Author: Chmshkian Vicken

THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 16, 2004
A Biological Dig for the Roots of Language
By NICHOLAS WADE
Once upon a time, there were very few human languages and perhaps only one,
and if so, all of the 6,000 or so languages spoken round the world today
must be descended from it.
If that family tree of human language could be reconstructed and its
branching points dated, a wonderful new window would be opened onto the
human past.
Yet in the view of many historical linguists, the chances of drawing up such
a tree are virtually nil and those who suppose otherwise are chasing a
tiresome delusion.
Languages change so fast, the linguists point out, that their genealogies
can be traced back only a few thousand years at best before the signal
dissolves completely into noise: witness how hard Chaucer is to read just
600 years later.
But the linguists’ problem has recently attracted a new group of researchers
who are more hopeful of success. They are biologists who have developed
sophisticated mathematical tools for drawing up family trees of genes and
species. Because the same problems crop up in both gene trees and language
trees, the biologists are confident that their tools will work with
languages, too.
The biologists’ latest foray onto the linguists’ turf is a reconstruction of
the Indo-European family of languages by Dr. Russell D. Gray, an
evolutionary biologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
The family includes extinct languages like Hittite of ancient Turkey, and
Tokharian, once spoken in Central Asia, as well as the Indian languages and
Iranian in one major branch and all European languages except Basque in
another.
Dr. Gray’s results, published in November in Nature with his colleague
Quentin Atkinson, have major implications, if correct, for archaeology as
well as for linguistics. The shape of his tree is unsurprising < it arranges the Indo-European languages in much the same way as linguists do, using conventional methods of comparison. But the dates he puts on the tree are radically older. Dr. Gray's calculations show that the ancestral tongue known as proto-Indo-European existed some 8,700 years ago (give or take 1,200 years), making it considerably older than linguists have assumed is likely. The age of proto-Indo-European bears on a longstanding archaeological dispute. Some researchers, following the lead of Dr. Marija Gimbutas, who died in 1994, believe that the Indo-European languages were spread by warriors moving from their homeland in the Russian steppes, north of the Black and Caspian Seas, some time after 6,000 years ago. A rival theory, proposed by Dr. Colin Renfrew of the University of Cambridge, holds that the Indo-Europeans were the first farmers who lived in ancient Turkey and that their language expanded not by conquest but with the spread of agriculture some 10,000 to 8,000 years ago. Dr. Gray's date, if accepted, would support the Renfrew position. Several linguists said Dr. Gray's tree was the right shape, but added that it told them nothing fresh, and that his dates were way off. "This method is not giving anything new," said Dr. Jay Jasanoff, a Harvard expert on Indo-European. As for the dates, Dr. Jasanoff said, "The numbers they have got seem extremely wrong to me." Dr. Don Ringe, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania who has taken a particular interest in computer modeling of language, said that Dr. Gray's approach was worth pursuing but that glottochronology, the traditional method of dating languages, had "failed to live up to its promise so often that convincing linguists there is anything there is an uphill battle." In the biologists' camp, however, there is a feeling that the linguists do not yet fully understand how well the new techniques sidestep the pitfalls of the older method. The lack of novelty in Dr. Gray's tree of Indo-European languages is its best feature, biologists say, because it validates the method he used to construct it. Most historical linguists know a few languages very well but less often consider the pattern of change affecting many languages, said Dr. Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading. "The field is being driven by people who are not confronted with the broad sweep of linguistic evolution and is being invaded by people like me who are only interested in the broad sweep," Dr. Pagel said. Glottochronology was invented by the linguist Morris Swadesh in 1952. It is based on the compiling of a core list of 100 or 200 words that Swadesh believed were particularly resistant to change. Languages could then be compared on the basis of how many cognate words on a Swadesh list they shared in common. Cognates are verbal cousins, like the Greek podos and the English foot, both descended from a common ancestor. The more cognates two languages share, the more recently they split apart. Swadesh and others then tried to quantify the method, deriving the date that two languages split from their percentage of shared cognates. The method gave striking results, considering its simplicity, but not all of the findings were right. Glottochronology suffered from several problems. It assumed that languages changed at a constant rate, and it was vulnerable to unrecognized borrowings of words by one language from another, making them seem closer than