The following is a list of proposed language families, which connect established families into larger genetic groups (macro-families). Support for these proposals vary from case to case. For example, the Dené–Yeniseian languages are a recent proposal which has been generally well received, whereas reconstructions of the Proto-World language are often viewed as fringe science. Proposals which are themselves based on other proposals have the likelihood of their parts noted in parentheses.
Under considerations
| Proposed name
|
Proposal
|
Agree
|
Disagree
|
Doubt
|
Ref.
|
| Alarodian
|
|
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| Austric
|
|
Wilhelm Schmidt (initiator), La Vaughn H., Lawrence Reid, G. Diffloth, Paul Sidwell, Paul K. Benedict (later rejected), Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson, ASJP
|
|
Robert Blust, Paul K. Benedict
|
[1][2][3]
|
|
|
Wilhelm Schmidt (initiator)
|
|
|
|
Paul K. Benedict (initiator, later rejected), Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson
|
|
|
|
John Bengtson (initiator)
|
|
| Austro-Tai
|
|
Paul Benedict (initiator, also including Japanese), Ostapirat, Smith
|
Thurgood
|
Sagart
|
[4]
|
| Aztec–Tanoan
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Dené–Yeniseian
|
|
Alfredo Trombetti (initiator), Merritt Ruhlen, Edward Vajda, Michael Krauss, Jeff Leer, James Kari, Heinrich Werner, Bernard Comrie, Johanna Nichols, Victor Golla, Michael Fortescue, Eric Hamp, Bill Poser, and Paul Kiparsky
|
Georgiy Starostin (Vajda's proposal)
|
|
[5]
|
| Gulf
|
|
|
|
|
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| Hokan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
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| Indo-Uralic
|
|
Holger Pedersen (initiator), Kortlandt, Hannes Sköld, Alwin Kloekhorst, and Nikolai Dmitrievich Andreev
|
Christian Carpelan, Asko Parpola, Petteri Koskikallio, Angela Marcantonio, and Johan Schalin
|
|
[6]
|
|
|
Kortlandt (initiator)
|
|
[7]
|
| Je–Tupi–Carib
|
|
|
|
|
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| Karasuk
|
|
|
|
|
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| Macro-Chibchan
|
|
|
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| Macro-Jê
|
|
|
|
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| Macro-Pama–Nyungan
|
|
|
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|
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| Macro-Panoan
|
|
|
|
|
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| Macro-Siouan
|
|
|
|
|
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| Mataco–Guaicuru
|
|
|
|
|
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| Miao–Dai
|
|
Ryuichi Kosaka (initiator)
|
|
|
[8]
|
| Niger–Congo
|
|
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|
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| Nilo-Saharan
|
|
|
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| North Caucasian
|
|
|
|
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| Penutian
|
|
|
|
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| Pontic
|
|
Émile Benveniste, Winfred P. Lehmann, Aert Kuipers, and John Colarusso
|
|
|
[9]
|
| Quechumaran
|
|
|
|
|
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| Serbi–Mongolic
|
|
|
|
|
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| Sino-Austronesian
|
|
Laurent Sagart (initiator), Stanley Starosta
|
Weera Ostapirat, Alexander Vovin, George van Driem
|
Paul Jen-kuei Li and Robert Blust
|
[10][11]
|
| Totozoquean
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Uralic–Yukaghir
|
|
|
|
|
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| Uralo-Siberian
|
|
Michael Fortescue (initiator), Frederik Kortlandt
|
|
|
[12]
|
|
|
Frederik Kortlandt (initiator)
|
|
|
[13]
|
| Yok-Utian
|
|
Geoffrey Gamble(initiator), Catherine Callaghan
|
|
|
|
Widely rejected
Below are language families that are already rejected by most linguists. As they are widely rejected, only linguists who agree are shown.
| Proposed name
|
Description
|
Status
|
Agree
|
Ref.
|
| Almosan
|
Algic, Kutenai and Mosan
|
Widely rejected
|
Joseph Greenberg, Georgiy Starostin, Ilia Peiros, Murray Gell-Mann
|
|
| Amerind
|
All languages in the Americas which do not belong to the Eskimo–Aleut or Na–Dene families
|
Widely rejected
|
Joseph Greenberg (initiator), Merritt Ruhlen
|
|
| Altaic
|
Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Koreanic and Japonic (and possibly Ainu)
|
Widely rejected; generally considered a Sprachbund
|
Georgiy Starostin, Sergei Starostin, Frederik Kortlandt
|
|
| Austronesian–Ongan
|
Ongan and Austronesian
|
Widely rejected
|
Juliette Blevins (initiator)
|
[14]
|
| Borean
|
All families except in sub-Saharan Africa, New Guinea, Australia, and the Andaman Islands
|
Widely rejected
|
Harold C. Fleming (initiator), Sergei Starostin, Murray Gell-Mann, John Bengtson
|
|
| Coahuiltecan
|
Native languages of modern Texas
|
Sprachbund
|
|
|
| Dene–Caucasian
|
Na-Dené, North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan, Yeniseian, and others.
