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The Altaic Language Family Tree: A Complex and Contested Linguistic Landscape
Author: Dr. Juha Janhunen, Professor Emeritus of Altaic Linguistics, University of Helsinki. Dr. Janhunen is a leading expert in Altaic linguistics, renowned for his extensive research on the Uralic and Altaic language families, including numerous publications and contributions to the field.
Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers. Brill is a highly respected academic publisher with a long history of publishing significant works in linguistics and related fields, establishing their expertise in disseminating research on complex linguistic topics like the Altaic language family tree.
Editor: Dr. Gregory Stassen, Professor of Linguistics, University of Southern California. Dr. Stassen's expertise in comparative linguistics and typological studies provides valuable editorial oversight for this complex topic.
Keywords: Altaic language family, Altaic language family tree, Altaic languages, Turkic languages, Mongolic languages, Tungusic languages, Japanese language, Korean language, linguistic typology, comparative linguistics, language family classification, genetic relationship, linguistic reconstruction.
Introduction: Unraveling the Branches of the Altaic Language Family Tree
The Altaic language family tree remains one of the most debated and fascinating topics in historical linguistics. The proposed family encompasses a geographically widespread group of languages spoken across Central Asia, Siberia, and Northeast Asia, traditionally including the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and sometimes Japanese and Korean language families. Understanding the Altaic language family tree requires navigating a complex web of shared features, controversial classifications, and ongoing scholarly discussions. This article delves into the various perspectives and current research surrounding the Altaic language family tree, exploring the arguments for and against its genetic unity.
The Core Branches of the Altaic Language Family Tree: Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic
The most widely accepted core branches of the Altaic language family tree are Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic. These language families share several striking similarities, leading many linguists to propose a common ancestor, often referred to as Proto-Altaic.
Turkic Languages: This branch boasts a vast geographical spread and numerous dialects, ranging from Turkey to Siberia. Turkic languages are characterized by vowel harmony, agglutination (combining morphemes to form words), and a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order. Examples include Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek.
Mongolic Languages: Predominantly spoken across Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and parts of Russia and China, Mongolic languages exhibit features such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and a relatively simple consonant inventory compared to other Altaic branches. Modern examples include Mongolian (Khalkha), Buryat, and Kalmyk.
Tungusic Languages: This branch is primarily found in Siberia, with Manchu being a notable representative. Tungusic languages share similarities with Turkic and Mongolic languages in their phonology (sound systems) and grammar, though they also exhibit unique features, such as a rich system of vowel harmony.
The Contested Branches: Japanese and Korean within the Altaic Language Family Tree
The inclusion of Japanese and Korean within the Altaic language family tree remains highly contentious. While certain similarities exist, particularly in morphology (word formation) and vocabulary, the evidence is far from conclusive. Critics point to significant differences in phonology and syntax, suggesting that any shared features might be due to contact or borrowing rather than common ancestry. The Altaic language family tree, therefore, remains incomplete and highly debated regarding these two languages.
Arguments for and Against the Altaic Language Family Tree Hypothesis
The Altaic hypothesis, proposing a single Proto-Altaic ancestor, rests on a number of shared features among the proposed branches. These include:
Typological similarities: The prevalence of agglutination, vowel harmony, and SOV word order across the families.
Lexical similarities: A relatively small but potentially significant number of cognates (words with common ancestry) shared across the languages.
Regular sound correspondences: Systematic sound changes observed across the languages, suggesting a common ancestor.
However, significant counterarguments exist:
Lack of conclusive reconstruction: While attempts at reconstructing Proto-Altaic have been made, the results remain highly debated and uncertain.
Alternative explanations for shared features: The observed similarities could be due to language contact, areal diffusion (spread of features through geographic proximity), or chance.
Significant internal diversity: The internal diversity within each proposed branch is considerable, making it difficult to establish clear connections between them.