they really were. Because of these and other problems, many linguists have given up on glottochronology, showing more interest in an ingenious dating method known as linguistic paleontology. The idea is to infer words for items in the material culture of an early language, and to correlate them with the appearance of such items in the archaeological record. Cognates for the word wheel exist in many branches of the Indo-European family tree, and linguists are confident that they can reconstruct the ancestral word in proto-Indo-European. It is, they say, "k'ek'los," the presumed forebear of words like "chakras," meaning wheel or circle in Sanskrit, "kuklos," meaning wheel or circle in Greek, as well as the English word "wheel." The earliest wheels appear in the archaeological record around 5,500 years ago. So the proto-Indo-European language could not have started to split into its daughter tongues much before that date, some linguists argue. If the wheel was invented after the split, each language would have a different or borrowed word for it. The dates on the earliest branches of Dr. Gray's tree are some 2,000 years earlier than the dates arrived at by linguistic paleontology. "Since `wheel' is shared by Tocharian, Greek, Sanskrit and Germanic," said Bill Darden, an expert on Indo-European linguistic history at the University of Chicago, "and there is no evidence for wheels before the fourth millennium B.C., then having Tokharian split off 7,900 years ago and Balto-Slavic at 6,500 years ago are way out of line." Dr. Gray, however, defends his dates, and points out a flaw in the wheel argument. What the daughter languages of proto-Indo-European inherited, he says, was not necessarily the word for wheel but the word "k'el," meaning "to rotate," from which each language may independently have derived its word for wheel. If so, the speakers of proto-Indo-European could have lived long before the invention of the wheel. His tree, Dr. Gray said, was derived with the methods used by biologists to avoid problems identical to those in glottochronology. Genes, like languages, do not mutate at a constant rate. And organisms, particularly bacteria, often borrow genes rather than inheriting them from a common ancestor. Biologists have also learned that trees of any great complexity cannot be drawn up by subjective methods. Mathematical methods are required, like having a computer generate all possible trees < a number that quickly runs way beyond the trillions < and then deciding statistically which class of trees is more probable than the rest. Dr. Gray based his tree on the Dyen list, a set of Indo-European words judged by linguists to be cognates, and he anchored the tree to 14 known historical dates for splits between Indo-European languages. Many of the Dyen list cognates are marked uncertain, so Dr. Gray was able to test whether omission of the doubtful cognates made any difference (it did not). He also tested many other possible assumptions, but none of them produced an age for proto-Indo-European anywhere near the date of 6,000 years ago favored by linguists. "This is why our results should be taken seriously by both linguists and anyone else interested in the origin of the Indo-European languages," he wrote, in a recent reply to his critics. "We haven't repeated the errors of glottochronology," Dr. Gray said in an interview. "What we are doing is adding value, since we can make inferences about time depths which can't be made reliably in other ways." Dr. Gray said he had formed collaborations with linguists and hoped they would give his tree a warmer reception once his critics understood that he had not made the errors they cited. Some linguists are interested in the biologists' approach. "I think these methods are extremely promising," said Dr. April McMahon of the University of Sheffield and the president of the Linguistics Association of Great Britain, though she expressed concern about Dr. Gray's emphasis on dating language splits. If the biologists' methods can date languages that existed 9,000 years ago, how much further back can they probe? "Words exist that can in principle resolve 20,000-year-old linguistic relationships," Dr. Pagel of Reading wrote in a recent symposium volume, "Time Depth in Historical Linguistics," adding that "words that can resolve even deeper linguistic relationships are not out of the question." Many linguists believe that once two languages have drifted so far apart that they share only 5 percent or so of their vocabulary, chance resemblances will overwhelm the true ones, setting a firm limit on how far back their ancestry can be traced. "That's a mistaken reasoning which shows the linguists are relying on a model of evolution they trash when they see it written down," Dr. Pagel said. He added that their argument assumed a constant rate of language change, the very point they know is wrong in glottochronology. Geneticists believe modern humans may have left Africa as recently as 50,000 years ago, perhaps in a single migration with very small numbers. Reconstructing language of 20,000 years ago would be a big stride toward whatever tongue those first emigrants spoke. But Dr. Gray has no plans in that direction. "It's hard enough to work out what happened 10,000 years ago, let alone 30,000 years ago," he said. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

