Dissertation
Indo-Slavic lexical isoglosses and the prehistoric dispersal of Indo- Iranian
On the 2nd of July, Axel Palmér successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Axel on this achievement!
- Author
- Axel I. Palmér
- Date
- 02 July 2024
- Links
- Leiden University Repository
As part of the Indo-European language family, the Indo-Iranian branch traces its origins back to the Indo-European homeland on the Pontic-Caspian steppe 5000 years ago. But how did it spread from there to Asia?
The aim of this thesis is to uncover the early prehistory of Indo-Iranian by investigating its relationship to the Balto-Slavic languages of Eastern Europe, which have been hypothesized to form a subgroup with Indo-Iranian: Indo-Slavic. By comparing the linguistic data with evidence from archaeology and genetics, this thesis traces the migration path of prehistoric Indo-Iranian speakers from the Pontic-Caspian steppe, via the rivers and forests of Eastern Europe, across the Ural Mountains, and southwards to the steppes of Central Asia.