The Current State of Research and Future Directions of Altaic Language Family Tree Studies
Current research on the Altaic language family tree focuses on refining comparative methods, investigating deeper linguistic layers, and employing computational techniques to analyze vast linguistic datasets. The use of computational phylogenetics and statistical methods offers a new avenue for exploring the relationships between the languages, but these methods are still under development and their results remain subject to interpretation. The debate concerning the Altaic language family tree is far from settled, and further research is necessary to resolve many outstanding questions.
Conclusion
The Altaic language family tree presents a compelling but challenging puzzle for historical linguists. While striking similarities exist between the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages, the inclusion of Japanese and Korean remains highly debated. The lack of a fully reconstructed Proto-Altaic language and the possibility of alternative explanations for shared features continue to fuel the ongoing debate. Future research using innovative methodologies will be crucial in shedding further light on this complex and fascinating linguistic landscape.
FAQs
1. What is the Altaic language family? The Altaic language family is a proposed grouping of several language families in Eurasia, mainly Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic, with some linguists also including Japanese and Korean. The existence of a unified Altaic language family is debated.
2. What are the main branches of the Altaic language family tree (if accepted)? The core branches generally accepted are Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic. Japanese and Korean are often considered as potential, but debated, members.
3. What evidence supports the Altaic hypothesis? Support comes from shared typological features (like agglutination and vowel harmony), potential lexical cognates, and some proposed regular sound correspondences.
4. What are the main criticisms of the Altaic hypothesis? Criticisms focus on the difficulty of reconstructing Proto-Altaic, the possibility of language contact explaining shared features, and the significant internal diversity within the proposed branches.
5. Are Japanese and Korean definitively part of the Altaic language family tree? No, the inclusion of Japanese and Korean in the Altaic family is highly controversial and lacks definitive proof.
6. What methods are used to study the Altaic language family tree? Comparative linguistics, reconstruction techniques, and increasingly, computational methods like phylogenetic analysis are employed.
7. What are some of the challenges in reconstructing Proto-Altaic? Challenges include the vast temporal depth, significant internal diversity within the proposed branches, and the possibility of borrowing and areal diffusion obscuring genuine genetic relationships.
8. Is there a consensus among linguists about the Altaic language family? No, there is no consensus. The Altaic hypothesis remains a highly debated topic, with strong arguments both for and against it.
9. Where can I find more information on the Altaic language family tree? Numerous scholarly articles and books are available on the topic. University libraries, online academic databases (like JSTOR and Project MUSE), and specialized linguistic journals are good starting points.
Related Articles:
1. Proto-Altaic Reconstruction: Challenges and Perspectives: An in-depth analysis of the difficulties and successes in reconstructing the hypothetical ancestor of the Altaic languages.
2. Typological Features of Altaic Languages: A detailed examination of shared grammatical and phonological features across the proposed Altaic branches.
3. The Lexical Evidence for the Altaic Hypothesis: A critical review of proposed cognates and their significance in supporting or refuting the Altaic hypothesis.
4. Areale Influences on Altaic Languages: An exploration of the impact of geographic proximity and language contact on the development of Altaic languages.
5. The Position of Japanese within the Altaic Family Tree: A focused study on the arguments for and against including Japanese in the Altaic family.
6. The Position of Korean within the Altaic Family Tree: A focused study similar to the one on Japanese, examining the evidence for and against Korean's Altaic affiliation.
7. Computational Phylogenetics and the Altaic Problem: An examination of the application of computational methods to analyzing Altaic linguistic relationships.
8. Internal Classification of Turkic Languages: A detailed look at the sub-branches and relationships within the Turkic language family.
