Talk:Proto-Austroasiatic language

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How old is "not as old as frequently assumed"?[edit]

The article now includes the following, not very informative, paragraph:

Sidwell (2007, 2009) suggests that the likely homeland of Austro-Asiatic/Mon–Khmer is near central Vietnam, and that the family is not as old as frequently assumed.

I do not criticise or question this; but I really would like to see it explained a little. Approximately how old is Austro-Asiatic/Mon–Khmer frequently assumed to be? In older works, adhering to the traditional theory of a dichotomy of the Austro-Asiatic languages into a Mon-Khmer and a Munda group, what ages are assigned to the entire Austro-Asiatic family on the one hand, and to the Mon-Khmer subfamily on the other? Approximately how old does Sidwell suggest that the family is?

I think the article would be improved, if the answers to these questions were added to the article; possibly in a new section headed Chronology or Chronology problems or something similar. JoergenB (talk) 20:54, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Simply check the ref (the abstract), and Sidwell and Blench (2011) for more detail: The date given by Diffloth is 7000 BP (i. e., 5000 BCE), and other authors give dates up to more than a millennium older, while Sidwell prefers 4000 BP (i. e., 2000 BCE) based on the dating of the earliest rice cultivation in South East Asia. However, I agree that it is awkward that this traditional dating is not explicitly mentioned either here or in Austroasiatic languages, where the assertion hangs similarly in the air (and where you can find the second source linked). --Florian Blaschke (talk) 02:53, 30 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have moved the part about chronology to a dedicated section as suggested, since the lead section was dominated by chronological issues. --SynConlanger (talk) 11:28, 4 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]