ABS CBN News, Philippines
March 8 2004
Five gain good shot at La Union Open chess crown
By Manny Benitez
TODAY Chess Columnist
A thrilling race for the top prizes developed after coleaders Barlo
Nadera and Ronald Nolte fought to a short draw in the penultimate
eighth round of the weeklong, cash-rich La Union Open chess
tournament, allowing three others to join them at the helm with 6.5
points apiece.
Nadera, an international master (IM) from Mandaue City, and Nolte, a
national master (NM) from Baguio City, called a truce after only 15
moves of a Nimzo-Indian duel. Both belong to the Air Force team.
In an e-mail from San Fernando City, publicist Marlon Bernardino
quoted Nolte as saying: `Napagod na yata si Barlo kaya nakipagkasundo
siya ng draw sa aking kahit puti pa siya.’
They shared the lead with IM Richard Bitoon of Medellin, Cebu, who
beat Jerome Balico of Isabela in 39 moves of another Nimzo-Indian; NM
Darwin Laylo of Marikina, who outplayed NM Yves Ranola of Caloocan in
48 moves of an English; and NM Ronald Llavanes of Naga City, who
stopped Ferdinand Leysa of South Cotabato in 44 moves of a Modern
Defense.
Just half a point behind the five leaders were four players led by
lone Grandmaster (GM) Eugene Torre, who outclassed Alex Milagrosa in
31 moves of a Vienna.
The three other 6.0 pointers entering the ninth and final game were
IM Petronio Roca of Dasmariñas, Cavite, Fide Master (FM) Fernie
Donguines of Parañaque City, and Rustum Tolentino of Cagayan de Oro
City.
They won against Roland Salvador of San Jose del Monte City, Jermel
Abordo of Mexico, Pampanga, and FM Jesse Noel Sales of Calamba City,
respectively.
The top prize of P80,000 is at stake for the champion of the
tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the
Philippines with the support of La Union Gov. Victor Ortega, San
Fernando City Mayor Jane C. Ortega and the Villa Estrella Beach
Resort.
Tournament director is Engr. Joseph Dumuk.
Meanwhile, the Reykjavik Open chess tournament got under way on
Sunday (Monday in Manila) in the Icelandic capital made famous by the
historic Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky world championship match of
1972.
Top players from all over the world, including Russian GM Alexei
Dreev, teenage Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi and the former Australian
champion, GM Ian Rogers, are competing in the nine-round event.
The top three finishers are to qualify for the Reykjavik Rapid, which
will take place from March 17 to 21.
Former world champions Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov of Russia
are to lead a cast of heavyweights, including former challenger Nigel
Short of England, Emil Sutovsky of Israel and Peter Heine Nielsen of
Sweden, in the rapid event.
In Armenia, a memorial tournament in honor of the late ex-world
champion Tigran Petrosian, the deaf former chimney sweeper who
reigned at the height of Soviet hegemony from 1963 to ’69, starts on
Tuesday.
Although he had the reputation of being a relatively dull player
because of his positional style of play, Petrosian is the only
champion in chess history who swept through the interzonal and
candidates’ matches undefeated.
The Petrosian Memorial will be held in Stepanakert, Karabakh, in the
former scene of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1992.

A1 Plus | 20:28:27 | 10-03-2004 | Politics |
PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN MET WITH STUDENTS
On Wednesday, speaking before students at Yerevan State University,
president Kocharyan said 19-percent economic growth is recorded in Armenia,
Azatutyun radio station reports.
He intends to continue his presidency under “welfare for citizens” banner.
Answering the questions the students put to him, Kocharyan said he found the
new bill on military service is too premature, as universities’ system
legislative field is still put in order.
It should be reminded that the government-proposed bill has sparked vigorous
protest from students and as a result been withdrawn from the National
Assembly floor.
Kocharyan said he backed the idea of compulsory national service for all
young men, including his two sons.
Answering the question about Armenia’s external debt, the president said
there are no reasons to worry.
—

