List Of Proposed Language Families

Short description: none

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

Template:Incomplete table

Proposed name

Proposal

Agree

Disagree

Doubt

Ref.

Alarodian

	Hurro-Urartian

	Northeast Caucasian

Igor M. Diakonoff (initiator), Sergei Starostin, Petri Kallio

Johanna Nichols, Allan R. Bomhard

Austric

	Austroasiatic

	Austronesian

Wilhelm Schmidt (initiator), La Vaughn H., Lawrence Reid, Gérard Diffloth, Paul Sidwell, Paul K. Benedict (later rejected), Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson, Automated Similarity Judgment Program (database)

Robert Blust, Paul K. Benedict

^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Austric

	Austroasiatic

	Austronesian

	Japonic

Wilhelm Schmidt (initiator)

Austric

	Austroasiatic

	Hmong–Mien

	Austronesian

	Kra–Dai

Paul K. Benedict (initiator, later rejected), Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson, Weera Ostapirat (tentative)

Austric

Ainu

	Austroasiatic

	Hmong–Mien

	Austronesian

	Kra–Dai

Nihali

John Bengtson (initiator)

Austro-Tai

	Austronesian

	Kra–Dai

Paul K. Benedict (initiator, also including Japanese), Weera Ostapirat, Alexander Smith

Graham Thurgood

Laurent Sagart

^[5]

Aztec–Tanoan

	Tanoan

	Uto-Aztecan

Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric

	Chukotko-Kamchatkan

	Nivkh

Dene–Yeniseian

	Na-Dene

	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)

Lyle Campbell

^[6]^[7]

Gulf

	Atakapa

	Chitimacha

	Muskogean

	Natchez

	Tunica

Hokan

Chimariko

Coahuilteco

Comecrudan

Esselen

Jicaquean

Karuk

	Palaihnihan

	Shastan

Pomoan

Salinan

Seri

Washo

	Indo-European

	Uralic

Holger Pedersen (initiator), Kortlandt, Hannes Sköld, Alwin Kloekhorst, and Nikolai Dmitrievich Andreev

Christian Carpelan, Asko Parpola, Petteri Koskikallio, and Johan Schalin

^[8]

Indo-Uralic

Indo-European

Uralic–Yukaghir

	Uralic

	Yukaghir

Kortlandt (initiator)

^[9]

Japonic-Koreanic

Japonic‑Koreanic

	Japonic

	Koreanic

John Whitman, Alexander Takenobu Frances-Ratte, Samuel E. Martin

Alexander Vovin

Je–Tupi–Carib

Cariban

Macro-Jê

	Bororoan

	Jaikó

	Jê

	Kamakã

	Karajá

	Kariri

	Krenak

	Maxakalían

	Ofayé

	Purian

	Rikbaktsa

	Yabutian

Tupian

Karasuk

	Burushaski

	Yeniseian

Macro-Chibchan

	Chibchan

	Lencan

	Misumalpan

Macro-Pama–Nyungan

	Garawan

	Macro-Gunwinyguan

	Pama–Nyungan

	Tangkic

Macro-Panoan

Moseten–Chonan

	Chimane

	Chonan

Pano-Tacanan

	Panoan

	Tacanan

Macro-Siouan

	Caddoan

	Iroquoian

	Siouan

	Yuchi

Mataco–Guaicuru

	Guaicuruan

	Matacoan

	Mascoian

	Charruan

	Guachi

	Payagua

Miao–Dai

	Hmong–Mien

	Kra–Dai

Ryuichi Kosaka (initiator)

^[10]

Niger–Congo

	Atlantic–Congo

	Dogon

	Ijaw

	Katloid

	Mande

	Rashad

Nilo-Saharan

Kuliak

Saharan

	Bʼaga

	Eastern Sudanic

	Kadu

	Koman

	Berta

	Central Sudanic

	Fur

	Kunama

	Maban

Songhay

North Caucasian

	Northeast Caucasian

	Northwest Caucasian

Takelma

	Alsean

	Siuslaw

	Coosan

	Indo-European

	Northwest Caucasian

Émile Benveniste, Winfred P. Lehmann, Aert Kuipers, and John Colarusso

^[11]

Quechumaran

	Aymaran

	Quechuan

Sino-Austronesian

	Austronesian

	Kra–Dai

Sino-Tibetan

Laurent Sagart (initiator), Stanley Starosta

Weera Ostapirat, Alexander Vovin, George van Driem

Paul Jen-kuei Li and Robert Blust

^[12]^[13]

Tequiraca-Canichana

Tequiraca–Canichana

	Aʔɨwa

	Canichana

Terrence Kaufman (initiator)

^[14]

Totozoquean

	Chitimacha

	Mixe–Zoque

	Totonacan

Uralic–Yukaghir

	Uralic

	Yukaghir

Uralo-Siberian

Eskaleut

Uralic–Yukaghir

	Uralic

	Yukaghir

Michael Fortescue (initiator), Frederik Kortlandt

^[15]

	Uralic

	Yukaghir

Frederik Kortlandt (initiator)

^[16]

Yok-Utian

	Utian

	Yokuts

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. Template:Incomplete table

Proposed name

Proposal

Status

Agree

Ref.

