Studies in the History and Language of the Sarmatians
J. Harmatta
http://www.kroraina.com/sarm/jh/jh3_2.html#42.
"Following a critical hint by J. Schmidt, Kretschmer has pointed out
long ago that certain linguistic phenomena, though present in all
separate languages, must not, in every case, be regarded as
characteristic of the fundamental language, while conversely, it is
sometimes only one language that preserves ancient linguistic traits.
[40] But it is not only the linguistics methods of the family-tree
theory that have aroused grave doubts: its historical assumptions,
too, have proved untenable. There is no doubt that one cannot assume
the existence of populous societies possessing a unitary organization
and speaking a homogeneous language in the early periods of history
[41] — though this assumption is implicit in the family-tree theory.
There is an increasing body of evidence, derived especially from
archaeological research, which shows that the idea of homogeneous
linguistic communities, and of corresponding homogeneous peoples, has
to be dropped entirely. [42] But even if we refrain from discussing
the whole problem of the family-tree theory, and do not go beyond the
reconstruction of the Proto-Iranian linguistic state, the deficiencies
of this method are obvious."
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"According to Bartholomae's theory, the Aryan Parent Language split up
into two essentially homogeneous languages one of which he simply
called 'Proto-Iranian', This 'Proto-Iranian language' was, however, a
purely formal linguistic concept, the contents of which were
determined by the changes which took place in 'Proto-Iranian' from the
time of its separation from the Aryan parent language until its
disintegration. On these premises Bartholomae acted quite logically
when he utilized, in reconstructing the Proto-Iranian linguistic
state, those changes which he found both in Old Persian and in the
language of the Avesta, since, according to his theory these common
changes must have occurred in Proto-Iranian while changes peculiar to
one of them must have taken place in the separate Old Iranian
languages. [50] This theory is entirely logical: yet historically —
even apart from its unproved and unsubstantiated premises — it is
extremely unlikely. As we have pointed out above, only two of the Old
Iranian languages supply us with a fair number of linguistic remains;
of these, the language of the Avesta has undergone considerable
distortion during the process of transmission, so that its value as a
source for the history of phonemes is frequently open to doubt; while
the language of the Old Persian inscriptions only gives us some
insight into the language of a single Persian tribe. It follows that,
actually, we have only data about an insignificant proportion of Old
Iranian languages or dialects; this circumstance makes the
reconstruction of a 'Proto-Iranian language' an ardous and rather
hopeless task. There is no evidence whatever to show the changes,
common to the Old Persian inscriptions and the language of the Avesta,
took place also in the numerous other Old Iranian languages and
dialects unknown to us; consequently, the changes determining the
'Proto-Iranian language' necessarily elude our grasp. Similarly, there
are no indications whatever to show whether some, or even a
considerable part, of the changes peculiar to one language alone, do
not go back to Proto-Iranian times."