Whatever you think about the link between the spread of languages and that of farming — and the correspondence between the two postulated by Bellwood is controversial — there is no denying the similarities between a map of language diversity in a recent paper
and that of the places where agriculture originated.
At least in Africa, Near East and New Guinea. The dissimilarities, in particular in South and East Asia, are just as striking.
Luigi: Please, give us a bit more explanation of how UCLA’s Slavic Languages program would challenge the Bellwood thesis? I’m deep into “First Farmers” but haven’t yet reached this controversy.
Regards, Don
Sorry, Don. The department changed the URL on me. The link should now take you to a review of First Farmers by Henning Anderson, who’s on the staff there.