|
Widely rejected
|
Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson
|
|
| Dravido-Korean
|
Dravidian and Koreanic
|
Obsolete
|
Susumu Ōno
|
|
| Elamo-Dravidian
|
Elamite and Dravidian
|
Widely rejected
|
David W. McAlpin, Franklin Southworth
|
|
| Eurasiatic
|
Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic
|
Widely rejected
|
Mark Pagel, Joseph Greenberg, Merritt Ruhlen
|
|
| Ibero-Caucasian
|
Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian, Northeast Caucasian
|
Widely rejected
|
Arnold Chikobava (Initiator)
|
|
| Indo-Pacific
|
Several Pacific families.
|
Widely rejected
|
Joseph Greenberg (initiator)
|
|
| Indo-Semitic
|
Indo-European languages and Semitic languages or Afroasiatic languages
|
Widely rejected
|
Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (initiator)
|
|
| Khoisan
|
African click-consonant languages that do not belong to any other macrophyla
|
Widely rejected
|
Joseph Greenberg (initiator)
|
|
| Macro-Mayan
|
Mayan with Totonacan, Mixe–Zoque, and Huave
|
Widely rejected
|
|
|
| Mosan
|
Salishan, Wakashan, and Chimakuan languages of Pacific Northwest North America
|
Sprachbund
|
|
|
| Nostratic
|
Afroasiatic, Kartvelian, Dravidian and Eurasiatic
|
Widely rejected
|
Vladimir Dybo
|
|
| Ural–Altaic
|
Uralic and Altaic
|
Obsolete; considered a linguistic convergence zone
|
|
|
| Sino-Uralic
|
Uralic, Sinitic
|
Widely rejected
|
Jingyi Gao (initiator)
|
|
See also
References
- ^ Grierson, G. A. (January 1907). "Die Mon-Khmer-Völker, Ein Bindeglied Zwischen Völkern Zentralasiens und Austronesiens. By P. W. Schmidt, S.V.D. Reprinted from Archiv für Anthropologie, Neue Folge, Band v, Heft 1 u. 2. (Brunswick, 1906.)". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 39 (1): 187–191. doi:10.1017/s0035869x00035711. ISSN 0035-869X. S2CID 163114228.
- ^ "Alphabetisches Verzeichnis der vorkommenden Sprachen und Dialekte", Die westlichen Sudansprachen und ihre Beziehungen zum Bantu, Berlin, Boston: DE GRUYTER, 1927, doi:10.1515/9783111390192-003, ISBN 9783111390192, retrieved 9 January 2023
- ^ Benedict, Paul K. (12 October 1942). "Thai, Kadai, and Indonesian: A New Alignment in Southeastern Asia". American Anthropologist. 44 (4): 576–601. doi:10.1525/aa.1942.44.4.02a00040.
- ^ Smith, Alexander (2022-01-28). Alves, Mark; Sidwell, Paul (eds.). "More Austro-Tai Comparisons and Observations on Vowel Correspondences". Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society: Papers from the 30th Conference of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (2021). 15 (3): 112–134. doi:10.5281/zenodo.5781307. ISSN 1836-6821. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
- ^ Starostin, George (2012). "Dene-Yeniseian: a critical assessment". p. 137
- ^ Aikio, Ante (January 2022). "Proto-Uralic". In Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena (eds.). Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Kortlandt, Frederik (2004). "NIVKH AS A URALO-SIBERIAN LANGUAGE". researchgate.net.
- ^ Kosaka, Ryuichi (2002). "On the affiliation of Miao-Yao and Kadai: Can we posit the Miao-Dai family?" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. 32: 71–100.
- ^ Colarusso, John (1997). "Proto-Pontic: Phyletic links between Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Northwest Caucasian". Journal of Indo-European Studies. 25: 119–51.
- ^ Sagart, L. (1990) "Chinese and Austronesian are genetically related". Paper presented at the 23rd International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, October 1990, Arlington, Texas.
- ^ Sagart, Laurent (2016). "The wider connections of Austronesian: A response to Blust (2009)". Diachronica. 33 (2): 255–281. doi:10.1075/dia.33.2.04sag.
- ^ Fortescue, Michael (2011). "The relationship of Nivkh to Chukotko-Kamchatkan revisited". Lingua. 121 (8): 1359–1376. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2011.03.001.
I would no longer wish to relate CK directly to [Uralo-Siberian], although I believe that some of the lexical evidence [...] will hold up in terms of borrowing/diffusion.
- ^ Kortlandt, Frederik (2004). "NIVKH AS A URALO-SIBERIAN LANGUAGE". researchgate.net.
- ^ van Driem, George (2011). "Rice and the Austroasiatic and Hmong-Mien homelands". In N.J Enfield (ed.). Dynamics of human diversity: the case of mainland Southeast Asia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Retrieved 13 November 2021.