Onimisi, whilst I fully respect your right to your own personal beliefs, you really can't expect everyone else here to agree with them, and I'm afraid that I don't quite understand the point you are trying to make by raising them in this issue.

Although I don't have first hand knowledge of African languages I am trying to teach myself Swahili and I've also picked up a few words of Maa and Kikuyu, but Sanskrit will just have to wait.

As for Nigerian languages: strangely enough it wasn't that long ago that Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" was the subject of our Book of the Month Club here in the Bookworms Forum, and I did a bit of background research at the time. The concept of a cultural link between the Igbo and the Hebrew speaking peoples was raised and I found many sites that addressed the subject. In one, an article posted by Akunna Madueké discussed both the cultural theme and the linguistic angle. Some of the linguistic similarities were more than a little tenuous, but a couple of the examples given were interesting:

Quote:

---

Genesis = Jee ne isi isi (Start from the beginning)
Deuteronomy = Detuoro nu mu ya. (Write it down for me.)

---

Interesting...but, in my opinion, still very coincidental. If those two books of the bible can be found to possess possible linguistic links with this African language then why not some, if not all, of the rest? You can be pretty certain that someone, somewhere, has made the effort to search for a link for the others.

.......


Edited to add that it looks as if much of the content in the article has been altered since I first read it, so I've now removed the link. I really ought to have checked it out, sorry.

Ominis - where's the proof humans have explored space beyond their endeavors in the past 50 years?

Where's your proof that Atlantis even existed?

>>>I have spent the last few days, discussing your thoughts on this topic with many of my Nigerian friends. They are all of the opinion that I pronounce Nigerian names much better then our Japanese friends, they also think, there is a very good chance, that like me, you are Irish<<<


Ah! that'll be the 'tinkering'. Inspired guess but wrong, I'm afraid, there's not a single Irish gene in me, as far as I'm aware.

I've been giving some more thought to my previous tentative supposition that styles of click language could have been a very early form of human speech and wondered if, in fact, the skeletal composition of our earliest ancestors even allowed those sounds to be made. I'd be extremely interested to find out what research has been carried out in that field. Does anyone here know?

Shrivats,
Very good. Now how about learning a bit of 4 Nigerian languages out of 200? What is lacking in replies to this topic is vocabulary knowledge. Most of these linguistic explanations are based on assumptions.

One day, astronomers discovered a large asteroid coming from space. They calculated that it would collide with Earth. There was a division on how to survive the Impact. Some people opted to live in underground bunkers. Others chose to relocate to Space. At last, the asteroid struck Atlantis, sinking it to the bottom of the ocean. The land fragmented into continents and islands. The surface survivors re-started life from scratch. The undersea people were trapped on their bunkers and were cut of from sunlight. They slowly lost their skin colour and evolved into .........

Excuse me, but I'm experiencing a kind of strange dislocation here. Surely this thread isn't about Science Fiction. And by the way, I'm sorry, but I do not intend to spend my life in the learning of 200 Nigerian languages.

Quote:

---

One day, astronomers discovered a large asteroid coming from space. They calculated that it would collide with Earth. There was a division on how to survive the Impact. Some people opted to live in underground bunkers. Others chose to relocate to Space. At last, the asteroid struck Atlantis, sinking it to the bottom of the ocean. The land fragmented into continents and islands. The surface survivors re-started life from scratch. The undersea people were trapped on their bunkers and were cut of from sunlight. They slowly lost their skin colour and evolved into

---

I'm sure everybody joins me in asking, Is there any basis whatsoever that Atlantis ever existed? As for Plato's dialouges, well, the less said the better. You will excuse me, but I find it rather hard to believe in a master race that existed thousands of years ago and apparently discovered everything worth knowing.

Post deleted by Woody156

Woody, if you'll excuse the expression, tarring everyone with the same brush is just downright offensive, in my opinion.

Izzi, you're right, I didn't mean to be offensive. I retract my remarks, and my poor attempt at humour. I apologize to Nigerians everywhere.

I didn't realise you were only joking. Friends...???

Getting a yellow card will not dampen my spirits, Izzi. I was offside, you called me on it, and I agreed. End of story.

Aren't we always friends at FT?

Ominis, you seem to be ignoring me. Where is your PROOF that we come from outer space, that humans used to explore outer space, etc.?

I'll deftly sidestep the 'Atlantis theory' issue on the grounds that the vast majority of people on the face of this earth would be unable to provide categorical proof of their beliefs if asked.