9. A Comparative Grammar of Mongolic Languages: A detailed overview of the grammatical structures and historical development of Mongolic languages within the wider Altaic context.
| altaic language family tree: Languages and History Roy Andrew Miller, 2006-07 |
| altaic language family tree: Is Japanese Related to Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic? Martine Irma Robbeets, 2005 Where does Japanese come from? The linguistic origin of the Japanese language is among the most disputed questions of language history. One current hypothesis is that Japanese is an Altaic language, sharing a common ancestor with Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic. But, the opinions are strongly polarized. Especially the inclusion of Japanese into this classification model is very much under debate. Given the lack of consensus in the field, this book presents a state of the art for the etymological evidence relating Japanese to Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic. The different Altaic etymologies proposed in the scholarly literature are gathered in an etymological index of Japanese appended to this book. An item-by-item sifting of the evidence helps to hold down borrowings, universal similarities and coincidental look-alikes to a small percentage. When the remaining core-evidence is screened in terms of phonological regularity, the answer to the intriguing question is beginning to take shape. |
| altaic language family tree: The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages Martine Robbeets, Alexander Savelyev, 2020 This volume provides a comprehensive treatment of the Transeurasian languages. It offers detailed structural overviews of individual languages, as well as comparative perspectives and insights from typology, genetics, and anthropology. The book will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in Transeurasian and comparative linguistics. |
| altaic language family tree: Introduction to Altaic Philology Igor de Rachewiltz, Volker Rybatzki, 2010-05-31 There are many excellent books dealing with Old Turkic, Preclassical and Classical Mongolian and Literary Manchu individually, but none providing in a single volume a comprehensive survey of all the three major Altaic languages. The present volume attempts to fill this gap; at the same time it reviews also the much debated Altaic Hypothesis. The book is intended for use by students at university level as well as by general readers with a basic knowledge of linguistics. The 39 language texts analysed in the volume are discussed within their historical and cultural context, thus vastly enlarging the scope of the purely linguistic investigation. |
| altaic language family tree: Language Contact in Siberia Bayarma Khabtagaeva, 2019-04-09 This monograph dicsusses phonetic, morphological and semantic features of the ‘Altaic’ Sprachbund (i.e. Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic) elements in Yeniseian languages (Kott, Assan, Arin, Pumpokol, Yugh and Ket), a rather heterogeneous language family traditionally classified as one of the ‘Paleo-Siberian’ language groups, that are not related to each other or to any other languages on the face of the planet. The present work is based on a database of approximately 230 Turkic and 70 Tungusic loanwords. A smaller number of loanwords are of Mongolic origin, which came through either the Siberian Turkic languages or the Tungusic Ewenki languages. There are clear linguistic criteria, which help to distinguish loanwords borrowed via Turkic or Tungusic and not directly from Mongolic languages. One of the main outcomes of this research is the establishment of the Yeniseian peculiar features in the Altaic loanwords. The phonetic criteria comprise the regular disappearance of vowel harmony, syncope, amalgamation, aphaeresis and metathesis. Besides, a separate group of lexemes represents hybrid words, i.e. the lexical elements where one element is Altaic and the other one is Yeniseian. This book presents a historical-etymological survey of a part of the Yeniseian lexicon, which provides an important part of the comparative database of Proto-Yeniseian reconstructions. |
| altaic language family tree: Japanese and the Other Altaic Languages Roy Andrew Miller, 1971 |
| altaic language family tree: The Indo-European Controversy Asya Pereltsvaig, Martin W. Lewis, 2015-04-30 This book challenges media-celebrated evolutionary studies linking Indo-European languages to Neolithic Anatolia, instead defending traditional practices in historical linguistics. |
| altaic language family tree: Koreo-Japonica Alexander Vovin, 2009-11-02 The Japonic (Japanese and Ryukyuan) portmanteau language family and the Korean language have long been considered isolates on the fringe of northeast Asia. This text challenges a view widely held by Japonic and Korean historical linguistics on the relationship between the two language families. |
