Eskimo–Uralic languages

Eskimo–Uralic

(hypothetical)
Geographic
distribution| northern Eurasia and far northern North America
Linguistic classification| Proposed language family
Subdivisions|

* Uralic
* Eskimo–Aleut

Glottolog| None

The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis posits that the Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut language families belong to a common macrofamily. It is not generally accepted by linguists because the similarities can also be merely areal features, common to unrelated language families. In 1818, the Danish linguist Rasmus Rask grouped together the languages of Greenlandic and Finnish. The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis was put forward by Knut Bergsland in 1959.[1][2][3] Ante Aikio stated that it's possible that there exists some connection between the two families, but exact conclusions can't be drawn and the similarities could exist by loaning.[4]

A similar theory was suggested in 1998 by Michael Fortescue, in his book Language Relations across Bering Strait where he proposed the Uralo-Siberian theory, which, unlike the Eskimo-Uralic hypothesis includes the Yukaghir languages, argues that Uralo-Siberian influenced Chukotko-Kamchatkan and some have included Nivkh as a part of the family.[5]

It is not yet clear if the comparisons and arguments used to defend the Eskimo-Uralic theory are sufficient to suspect a relationship between the languages.[6]

Eskimo–Uralic languages[image reference needed]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Proposed Evidence
* 2.1 Morphology
* 2.2 Vocabulary
* 2.3 Grammatical
* 2.3.1 Possessive suffixes
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## History

Comparisons between Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut languages were made early. In 1746, the Danish theologian Marcus Wøldike (da) compared Greenlandic to Hungarian. In 1818, Rasmus Rask considered Greenlandic to be related to the Uralic languages, Finnish in particular, and presented a list of lexical correspondences (Rask also considered Uralic and Altaic to be related to each other). In 1871, H. Rink had also theorized of a similar theory.[2] In 1959, Knut Bergsland published the paper The Eskimo–Uralic Hypothesis, in which he, like other authors before him, presented a number of grammatical similarities and a small number of lexical correspondences.[7]

In 1998, Michael Fortescue presented more detailed arguments in his book, Language Relations across Bering Strait. His title evokes Morris Swadesh's 1962 article, "Linguistic relations across the Bering Strait".[8] Besides new proposed linguistic evidence, Fortescue (2016) presents several genetic studies that he argued to support a common origin of the included groups, with a suggested homeland in Northeast Asia.[9]

## Proposed Evidence

### Morphology

Apparently shared elements of Eskimo–Uralic morphology include the following:

*-t | plural

|

*-k | dual
*m- | 1st person
*t- | 2nd person
*ka | interrogative pronoun
*-n | genitive case

### Vocabulary

A few potential lexical cognates between Proto-Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut are pointed out in Aikio (2019: 53–54).[4] These are:

Proto-Uralic | Proto-Eskimo

|

*ila- ‘place under or below’ | *at(ǝ)- ‘down’; *alaq ‘sole’
*elä- ‘live’ | *ǝt(ǝ)- ‘be’
*tuli- ‘come’ | *tut- ‘arrive, land’; *tulaɣ-
*kuda ‘morning, dawn’ | *qilaɣ- ‘sky’
*kuda- ‘weave’ | *qilaɣ- ‘knit, weave’

A regular sound correspondence with Uralic *-l- and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut *-t can be seen.[4]

According to Ante Aikio The words "morning" and "weave" appear to be completely unrelated, which means there is an instance of coincidental homonymy, which very rarely happens by accident. Aikio thus stated that it's very likely there is some connection between the two families, but exact conclusions can't be drawn.[4]

Plausible cognates suggested by Fortescue (1998).[10]

Proto-Uralic  | Proto-Eskimo–Aleut

|

*aja- 'drive, chase'  | *ajaɣ- 'push, thrust at with pole'
*appe 'father in law'  | *ap(p)a 'grandfather'
*elä 'not'  | *-la(ɣ)- 'not' (A)
*pitV- 'tie' (FU)  | *pətuɣ- 'tie up'
*toɣe- 'bring, take, give' (FU)  | *teɣu- 'take' (PE)

### Grammatical

The following grammatical evidences were proposed by Fortescue, although it still remains unclear if such comparisons are sufficient to establish a ground to suspect a relation.[6]

Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut number and case markers:[11]

| Proto-Uralic  | Proto-Eskimo-Aleut

|
|

nom./absolutive sing.  | Ø  | Ø
dual  | *-kə  | *k
plural  | *-t  | *-t
locative  | *-(kə)na  | *-ni
accusative sing  | *-m  | –
plural accusative  | *-j/i  | *-(ŋ)i
ablative  | *-(kə)tə  | *-kənc
dative/lative  | *-kə/-ŋ  | *-ŋun

#### Possessive suffixes

Possessive suffixes:[12]

Pronoun  | Samoyedic  | Eskimo-Aleut

|
|

1sg  | *mǝ  | *m(ka)
2sg  | *tǝ  | *t
3sg  | *sa  | *sa
1pl  | *mat  | *mǝt
2pl  | *tat  | *tǝt
3pl  | *iton  | *sat

Nenets accusative and Eskimo relative possessive affixes[11]

Eskimo relative(singular possessive)  1sg  | 2sg  | 4sg  | 1pl  | 2pl  | 4pl

|
|
|
|
|

ma  | vət/mət  | mi  | mta  | vci/mci  | məŋ
Nenets accusative (singular possessive)  sg1  | 2sg  | 3sg  | 1pl  | 2pl  | 3pl

|
|
|
|
|

m'i/mə  | mtə  | mtab  | waq/mat  | mtaq/mtat  | mtoh/mton

## See also

* Paleosiberian languages
* Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan language
* Proto-Uralic language
* Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas
* Linguistic areas of the Americas