>>>I've been giving some more thought to my previous tentative supposition that styles of click language could have been a very early form of human speech and wondered if, in fact, the skeletal composition of our earliest ancestors even allowed those sounds to be made.<<<

I can't make up my mind on this one. Obviously the palatal equipment had to have been in place allowing the capability to suckle, but does it necessarily follow that their jaw structure would enable them to perform the actions to formulate the 'clicks'?

On the other hand, the 'click'languages spoken today are amongst the most highly complex of all forms of human speech so would this have been far too sophisticated to have ever been accomplished by our distant predecessors, even on the most basic level?

Take it easy, Izzi,

why not have a look at this link?

http://minerals.cr.usgs.gov/gips/0space.htm

Disaster from space

One of the mysteries of the history of the earth is the layer of clay that was deposited around the entire globe 65 million years ago. The layer marks the K-T boundary the end of the Cretaceous and beginning of the Tertiary periods. It is best known as the time when not only the dinosaurs but nearly half of all life forms became extinct.

Lady Macbeth!
I have never been ignoring you; I had a limited internet access yesterday and I wanted to finally create a home page on Yahoo, so that I could insert my picture into funtrivia. All the proof you require, we will journey to it together. But I am not
saying that human beings originated from Outer Space.
First of all, I will complete my story:
.......The Space inhabitants sent expeditions to visit Earth. Everywhere their spaceships landed, they were described as gods from the sky, of thunder and lightning(Thor of the Norsemen and Shango of the Yorubas). They built eternal structures in Egypt(Pyramids of Giza and Cheops,twin statues of Ramses ), China(Pyramids), Peru(Nazsca Drawings), Mexico(Teotihuacan), and Easter Island.

Next, let us have a look at this website founded by Daniken Daniken http://www.legendarytimes.com/

Expecting your reply,

Onimisi Baiye

Onimis - PROVE it. Pointing to one website with a dubious reputation doesn't count.

As for the USGS page, yes - meteors have hit this Earth and continue to hit. One of the leading theories about the detah of dinosaurs is that there was a massive impact , sending up a cloud of dust that cut the sunlight because of the particulates in the air. Because of the particulates, a lot of life ended up dying out.

But point to PROOF that there was life from elsewhere in the universe that came and deposited their DNA.

(And just so you know, I do believe there is life elsewhere in the universe. I just don't think they've been living among us or visited here before as you say.)

What is so odd about languages being similar? We're all human after all, and have the same speech making equipment. Lions purr, for goodness sake, that doesn't make them house cats!

Why do people insist on drawing conclusions from such circumstantial evidence? Just because there were pyramids built by ancient civilizations in two seperate areas of the world does not mean there's a master race of space beings supervising construction! It just so happens, that when you have limited engineering technique, and crude equipment and supplies, the pyramid is the most stable structure!

I think we should have a forum for conspiracy theories, and other outlandish claims, so all you folks have a place to be paranoid together!

Hmmm. There is no evidence of the existence of anatomically modern homo sapiens 65 million years ago.

Or of any hominids 65 million years ago.

Or of any hominoids 65 million years ago.

Or even of any primates 65 million years ago.

You seem to be suggesting that evidence of an asteroid impact of 65 million years ago provides evidence in support of your Atlantis theory; I presume you claim this impact was what caused the destruction of the Atlantean civilization on the surface of the earth.

Wheee!

Ummm.... were your Atlanteans molluscs?

Lawyer Macbeth,
I have never believed that life came from outer space. You insist on believing so and you want me to prove it for you!
You should read my story very carefully. If you cannot understand what i am saying ,ask humbly and do not conclude what has been already written in your mind.
But if you wish to continue in your chosen path,in your courtroom, somebody else will have to fuel it for you.

Hello Izzi,
I am studying the information on the zompist website. I will get back to you in a week's time.
Yes, it will take that much time; judging by the amount of detail on the site. I hope you have taken time to study it well.
If there is something you have to say before then, just hold on. I value the info on that website, even if others can not.

I cannot do everybody's homework. I have done mine.

In the 1960s there was a civil war in Nigeria and people from the south eastern path have had a persecution complex(and in fact faced persecution)that led them to identify with Jews, because of the Judeo-Christian material in Bibles.
In Ethiopia there are Black Jews known as the Falasha. Find out more about them.