Eskimo–Uralic languages

Short description: Proposed language family including Uralic and Eskaleut languages

Eskimo–Uralic

(Neither widely accepted nor widely rejected)
Geographic
distribution| northern Eurasia and far northern North America
Linguistic classification| Proposed language family
Subdivisions|

* Uralic
* Eskimo–Aleut

Glottolog| None

Eskimo–Uralic languages

The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis posits that the Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut language families belong to a common macrofamily. Eskimo-Uralic is the oldest proposal which connects the Eskaleut languages to other language families, which was suggested quickly after European contacts with the Inuit.[1] 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,[2][3][4] and an expanded 'Uralo-Siberian' theory which includes the Yukaghir languages was proposed by Michael Fortescue in 1998.[5]

Linguistics such as Ante Aikio believe that some relationship existing between Eskaleut and Uralic languages is likely, although exact conclusions about the nature of the relationship cannot be proven,[6] whereas others, such as Stefan Georg, consider the evidence too weak to suspect even the possibility of borrowing between Uralic and Eskaleut languages.[7]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Proposed evidence
* 3 Linguistic relationships
* 4 See also
* 5 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 made a similar proposal.[3] 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, comparing Finnish, Saami and Eskaleut languages.[8][9]

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".[10] 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.[11]

## Proposed evidence

A few potential lexical cognates between Proto-Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut are pointed out in Aikio (2019: 53–54).[6] These are:

Proto-Uralic  | Proto-Eskimo

|

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

A possible regular sound correspondence with Uralic *-l- and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut *-t can be argued to exist.[6]

According to Ante Aikio, the words 'morning' and 'to weave' appear to be completely unrelated, which means there is an instance of coincidental homonymy, which very rarely happens by accident. Aikio thus states that he believes it to be likely that there is some connection between the two families, however exact conclusions cannot be drawn.[6]

Below are some lexical items compared by Fortescue in Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskaleut (sometimes Proto-Eskimo or Aleut). (Source: Fortescue 1998:152–158.)

Proto-Uralic  | Proto-Eskaleut

|

*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)

Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskaleut number and case markers:[12]

| Proto-Uralic  | Proto-Eskaleut

|
|

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

## Linguistic relationships

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.[5] Building upon Fortescue's Uralo-Siberian theory, the University of Leiden linguist Frederik Kortlandt (2006:1) asserted that Indo-Uralic (a proposed language family consisting of Uralic and Indo-European) is itself a branch of Uralo-Siberian and that, furthermore, the Nivkh language also belongs to Uralo-Siberian. [13]

Fortescue's observations have been evaluated by specialists with a limited degree of positivity but are viewed as scattered evidence and still remain highly speculative and unproven and the soundness of the reconstructed common ancestors are challenging to evaluate.[14][15] While Ante Aikio has strongly rejected the connection between Uralic and Yukaghir, he has nevertheless stated that it is likely that there is some connection between the Eskaleut languages and the Uralic languages, but exact conclusions about the nature of this connection cannot presently be drawn.[6]

According to Stefan Georg, at present the arguments used to defend the Eskimo-Uralic theory are insufficient to suspect a relationship between the languages, or necessarily even to make an affirmative case for their relationship.[7]

## See also

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

## References

1. ↑ Sebeok, Thomas (2013-11-11) (in en). Native Languages of the Americas: Volume 1. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4757-1559-0. https://www.google.fi/books/edition/Native_Languages_of_the_Americas/iSIMCAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.
2. ↑ Bergsland, Knut (1959) (in de). The Eskimo-Uralic Hypothesis. na. https://books.google.com/books?id=oNXRuAAACAAJ.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 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. "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".
4. ↑ Caveney, Geoffrey. Uralic-Eskimo initial, first vowel, and medial consonant correspondences with 100 lexical examples. https://www.academia.edu/42632305.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 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 6.2 6.3 6.4 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.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 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&dq=Eskimo–Uralic+languages&pg=PA196.
8. ↑ Bergsland, Knut (1959). "The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis". Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 61: 1–29.
9. ↑ Vajda, Edward; Fortescue, Michael (2022-01-31) (in en). Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-43682-4. https://www.google.fi/books/edition/Mid_Holocene_Language_Connections_betwee/bZlcEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Eskimo-Uralic&pg=PA38&printsec=frontcover.
10. ↑ Swadesh, Morris (1962). "Linguistic relations across the Bering Strait". American Anthropologist 64 (6): 1262–1291. doi:10.1525/aa.1962.64.6.02a00090.
11. ↑ "Correlating Palaeo-Siberian languages and populations: recent advances in the Uralo-Siberian hypothesis" (in en). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320126371.
12. ↑ 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.
13. ↑ "(PDF) NIVKH AS A URALO-SIBERIAN LANGUAGE" (in en). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241505136_NIVKH_AS_A_URALO-SIBERIAN_LANGUAGE.
14. ↑ 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&dq=Eskimo–Uralic+languages&pg=PA197. ""Fortescue's observations are encyclopaedic, and often innovative and inspiring, but the picture arrived at is one of disetcta membra [sic]""
15. ↑ Berge, Anna (2024). "Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America. By Michael Fortescue and Edward Vajda. Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, vol. 17. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2022. Part 1: The Uralo-Siberian Hypothesis, pp. 13–234. USD $179, hardcover or e-book edition". International Journal of American Linguistics 90 (1): 130–132. doi:10.1086/727525. ""As a result, F's list of proposed cognates contains numerous gaps, with many stems not found in more than two or three languages among the languages being compared. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to evaluate the soundness of the reconstruction, and more illustrative examples would have helped."".

* 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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