PRESS RELEASE
Fund for Armenian Relief
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Edina NG Bobelian
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
March 10, 2004
____________________
FAR BOARD PREPARING TRANSITION PLAN

New York, (March 10, 2004): The Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
Executive Director, Simon Y. Balian, informed the Board of Directors
that he intends to step down this year and requested that a process
begin to appoint a successor. According to Archbishop Khajag Barsamian
and Mr. Kevork Hovnanian, respectively the President and the Chairman of
the FAR Board, Mr. Balian will stay on until the successor is named and
will help the new Executive Director through a transition period to
ensure the continued smooth operation of the organization and its many
projects.
Mr. Balian explained that it was a difficult decision because of his
profound attachment to FAR and to the people of Armenia. “I have been
very fortunate to have had this opportunity and feel honored to have
worked with a distinguished and dedicated Board of Directors. I am
grateful for the support and guidance I have received during my tenure
as Executive Director,” stated Mr. Balian, who also praised and thanked
the staff in New York and Armenia for their passionate commitment and
constant source of inspiration, making FAR a successful institution.
He explained that unlike most Diaspora-based Armenian organizations, FAR
has grown exponentially since its birth, which arose from the tragic
earthquake of 1988. The organization has completed every project it has
undertaken in Armenia. “I believe,” said Mr. Balian, “that this is a
good time to make a transition to a new Executive Director. It is also
a good time for me personally after 11 years at the helm of the
organization to move on to new challenges that, I hope, will continue to
be focused on Armenia in different ways.”

Archbishop Barsamian expressed his appreciation to Mr. Balian for
“guiding the organization through its tremendous expansion in the past
decade” and acknowledged Mr. Hovnanian’s extraordinary leadership and
the Board’s instrumental role in the growth of the organization.
Echoing the Archbishop’s sentiment, the Board also thanked Mr. Balian
for working to provide the necessary transition to a new Executive
Director. Understanding Mr. Balian’s reasons to step down, the Board
wished him the best and assured him of its continued support for
whatever he decides to do.
Mr. Hovnanian, one of FAR’s key founders, said of Mr. Balian, “he is an
outstanding person who turned FAR into the pre-eminent organization in
Armenia through hard work and by fostering a culture of integrity in the
operations of the organization.” Then he revealed, “I have enjoyed
working with him. Along with the rest of the Board, I will miss him.”
The Board appointed a Search Committee led by Mr. Hovnanian to seek and
review potential candidates for the position. The Search Committee will
be assisted by Randolph S. Gulian, President of InSearch Worldwide, an
executive recruitment firm. Mr. Gulian is volunteering his services to
the organization.
The organization’s administration and projects will continue without any
slowdown during the period of the search for a new Executive Director
and during the transition period. The Board will remain fully engaged
and Mr. Balian will continue to manage the daily affairs of the
organization. The Board, once again, expressed its gratitude to the
thousands of donors and supporters who have entrusted FAR with carrying
out their mission of helping the people of Armenia.
— 03/10/04
# # #

ArmenPress
March 10 2004
ARMENIAN NAVY BAND TO PERFORM IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian Navy Band of Arto
Tuncboyacian, founded by the percussionist and vocalist of Armenian
descent, has again come to Armenia to celebrate here on March 13 the
opening of Avant-garde Folk Music Club and present their latest CD
called The Voice of Our Life.
Arto Tuncboyacian, percussionist and singer, was born in Turkey in
1957 of Armenian descent. One of his greatest influences of music and
life was his brother Onno, musician himself, who encouraged Arto to
develop his character not just as a brother but as a friend and as a
musician.
At the age of 11, he began his career playing and recording
traditional music with his brother establishing himself as a
professional musician throughout Turkey and Europe. In 1981 Arto
moved to United States to explore new creative influences and to add
a new dimension to his own vision of life. Since then, he has given
solo concerts of his own music throughout the world.
The group has performed very successful for the first time in
Europe in February/March 2000 in Italy, Germany, Austria and Spain
and during the second tour in October/November 2000 in Sardinia,
France, Brussels and Holland, after a stay in Istanbul for the
recording of the new album to be released in January 2001 for the
Turkish label Imaj Muzik.
The group is composed of twelve young Armenian musicians. The
compositions are all original of Arto Tuncboyacian which – using his
words – “have the sound of my life”; this music is pervaded by
sonorities taken from the Armenian and Anatolian tradition fused with
elements coming from different musical experiences, such as jazz,
among them. The Armenian Navy Band will stay in Armenia until April
10 to perform at the club.

