Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics 110: The history of the history of Indo-European - Interview with Danny Bate
Nov 20, 2025
Danny Bate, a public linguist, podcaster, and author, dives into the intriguing world of Proto-Indo-European language. He shares why reconstructing ancient word order is trickier than sounds and discusses the flexible nature of PIE word order. The conversation explores competing homeland theories, blending insights from genetics and archaeology. Danny also highlights fascinating facts from his book on the alphabet, like how Greek and Latin letters evolved, and explains the history behind double letters in English. A treasure trove for language lovers!
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Reconstructing Proto-Indo Syntax
- Danny Bate researched Proto-Indo-European word order using old documented languages like Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Old English, Old Norse, Old Church Slavonic, Old Irish, and Hittite.
- He focused on syntax (word order) rather than sounds, showing it's possible to study ancient grammar from surviving texts.
Why Sounds Are Easier To Reconstruct
- Sound correspondences let linguists reconstruct proto-phonology and vocabulary reliably across daughter languages.
- Word order is harder but still recoverable; Danny concluded Proto-Indo-European had flexible word order served by discourse, not fixed SVO.
Flexible Word Order And Information Structure
- Proto-Indo-European likely used rich case endings so word order was flexible and signalled information structure rather than core grammatical relations.
- Danny compares it to languages like Hungarian and Mari where topicality and newness shape ordering.