| altaic language family tree: The Korean Language Iksop Lee, S. Robert Ramsey, 2001-01-11 This book describes the structure and history of the Korean language, ranging from its cultural and sociological setting, writing system, and modern dialects, to how Koreans themselves view their language and its role in society. An accessible, comprehensive source of information on the Korean language, Lee and Ramsey's work is an important resource for all those interested in Korean history and culture, offering information not readily available elsewhere in the English-language literature. |
| altaic language family tree: The Uralic Languages Denis Sinor, 1988 |
| altaic language family tree: The Precursors of Proto-Indo-European Alwin Kloekhorst, Tijmen Pronk, 2019 The Precursors of Proto-Indo-European contains sixteen contributions that offer the newest insights into the prehistory of Proto-Indo-European, taking the Indo-Anatolian and the Indo-Uralic hypotheses as their point of departure. |
| altaic language family tree: The Chinese Language John DeFrancis, 1986-03-01 DeFrancis's book is first rate. It entertains. It teaches. It demystifies. It counteracts popular ignorance as well as sophisticated (cocktail party) ignorance. Who could ask for anything more? There is no other book like it. ... It is one of a kind, a first, and I would not only buy it but I would recommend it to friends and colleagues, many of whom are visiting China now and are adding 'two-week-expert' ignorance to the two kinds that existed before. This is a book for everyone. --Joshua A. Fishman, research professor of social sciences, Yeshiva University, New York Professor De Francis has produced a work of great effectiveness that should appeal to a wide-ranging audience. It is at once instructive and entertaining. While being delighted by the flair of his novel approach, the reader will also be led to ponder on some of the most fundamental problems concerning the relations between written languages and spoken languages. Specifically, he will be served a variety of information on the languages of East Asia, not as dry pedantic facts, but as appealing tidbits that whet the intellectual appetite. The expert will find much to reflect on in this book, for Professor DeFrancis takes nothing for granted. --William S.Y. Wang, professor of linguistics, University of California at Berkeley |
| altaic language family tree: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ALTAIC MYTHOLOGIES IN CHINA G. Namjil, Wang Ruli, 2023-08-28 Lending support to the search for the roots of the Altaic language family and pushing forward the field of Altaic mythologies and related topics, this comprehensive study of the early beliefs of China’s Altaic peoples is the first thorough, systematic academic treatment in this, as yet, underdeveloped research field. While discussing nine types of Altaic mythologies, A Comparative Study of Altaic Mythologies in China uses primary sources in several languages to explore Altaic myths’ origins, development over centuries, lineage relationships, and external influences. For this purpose, it compares the mythologies of various ethnic groups within the Altaic language family, Altaic mythologies with those of other cross-language and cross-cultural ethnic groups having direct, indirect or even no cultural exchanges with them in history, as well as Altaic mythologies with folklore, religion and other interdisciplinary domains of Altaic Studies by applying the theories and methods of comparative literature studies, comparative folklore studies and comparative mythology to a vast collection of mythological materials. As wide-ranging as it is deeply researched, this serious exploration of Altaic Studies breaks the boundaries of the previously closed research model, expands theoretical horizons, broadens the research scope, introduces a new mechanism for understanding myths and co-cultures of the Altaic language family, and offers insight toward the reconstruction of Proto-Altaic Mythology. |
| altaic language family tree: Copular Sentences in Russian Asya Pereltsvaig, 2007-05-11 This book provides a detailed study and a novel Minimalist account of copular sentences in Russian, focusing on case marking alternations (nominative vs. instrumental) and drawing a distinction between two types of copular sentences. On the assumption that Merge is defined in the simplest way possible, it is argued that not all syntactic structures are a(nti)symmetrical. One of the copular sentence types is analyzed as a poster child for symmetrical structures, while the other type is treated as asymmetrical. The originality of this study lies in treating the copula in the two types of copular sentences neither as completely identical nor as two distinct lexical items; instead, the two types of copula are derived through the process of semantic bleaching. Furthermore, it is argued that the two types of the copula need to combine with post-copular phrases of different categories. It is concluded that Russian draws a distinction between saturated DPs and unsaturated NPs, in spite of its renowned lack of overt articles. |