## References

1. ↑ Bergsland, Knut (1959) (in de). The Eskimo-Uralic Hypothesis. na. https://books.google.fi/books/about/The_Eskimo_Uralic_Hypothesis.html?id=oNXRuAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rask, Rasmus; Thalbitzer, William (January 1921). "The Aleutian Language Compared with Greenlandic" (in en). International Journal of American Linguistics 2 (1/2): 40–57. doi:10.1086/463733. ISSN 0020-7071. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/463733. "This problem, in reality, had already been taken up earlier, first by the Danish eskimologist H. Rink, later by the French linguist Lucien Adam. The former, in 1871, had referred to the agreement in the dual and plural endings (-k and -t) between the Eskimo language and the Samoyede-Finnish languages The latter had rejected the possibility of classifying the Eskimo either with any American Indian language or with the Uralo-Altaic languages".
3. ↑ Caveney, Geoffrey. Uralic-Eskimo initial, first vowel, and medial consonant correspondences with 100 lexical examples.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Aikio, Ante (2019). "Proto-Uralic". in Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena. Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. https://www.academia.edu/40193033.
5. ↑ Fortescue, Michael (1998). Language Relations across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. London and New York: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-70330-3.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Abondolo, Daniel; Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa (2023-03-31) (in en). The Uralic Languages. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-23097-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=0WFqEAAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA196&dq=Eskimo–Uralic+languages&hl=eo.
7. ↑ Bergsland, Knut (1959). "The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis". Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 61: 1–29.
8. ↑ Swadesh, Morris (1962). "Linguistic relations across the Bering Strait". American Anthropologist 64 (6): 1262–1291. doi:10.1525/aa.1962.64.6.02a00090.
9. ↑ "Correlating Palaeo-Siberian languages and populations: recent advances in the Uralo-Siberian hypothesis" (in en). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320126371.
10. ↑ Fortescue 1998:152–158.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Fortescue, Michael (2016). "How the accusative became the relative". Journal of Historical Linguistics 6: 72–92. doi:10.1075/jhl.6.1.03for. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308045130.
12. ↑ Bonnerjea, René (January 1978). "A Comparison between Eskimo-Aleut and Uralo-Altaic Demonstrative Elements, Numerals, and Other Related Semantic Problems". International Journal of American Linguistics 44 (1): 40–55. doi:10.1086/465517. ISSN 0020-7071. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/465517.

* Bergsland, Knut (1979). "The comparison of Eskimo-Aleut and Uralic". Fenno-Ugrica Suecana 2: 7–18.
* Georg, Stefan; Seefloth, Uwe (2020). Uralo-Eskimo?. San Francisco, California: Academia, Inc.. https://www.academia.edu/1652208.
* Seefloth, Uwe (2000). "Die Entstehung polypersonaler Paradigmen im Uralo-Sibirischen". Zentralasiatische Studien 30: 163–191.
* Künnap, A. 1999. Indo-European-Uralic-Siberian Linguistic and Cultural Contacts. Tartu, Estonia: University of Tartu, Division of Uralic Languages.

* v
* t
* e

Language families of Eurasia

Europe|

* Indo-European
* Uralic
* Basque
* Iberian
* Tartessian
* Paleo-Corsican
* Paleo-Sardinian
* Camunic
* Elymian
* Ligurian
* North Picene
* Sicani
* Tyrsenian
* Eteocretan
* Eteocypriot
* Minoan

West Asia|

* Afroasiatic
* Hurro-Urartian
* Hattic
* Kassite ?
* Kaskian ?
* Philistine ?
* Sumerian
* Proto-Euphratean ?
* Elamite

Caucasian|

* Kartvelian
* Northeast Caucasian
* Northwest Caucasian

South Asia|

* Indo-European
* Dravidian
* Nihali
* Burushaski
* Kusunda
* Harappan ?

East Asia|

* Austroasiatic
* Sino-Tibetan
* Hmong–Mien
* Kra–Dai
* Austronesian
* Japonic

Indian Ocean rim|

* Great Andamanese
* Ongan
* Kenaboi
* Enggano

North Asia|

| Altaic ?|

* Turkic
* Mongolic
* Tungusic
* Koreanic ?
* Japonic ?

|

"Paleosiberian"|

* Koreanic
* Ainu
* Nivkh
* Chukotko-Kamchatkan
* Yukaghir
* Yeniseian

Other North Asia|

* Uralic
* Ruanruan ?
* Eskimo–Aleut

Proposed groupings|

* Alarodian
* Altaic
* Borean
* Nostratic
* Dené–Caucasian
* Eurasiatic
* Dené–Yeniseian
* Dravido-Korean
* Elamo-Dravidian
* Ibero-Caucasian
* Indo-Hittite
* Indo-Pacific
* Indo-Semitic
* Indo-Uralic
* Pontic
* Karasuk
* Turanian
* Eskimo–Uralic
* Ural–Altaic
* Uralic–Yukaghir
* Uralo-Siberian

| Arunachal|

* Greater Siangic
* Siangic
* Digaro
* Miju
* Hrusish
* Kho-Bwa

|

Southeast Asia|

* Andamanese
* Austric
* Austro-Tai
* Austronesian–Ongan
* East Asian
* Sino-Austronesian

Substrata|

* Atlantic
* Pre-Celtic
* Pre-Germanic
* Pre-Goidelic
* Pre-Greek
* Vasconic
* Pre-Vedic
* Pre-Finno-Ugric

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