CircledSquare said:
Can a theoretical based study of roots and interrelations of ur-languages approach the usefulness of actually learning an ur-language itself?
To risk stating the obvious, it can be argued that basic monosyllabic combinations of phonemes is the starting point for the "making" of any language. Actually, it has been pointed out that languages like Sanskrit and other forms of Indo-European are actually indeed "created," and that the combination of basic sounds/forms thence under particular morphological rules (and in the case of Sanskrit - but perhaps not as uniquely as we might think - according a particular metaphysics and ideological-experiential framework) make this language what it is.
A tautology, indeed, but one that slips by unnoticed by most utilitarian speakers of language (i.e. people who speak only a language because "it gets the meaning across" rather than wondering exactly how that meaning has come to be constructed so that it comes across).
For instance, it seems that devanagari, the "divine alphabet" used by sanskrit and related languages, is an express attempt to codify the highest density of information transfer while minimizing noise and expense of vital energy (prana, breath). It is especially obvious to me in the choice of vowels that are clearly differentiated from each other (only a, not à & a, only o and ou, not o, ou & u, only é, not e, è & é) yet marking specific emphasis on whether the vowel is short (one matra, a "count", abiding in the vocal apparatus) vs long (two counts, feeling the vowel expressed out of the apparatus and into the outer environment).
The consonant selection also shows efficient and effective insight, utilising nearly every possible sound of the vocal apparatus - (non-aspirated voiced/unvoiced + aspirated voiced/unvoiced + voiced nasal) * guttural, palatal, cerebral, dental and labial enunciation areas, for 25 consonants - + 3 sibilants, dental, cerebral and palatal - + 4 semi-vowels, palatal, cerebral, dental and labial - this is a pretty complete map (skipping the classification of r. and l. here). It's interesting that the main missing consonants, the palato-dental 'ch' as in german 'ich', palato-guttural 'ch' as in german 'doch' and the simple f, are pretty much the most costly consonants in terms of breath anyway.
Thus, the selective emphasis of sanskrit on voiced/unvoiced, aspirated/unaspirated combined with vowel duration allows for encoding maximal information without relying excessively on inflexion as chinese does, which I find implies/induces emotional attachment/disturbance relative to the information being voiced - i.e., speaking sanskrit makes one more aware of expanse of vital energy for each syllable communicated, even while sustaining equanimity and impartiality towards what information is communicated.
These are practical benefits, solely from study and practice of the actual language, which indeed reflects the applicability of the metaphysical/epistemological science it comes from as well as the integrity with which this knowledge was mapped unto language.
Perhaps, then, this "Atlantean," is present in the natural records kept by the roots and words in languages as far flung as Native American and Bantu. This would be because a) "Atlantis," as Shijing notes, was a far reaching empire and b) there were incidents of mass-exodus after a cataclysm... Both of these would also mean "Atlantean" (perhaps synonymous with Sanskrit) mixed with surrounding "local" languages (which themselves may or may not have been already influenced by - or been a product of previous mixing with - Atlantean)
But to answer your question, "roots" are important, and perhaps "theory" is actually also present in the "beginning" of a language anyway, as a way of structuring the combination and recombination of these roots. Some languages that seem more unique in the world perhaps have a more flexible stance to recreating this combinatorial power of language.
Which of course also brings up things like Kabbalah and whether or not our use of language reflects the "language" like nature of Creation, etc.
I don't know about those deep linguistic conjectures - to me, however, they are indeed worthwhile - insofar as they can be validated - so as to direct study of the actual languages themselves, so as to experience the map of reality they describe. That is was i considered before initiating my study of sanskrit - i was split between it and hebrew at the time. However, considering the fruits of hebrew/kabbalah, i.e. millenia of pathological paraticism, a minimum of knowledge of reality and a whole lot of exoteric imposing one's will on reality - black magic, in simple terms - vs that of sanskrit - millenia of flowering of esoteric sciences, buddhist, upanishadic and vedantic, consisting of aligning one's will with reality - white magic, that is - i chose sanskrit. If linguistic studies indicated, for instance, that bantu is most clearly connected with humanity's root language, i would definitely be interested in exploring its map of reality too. That is what I mostly meant by my questions. So far, though, there seems to be a lot of conjecture and not a whole lot of actual insight in all the theorycraft. Perhaps i am in the
:)