| altaic language family tree: The Uralic Language Family Angela Marcantonio, 2002-06-10 In this detailed survey of Finnish, Hungarian, Lapp and the other Uralic Languages, Angela Marcantonio shows there is in fact no scientific evidence to support the belief that they form a genetic family. If this approach is accepted, this detailed analysis will have far-reaching consequences for other assumed language families. |
| altaic language family tree: The World's Major Languages Bernard Comrie, 2018-04-17 The World's Major Languages features over 50 of the world's languages and language families. This revised edition includes updated bibliographies for each chapter and up-to-date census figures. The featured languages have been chosen based on the number of speakers, their role as official languages and their cultural and historical importance. Each language is looked at in depth, and the chapters provide information on both grammatical features and on salient features of the language's history and cultural role. The World’s Major Languages is an accessible and essential reference work for linguists. |
| altaic language family tree: The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics William S.-Y. Wang, Chaofen Sun, 2015 The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics offers a broad and comprehensive coverage of the entire field from a multi-disciplinary perspective. All chapters are contributed by leading scholars in their respective areas. This Handbook contains eight sections: history, languages and dialects, language contact, morphology, syntax, phonetics and phonology, socio-cultural aspects and neuro-psychological aspects. It provides not only a diachronic view of how languages evolve, but also a synchronic view of how languages in contact enrich each other by borrowing new words, calquing loan translation and even developing new syntactic structures. It also accompanies traditional linguistic studies of grammar and phonology with empirical evidence from psychology and neurocognitive sciences. In addition to research on the Chinese language and its major dialect groups, this handbook covers studies on sign languages and non-Chinese languages, such as the Austronesian languages spoken in Taiwan. |
| altaic language family tree: Past Human Migrations in East Asia Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, Roger Blench, Malcolm D. Ross, Ilia Peiros, Marie Lin, 2008-07-25 The study of the prehistory of East Asia is developing very rapidly. In uncovering the story of the flows of human migration that constituted the peopling of East Asia there exists widespread debate about the nature of evidence and the tools for correlating results from different disciplines. Drawing upon the latest evidence in genetics, linguistics and archaeology, this exciting new book examines the history of the peopling of East Asia, and investigates the ways in which we can detect migration, and its different markers in these fields of inquiry. Results from different academic disciplines are compared and reinterpreted in the light of evidence from others to attempt to try and generate consensus on methodology. Taking a broad geographical focus, the book also draws attention to the roles of minority peoples – hitherto underplayed in accounts of the region’s prehistory – such as the Austronesian, Tai-Kadai and Altaic speakers, whose contribution to the regional culture is now becoming accepted. Past Human Migrations in East Asia presents a full picture of the latest research on the peopling of East Asia, and will be of interest to scholars of all disciplines working on the reconstruction of the peopling of East and North East Asia. |
| altaic language family tree: Congruence in Contact-Induced Language Change Juliane Besters-Dilger, Cynthia Dermarkar, Stefan Pfänder, Achim Rabus, 2014-01-31 Modern contact linguistics has primarily focused on contact between languages that are genetically unrelated and structurally distant. This compendium of articles looks instead at the effects of pre–existing structural congruency between the affected languages at the time of their initial contact, using the Romance and Slavic languages as examples. In contact of this kind, both genetic and typological similarities play a part. |
| altaic language family tree: Mid-Holocene Language Connections Between Asia and North America Edward Vajda, Michael Fortescue, 2022-01-27 This volume presents the up-to-date results of investigations into the Asian origins of the only two languages families of North America, Eskaleut and Na-Dene, that are widely acknowledged as having likely genetic links in northern Asia. |
| altaic language family tree: A History of the Korean Language Ki-Moon Lee, S. Robert Ramsey, 2011-03-03 A History of the Korean Language is the first book on the subject ever published in English. It traces the origin, formation, and various historical stages through which the language has passed, from Old Korean through to the present day. Each chapter begins with an account of the historical and cultural background. A comprehensive list of the literature of each period is then provided and the textual record described, along with the script or scripts used to write it. Finally, each stage of the language is analyzed, offering new details supplementing what is known about its phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon. The extraordinary alphabetic materials of the 15th and 16th centuries are given special attention, and are used to shed light on earlier, pre-alphabetic periods. |
