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The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (or PCT, Italian ''La teoria della continuità''), since 2010 relabelled as a "paradigm", as in ''Paleolithic Continuity Paradigm'' or ''PCP''), is a hypothesis suggesting that the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) can be traced back to the Upper Paleolithic, several millennia earlier than the Chalcolithic or at the most Neolithic estimates in other scenarios of Proto-Indo-European origins. As advanced by Mario Alinei in his ''Origini delle Lingue d’Europa'' (Origins of the Languages of Europe), published in two volumes in 1996 and 2000,〔 La teoria della continuità (1996), Bologna : Mulino ISBN 88-15-05513-4, 779 pages (); ''Continuità dal Mesolitico all'età del Ferro nelle principali aree etnolinguistiche'' (2000) Bologna : Mulino, ISBN 88-15-07386-8, 1113 pages (). 〕 the PCT posits that the advent of Indo-European languages should be linked to the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe and Asia from Africa in the Upper Paleolithic. Employing "lexical periodization", Alinei arrives at a timeline deeper than even that of Colin Renfrew's Anatolian hypothesis.〔 differentiation of farming terminology in the different IE languages, while absolutely unexplainable in the context of Renfrew’s NDT, provides yet another fundamental proof that the differentiation of IE languages goes back to remote prehistory."〕 Since 2004, an informal workgroup of scholars who support the Paleolithic Continuity Theory has been held online.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Paleolithic Continuity Paradigm for the Origins of Indo-European Languages )〕 Members of the group (referred to as "Scientific Committee" in the website) include linguists Xaverio Ballester (University of Valencia) and Francesco Benozzo (University of Bologna), prehistorian Marcel Otte (Université de Liège) and anthropologist Henry Harpending (University of Utah).〔(Alinei, Mario. ''The Paleolithic Continuity Theory on Indo-European Origins: An Introduction'' )〕 The Paleolithic Continuity Theory is distinctly a minority view as it enjoys very little academic support, serious discussion being limited to a small circle of scholars. It is not listed by Mallory among the proposals for the origins of the Indo-European languages that are widely discussed and considered credible within academia. ==General lines== The framework of PCT is laid out by Alinei in four main assumptions:〔 # Continuity is the basic pattern of European prehistory and the basic working hypothesis on the origins of IE languages. # Stability and antiquity are general features of languages. # The lexicon of natural languages, due to its antiquity, may be "periodized" along the entire course of human evolution. # Archaeological frontiers coincide with linguistic frontiers. The continuity theory draws on a Continuity Model (CM), positing the presence of IE and non-IE peoples and languages in Europe from Paleolithic times and allowing for minor invasions and infiltrations of local scope, mainly during the last three millennia. Arguing that continuity is "the archeologist's easiest pursuit," Alinei deems this "the easiest working hypothesis," putting the burden of proof on competing hypotheses as long as none provide irrefutable counter-evidence. Alinei also claims linguistic coherence, rigor and productivity in the pursuit of this approach.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paleolithic Continuity Theory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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