Indo-European tongue, and slips of paper crammed into stacks of narrow boxes or scattered across every inch of a large medieval oak table. To be absorbed in the detective work of tracing sound, form and meaning back to prehistory, when all the I-E languages were more or less one. This is my meta addition to the the 19th and 20th century folk canon that underpinned children's literature in my mother's generation, the 1930s.