UK Linguist Reconstructs Sounds of Prehistoric Language
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 24, 2013) — What did our ancestors sound like in the 50th century B.C.?
University of Kentucky linguistics lecturer Andrew M. Byrd examines ancient Indo-European languages (such as Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and Old English) and the language from which they derive, Proto-Indo-European, or PIE.
PIE is the prehistoric ancestor of hundreds of languages, including English, Spanish, Greek, Farsi, Armenian, and more. The language is typically thought to have been in use around 7,000 years ago, though some suspect it was spoken at an even earlier time.
According to some archaeologists and the majority of linguists like Byrd, the people who spoke PIE were located just to the north of the Black Sea and were likely the first to tame horses, and perhaps even to invent the wheel.
Since the recordings were published online, Byrd has been featured in several major news outlets, including the BBC, The Huffington Post, io9.com, Le Figaro, USA Today and Smithsonian magazine.
A full Q&A with Byrd is available at http://www.as.uky.edu/fables-reconstruction-andrew-byrd, including links to the recordings of Byrd reading fables in PIE.
MEDIA CONTACT: Keith Hautala, 859-323-2396; keith.hautala@uky.edu