	Chimakuan

	Salishan

	Wakashan

Widely rejected

Joseph Greenberg, Georgiy Starostin, Ilia Peiros, Murray Gell-Mann

Amerind

Almosan	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Keresiouan	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Penutian	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Hokan	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Central Amerind	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Macro-Chibchan	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Macro-Paezan	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Andean	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Macro‑Tucanoan	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Equatorial	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Macro‑Carib	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Macro‑Panoan	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Macro-Jê	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Rejected

Joseph Greenberg (initiator), Merritt Ruhlen

Altaic

	Mongolic

	Tungusic

	Turkic

Widely rejected; generally considered a Sprachbund

Altaic

	Mongolic

	Turkic

	Tungusic

Austronesian–Ongan

	Austronesian

	Ongan

Widely rejected

Juliette Blevins (initiator)

^[17]

	Sumerian

	Elamite

	Hurro-Urartian

	Hattic

	Uralic

	Yukaghir

Altaic

	Mongolic

	Tungusic

	Turkic

Korean–Japanese–Ainu

	Koreanic

	Japonic

	Ainu

Vasco‑Caucasic

	Northwest Caucasian

	Northeast Caucasian

Karasuk

	Burushaski

	Yeniseian

Sino-Tibetan

Na-Dene

Amerind	Script error: No such module "Clade/hidden".

Widely rejected

Harold C. Fleming (initiator), Sergei Starostin, Murray Gell-Mann, John Bengtson

Coahuiltecan

Native languages of modern Texas

Sprachbund

Dené–Caucasian

Eastern

	Sino-Tibetan

	Na-Dene

Western

	Yeniseian

	Burushaski

North Caucasian

	Northeast Caucasian

	Northwest Caucasian

Basque

Widely rejected

John Bengtson, George Starostin, Sergei Starostin

Dravido-Korean

	Dravidian

	Koreanic

Obsolete

Susumu Ōno

Elamo-Dravidian

	Dravidian

	Elamite

Widely rejected

David W. McAlpin, Franklin Southworth

	Uralic

	Yukaghir

Altaic

	Mongolic

	Tungusic

	Turkic

Korean–Japanese–Ainu

	Koreanic

	Japonic

	Ainu

Nivkh

Chukotko-Kamchatkan

Eskaleut

Widely rejected

Mark Pagel, Joseph Greenberg, Merritt Ruhlen

Ibero-Caucasian

	Kartvelian

	Northeast Caucasian

	Northwest Caucasian

Widely rejected

Arnold Chikobava (Initiator)

Indo-Pacific

Several Pacific families.

Widely rejected

Joseph Greenberg (initiator)

Indo-Semitic

	Indo-European

	Semitic

Widely rejected

Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (initiator)

Japhetic

	Basque

	Kartvelian

	Semitic

Widely rejected

Nikolai Marr (initiator)

Khoisan

	Hadza

	Khoe–Kwadi

	Kxʼa

	Sandawe

	Tuu

Widely rejected

Joseph Greenberg (initiator)

Macro-Mayan

	Huave

	Mayan

	Mixe–Zoque

	Totonacan

Widely rejected

Mosan

	Chimakuan

	Salishan

	Wakashan

Sprachbund

	Mongolic

	Tungusic

	Turkic

Widely rejected

Vladimir Dybo

Sino-Uralic

	Sinitic

	Uralic

Widely rejected

Jingyi Gao (initiator)

Transeurasian

Altaic

	Mongolic

	Turkic

	Tungusic

Japano‑Koreanic

	Japonic

	Koreanic

Widely rejected

Martine Robbeets, Remco Bouckaert

Ural–Altaic

Altaic

	Mongolic

	Tungusic

	Turkic

Uralic

Obsolete; considered a linguistic convergence zone

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. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00035711.
↑ "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, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783111390192-003, retrieved 2023-01-09
↑ Benedict, Paul K. (1942-10-12). "Thai, Kadai, and Indonesian: A New Alignment in Southeastern Asia" (in en). American Anthropologist 44 (4): 576–601. doi:10.1525/aa.1942.44.4.02a00040.
↑ Ostapirat, Weera. 2018. "Macrophyletic Trees of East Asian Languages Re examined." In Let's Talk About Trees, ed. by Ritsuko Kikusawa and Lawrence A. Reid. Osaka: Senri Ethnological Studies, Minpaku. doi:10.15021/00009007.
↑ 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
↑ Campbell, Lyle (2024). The Indigenous Languages of the Americas. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1.
↑ 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.
↑ Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R. E.; Tait, Mary (1994), Atlas of the world's languages, London ; New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-01925-5
↑ 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.

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[1] 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. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00035711.

[2] "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, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783111390192-003, retrieved 2023-01-09

[3] Benedict, Paul K. (1942-10-12). "Thai, Kadai, and Indonesian: A New Alignment in Southeastern Asia" (in en). American Anthropologist 44 (4): 576–601. doi:10.1525/aa.1942.44.4.02a00040.

[Ostapirat2018-4] Ostapirat, Weera. 2018. "Macrophyletic Trees of East Asian Languages Re examined." In Let's Talk About Trees, ed. by Ritsuko Kikusawa and Lawrence A. Reid. Osaka: Senri Ethnological Studies, Minpaku. doi:10.15021/00009007.

[5] 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.

[6] Starostin, George (2012). "Dene-Yeniseian: a critical assessment". p. 137

[Campbell2024-7] Campbell, Lyle (2024). The Indigenous Languages of the Americas. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1.

[8] 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.

[9] Kortlandt, Frederik (2004). "NIVKH AS A URALO-SIBERIAN LANGUAGE". researchgate.net.

[10] 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.

[11] Colarusso, John (1997). "Proto-Pontic: Phyletic links between Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Northwest Caucasian". Journal of Indo-European Studies. 25: 119–51.

[12] 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.

[13] 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.

[14] Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R. E.; Tait, Mary (1994), Atlas of the world's languages, London ; New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-01925-5

[15] 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.

[16] Kortlandt, Frederik (2004). "NIVKH AS A URALO-SIBERIAN LANGUAGE". researchgate.net.

[17] 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.

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List Of Proposed Language Families

Contents

Under considerations

Widely rejected

See also

References