| altaic language family tree: History of Language Steven Roger Fischer, 2004-10-03 It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what language is. Steven Roger Fischer begins his book with an examination of the modes of communication used by dolphins, birds and primates as the first contexts in which the concept of language might be applied. As he charts the history of language from the times of Homo erectus, Neanderthal humans and Homo sapiens through to the nineteenth century, when the science of linguistics was developed, Fischer analyses the emergence of language as a science and its development as a written form. He considers the rise of pidgin, creole, jargon and slang, as well as the effects radio and television, propaganda, advertising and the media are having on language today. Looking to the future, he shows how electronic media will continue to reshape and re-invent the ways in which we communicate. [a] delightful and unexpectedly accessible book ... a virtuoso tour of the linguistic world.—The Economist ... few who read this remarkable study will regard language in quite the same way again.—The Good Book Guide |
| altaic language family tree: The Peopling of East Asia Roger Blench, Laurent Sagart, Alicia Sanchez-Mazas, 2005-03-20 Recent findings in the fields of East Asian archaeology, linguistics and genetics are collected together here, making this an ideal reference tool for scholars in all disciplines working on the reconstruction of the East Asian past. |
| altaic language family tree: Koguryo Christopher I. Beckwith, 2007 This book describes the Koguryo language, which was once spoken in Manchuria and Korea, including Koguryo and Japanese ethnolinguistic history, Koguryo's genetic relationship to Japanese, Koguryo phonology, and the Koguryo lexicon. It also analyzes the phonology of archaic Northeastern Chinese. |
| altaic language family tree: The Languages of the Seat of War in the East Friedrich Max Müller, 1855 |
| altaic language family tree: Celtic from the West 3 John T. Koch, Barry Cunliffe, 2016-09-01 The Celtic languages and groups called Keltoi (i.e. ‘Celts’) emerge into our written records at the pre-Roman Iron Age. The impetus for this book is to explore from the perspectives of three disciplines—archaeology, genetics, and linguistics—the background in later European prehistory to these developments. There is a traditional scenario, according to which, Celtic speech and the associated group identity came in to being during the Early Iron Age in the north Alpine zone and then rapidly spread across central and western Europe. This idea of ‘Celtogenesis’ remains deeply entrenched in scholarly and popular thought. But it has become increasingly difficult to reconcile with recent discoveries pointing towards origins in the deeper past. It should no longer be taken for granted that Atlantic Europe during the 2nd and 3rd millennia BC were pre-Celtic or even pre-Indo-European. The explorations in Celtic from the West 3 are drawn together in this spirit, continuing two earlier volumes in the influential series. |
| altaic language family tree: Language Families of the World John McWhorter, 2018-01-02 |
| altaic language family tree: One Language for the World Mario Pei, 1968 |
| altaic language family tree: The Modern History of China Li Chang, 2006 |
| altaic language family tree: The Turkic Languages Lars Johanson, Éva Á. Csató, 2021-12-27 The Turkic languages are spoken today in a vast geographical area stretching from southern Iran to the Arctic Ocean and from the Balkans to the great wall of China. There are currently 20 literary languages in the group, the most important among them being Turkish with over 70 million speakers; other major languages covered include Azeri, Bashkir, Chuvash, Gagauz, Karakalpak, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Noghay, Tatar, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yakut, Yellow Uyghur and languages of Iran and South Siberia. The Turkic Languages is a reference book which brings together detailed discussions of the historical development and specialized linguistic structures and features of the languages in the Turkic family. Seen from a linguistic typology point of view, Turkic languages are particularly interesting because of their astonishing morphosyntactic regularity, their vast geographical distribution, and their great stability over time. This volume builds upon a work which has already become a defining classic of Turkic language study. The present, thoroughly revised edition updates and augments those authoritative accounts and reflects recent and ongoing developments in the languages themselves, as well as our further enhanced understanding of the relations and patterns of influence between them. The result is the fruit of decades-long experience in the teaching of the Turkic languages, their philology and literature, and also of a wealth of new insights into the linguistic phenomena and cultural interactions defining their development and use, both historically and in the present day. Each chapter combines modern linguistic analysis with traditional historical linguistics; a uniform structure allows for easy typological comparison between the individual languages. Written by an international team of experts, The Turkic Languages will be invaluable to students and researchers within linguistics, Turcology, and Near Eastern and Oriental Studies. |
