The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis posits that the

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...

and

Eskimo–Aleut The Eskaleut (), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of w ...

language families belong to a common

macrofamily In historical linguistics, a macrofamily, also called a superfamily or phylum, is a proposed genetic relationship grouping together language families (also isolates) in a larger scale classification.Campbell, Lyle and Mixco, Mauricio J. (2007), '' ...

. It is not generally accepted by

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

s because the similarities can also be merely

areal feature In geolinguistics, areal features are elements shared by languages or dialects in a geographic area, particularly when such features are not descended from a proto-language, or, common ancestor language. That is, an areal feature is contrasted to ...

s, common to unrelated language families. In 1818, the Danish linguist

Rasmus Rask Rasmus Kristian Rask (; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively to ...

grouped together the languages of Greenlandic and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

. The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis was put forward by

Knut Bergsland Knut Bergsland (7 March 1914 – 9 July 1998) was a Norwegian linguist. Working as a professor at the University of Oslo from 1947 to 1981, he did groundbreaking research in Uralic (especially Sami) and Eskaleut languages. Career He was born in Kr ...

in 1959. A similar theory was suggested in 1998 by

Michael Fortescue Michael David Fortescue (born 8 August 1946) is a British-born linguistics, linguist specializing in Arctic and native North American languages, including Greenlandic language, Kalaallisut, Inuktun, Chukchi language, Chukchi and Nitinaht languag ...

, an expert in Eskimo–Aleut and Chukotko-Kamchatkan, 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 The Yukaghir languages (; also ''Yukagir, Jukagir'') are a small family of two closely related languages—Tundra and Kolyma Yukaghir—spoken by the Yukaghir in the Russian Far East living in the basin of the Kolyma River. At the 2002 Russian c ...

History

Comparisons between Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut languages were made early. In 1746, the Danish theologian compared Greenlandic to Hungarian. In 1818,

considered Greenlandic to be related to the Uralic languages,

in particular, and presented a list of lexical correspondences (Rask also considered Uralic and

Altaic Altaic (; also called Transeurasian) is a controversial proposed language family that would include the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families and possibly also the Japonic and Koreanic languages. Speakers of these languages are c ...

to be related to each other). In 1959,

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. In 1998,

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". Besides new linguistic evidence, Fortescue (2017) presents several genetic studies that support a common origin of the included groups, with a suggested homeland in

Northeast Asia Northeast Asia or Northeastern Asia is a geographical subregion of Asia; its northeastern landmass and islands are bounded by the Pacific Ocean. The term Northeast Asia was popularized during the 1930s by American historian and political scienti ...

Evidence

Morphology

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

Lexicon

Fortescue (1998) lists 94 lexical correspondence sets with reflexes in at least three language families, and even more shared by two of the language families. Examples are *ap(p)a 'grandfather', *kað'a 'mountain' and many others. However he proposed a larger language family than Eskimo-Uralic. Below are some lexical items reconstructed to Proto-Eskimo–Uralic, along with their reflexes in

Proto-Uralic Proto-Uralic is the unattested reconstructed language ancestral to the modern Uralic language family. The hypothetical language is believed to have been originally spoken in a small area in about 7000–2000 BCE, and expanded to give differentia ...

, and Proto-Eskimo–Aleut.

Regular sound correspondences

Proposed sound correspondences: ;Examples of proposed regular sound correspondences Uralic *t- : Eskimo *t- (before a Uralic back vowel) *Proto-Uralic *tolɨ- ‘come’ *Proto-Eskimo *tulaɣ- ‘to land' *Proto-Finno-Ugric *toxi- ‘bring’ *Proto-Eskimo *təkit- ‘arrive' *Proto-Uralic *tumti- ‘know’ *Proto-Eskimo *tucaʀ- ‘understand’ *Proto-Finno-Ugric *tålå ‘shelter’ *Proto-Eskimo *talu(-) ‘screen or partition’ ''Uralic *t- : Eskimo *c- (before a Uralic front vowel) *Proto-Finno-Ugric *täwi ‘full’ *Proto-Eskimo *ciləɣ- ‘be full’ *Proto-Finno-Ugric *teki- ‘do’ *Proto-Eskimo *caɣiqə- ‘make an effort’ Uralic *ń- : Eskimo *Ø- *Proto-Uralic *ńåxlɨ- ‘lick’ *Proto-Eskimo *aluɣ- ‘lick’ Uralic *Ø- : Eskimo *n- *Proto-Finno-Ugric *äktä ‘cut’ *Proto-Eskimo *naɣci(t)- ‘catch on bottom’ *Proto-Finno-Ugric *uwå ‘stream’ *Proto-Eskimo *nuvaɣ ‘saliva’

Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut number and case markers

Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut number and case markers:

Possessive suffixes

Possessive suffixes: Nenets accusative and Eskimo relative possessive affixes A few potential lexical cognates between

and

are pointed out in Aikio (2019: 53–54). These are: A regular sound correspondence with Uralic *-l- and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut *-t can be seen. 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. :

Relationships

Some or all of the Eskimo–Uralic families have been included in more extensive groupings of languages, most notably the

Eurasiatic languages Eurasiatic is a proposed language macrofamily that would include many language families historically spoken in northern, western, and southern Eurasia. The idea of a Eurasiatic superfamily dates back more than 100 years. Joseph Greenberg's prop ...

. Fortescue's hypothesis does not oppose or exclude these various proposals. Although Eurasiatic includes both Eskimo–Uralic and Uralic, proponents of Eurasiatic consider that the relationship between them is remote. In particular, Uralic is most closely related to Indo-European, whereas Eskimo–Aleut is most closely related to Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Altaic (or some part of Altaic). The linguist

Frederik Kortlandt Frederik Herman Henri (Frits) Kortlandt (born 19 June 1946) is a Dutch former professor of descriptive and comparative linguistics at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He writes on Baltic and Slavic languages, the Indo-European languages in gen ...

(2006:1) asserts that

Indo-Uralic Indo-Uralic is a controversial hypothetical language family consisting of Indo-European languages, Indo-European and Uralic languages, Uralic. The suggestion of a genetic relationship (linguistics), genetic relationship between Indo-European a ...

(a proposed language family consisting of Uralic and Indo-European) is itself a branch of Eskimo–Uralic and that, furthermore, the

Nivkh language Nivkh (; occasionally also Nivkhic; self-designation: Нивхгу диф, ''Nivxgu dif'', ), or Gilyak (), or Amuric, is a small language family, often portrayed as a language isolate, of two or three mutually unintelligible languages spoken b ...

also belongs to Eskimo–Uralic. This would make Eskimo–Uralic the proto-language of a much vaster language family. Kortlandt (2006:3) considers that Eskimo–Uralic and

(defined by him as consisting of Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic, Korean, and Japanese) may be coordinate branches of the

Eurasiatic Eurasiatic is a proposed language macrofamily that would include many language families historically spoken in northern, western, and southern Eurasia. The idea of a Eurasiatic superfamily dates back more than 100 years. Joseph Greenberg's prop ...

language family proposed by

Joseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on ...

Related language family proposals

Indo-Uralic languages Indo-Uralic is a controversial hypothetical language family consisting of Indo-European and Uralic. The suggestion of a genetic relationship between Indo-European and Uralic is often credited to the Danish linguist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1869 (Pe ...

Nostratic languages Nostratic is a controversial hypothetical macrofamily, which includes many of the indigenous language families of Eurasia, although its exact composition and structure vary among proponents. It typically comprises Kartvelian, Indo-European and Ur ...

Ural–Altaic languages Ural-Altaic, Uralo-Altaic or Uraltaic is a linguistic convergence zone and former language-family proposal uniting the Uralic and the Altaic (in the narrow sense) languages. It is generally now agreed that even the Altaic languages do not share ...

Uralic–Yukaghir languages Uralic–Yukaghir, also known as Uralo-Yukaghir, is a proposed language family composed of Uralic and Yukaghir. Uralic is a large and diverse family of languages spoken in northern and eastern Europe and northwestern Siberia. Among the better-k ...

Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric languages The Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric languages form a hypothetical language family including Nivkh and Chukotko-Kamchatkan. A relationship between Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Nivkh was proposed by Michael Fortescue. He theorized that their common ancest ...

References

* * * * Künnap, A. 1999. ''Indo-European-Uralic-Siberian Linguistic and Cultural Contacts''. Tartu, Estonia: University of Tartu, Division of Uralic Languages. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eskimo-Uralic languages Proposed language families Eskaleut languages