ArmenPress
March 10 2004
COCA COLA BOTTLERS ARMENIA SAYS ITS DRINKS SAFE
YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS: A senior representative of
Coca-Cola Bottlers Armenia brushed aside fears that locally produced
soft drink may be dangerous to public health. Fears appeared after
reports that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in India sold soft drinks
containing pesticides harmful to human health and misled India’s 1
billion people over claims that their products were safe for human
consumption. Tests by campaigners showed Pepsi’s soft drinks had 36
times the level of pesticide residues permitted under EU regulations
and Coca-Cola’s had 30 times the level.
Coca-Cola Bottlers Armenia representative said the concentrates
used for manufacturing Indian and Armenian DRINKS are different.
“Armenian Coca-Cola is safe for consumption,” he said, adding that
Coca- Cola Armenia, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Hellenic Holding,
receives the concentrate, like its 25 other subsidiaries in Europe,
from France, which meets all EU regulations and is regularly tested
by an Armenian laboratory and a centralized laboratory in Brussels.

Georgian president arrives in Armenia “with love”
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
12 Mar 04
[Presenter over video of meeting] Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili has arrived in Armenia on an official visit for the first
time. Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, the chairman of the
standing parliamentary commission for foreign relations, Armen
Rustamyan, and other officials met Saakashvili at the airport. Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan said that our neighbour Georgia is one of the
regional countries with which we have no problems. The Georgian
president stressed the importance of relations with our country. He
noted that Armenia has a sufficiently kind and wise president who can
give serious advice during discussion of serious problems.
[Mikheil Saakashvili at airport, voice-over in Armenian] I do not
think of this as an official visit. I came to Armenia with love. Our
countries are historical neighbours. We cannot exist and develop
separately. Armenia and Georgia must act and cooperate jointly.
[Vardan Oskanyan] Following Mr Saakashvili’s recent visit to France,
where he made some proposals to start cooperation on integration
between the three countries in the Caucasus – I think that this is an
interesting proposal. But Azerbaijan has always hindered this. He also
visited Baku. We are very interested in Azerbaijan’s position
regarding this proposal.
The second interesting proposal made by Mr Saakashvili was to approach
settling conflicts through economic cooperation. He is preparing to
present such proposals to Abkhazia. We hope that it will be catching
for Azerbaijan too. We must settle conflicts by creating the most
favourable atmosphere through economic cooperation and cooperation in
other spheres. These two main issues are on the agenda. I hope that
there will be interesting talks between the two presidents.

NATO chief hopes officer’s killing not to threaten cooperation with Armenia
Mediamax news agency
10 Mar 04
YEREVAN
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has sent a letter to
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan in connection with the
killing of Armenian Lt Gurgen Markaryan by an Azerbaijani serviceman
in Budapest on 19 February.
The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry quotes the NATO
secretary-general as saying in the letter that he was “deeply shocked
by the brutal killing of the Armenian officer” and asked to pass his
sympathy to his family, Mediamax reports.
“As you know, relevant Hungarian agencies are conducting a detailed
investigation into the incident and I am convinced that they will do
their best to find out all the circumstances of the killing and to
make sure that justice is administered. I myself will follow the
course of the investigation and the subsequent trial,” Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer said.
The NATO secretary-general expressed the hope that this crime would
not pose a threat to the development of cooperation between Armenia
and the alliance and said that NATO appreciated Armenia’s contribution
to the Partnership for Peace programme. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer added
that the further expansion of regional cooperation in the South
Caucasus is one of the key components of the programme.
On 23 February, the Armenian ambassador to NATO, Vigen Chitechyan,
forwarded Vardan Oskanyan’s letter to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The
Armenian foreign minister says in the letter that the Azerbaijani
officer’s action “was somewhat expected because it was a logical
consequence of bellicose statements by the previous and new
Azerbaijani authorities”.
[Passage omitted: Known details of the Budapest incident]