| altaic language family tree: Language Classification Lyle Campbell, William J. Poser, 2008-06-26 How are relationships established between the world's languages? This is one of the most topical and most controversial questions in contemporary linguistics. The central aims of this book are to answer this question, to cut through the controversies, and to contribute to research in distant genetic relationships. In doing this the authors aim to: (1) show how the methods have been employed; (2) reveal which methods, techniques, and strategies have proven successful and which ones have proven ineffective; (3) determine how particular language families were established; (4) evaluate several of the most prominent and more controversial proposals of distant genetic relationship (such as Amerind, Nostratic, Eurasiatic, Proto-World, and others); and (5) make recommendations for practice in future research. This book will contribute significantly to understanding language classification in general. |
| altaic language family tree: Introduction to Altaic Linguistics Nicholas Poppe, 1965 The Introduction to Altaic Linguistics is designed as a manual for university students. The first part gives a survey of the Altaic languages, i.e., Mongolian, Manchu-Tungus, Chuvash-Turkic and Korean, and a classification of the Altaic languages and classifications of languages within each family. The second part presents a brief outline of the history of studying Altaic linguistics. It also contains a number of bibliographical data and bibliographies of famous scholars. The third part gives a brief history of the Altaic theory. The subsequent portions of the book deal with problems of mutual influences of the Altaic languages (e.g., the Turkic influence of Mongolian), Altaic influences in non-Altaic languages (e.g., the Turkic influence on Sayan-Samoyed, or Mari), non-Altaic influences in Altaic languages (e.g. Sogdian elements in Turkic), and structural features common to all Altaic languages. |
| altaic language family tree: Language and Development in Africa Ekkehard Wolff, 2016-05-26 This volume explores the central role of language across all aspects of public and private life in Africa. |
| altaic language family tree: An Introduction to the Languages of the World Anatole Lyovin, Brett Kessler, William Ronald Leben, 2017 The only textbook of its kind, An Introduction to the Languages of the World is designed to introduce beginning linguistics students, who now typically start their study with little background in languages, to the variety of the languages of the world. |
| altaic language family tree: Modern Mongolian Robert I. Binnick, 1979 |
| altaic language family tree: The Uralic Languages Daniel Abondolo, 2015-04-08 This book provides a unique, up-to-date survey of individual Uralic languages and sub-groupings from Finnish to Selkup. Spoken by more than 25 million native speakers, the Uralic languages have important cultural and social significance in Northern and Eastern Europe, as well as in immigrant communitites throughout Europe and North America. The introductory chapter gives an overview of the Uralic language family and is followed by 18 chapter-length descriptions of each language or sub-grouping, giving an analysis of their history and development as well as focusing on their linguistic structures. Written by internationally recognised experts and based on the most recent scholarship available, the volume covers major languages - including the official national languages of Estonia, Finland and Hungary - and rarely-covered languages such as Mordva, Nganasan and Khanty. The 18 language chapters are similarly-structured, designed for comparative study and cover phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon. Those on individual languages also have sample text where available. Each chapter includes numerous tables to support and illustrate the text and bibliographies of the major references for each language to aid further study. The volume is comprehensively indexed. This book will be invaluable to language students, experts requiring concise but thorough information on related languages and anyone working in historical, typological and comparative linguistics. |
| altaic language family tree: The Languages and Linguistics of Europe Bernd Kortmann, Johan van der Auwera, 2011-07-27 Open publicationThe Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide is part of the multi-volume reference work on the languages and linguistics of the continents of the world. The book supplies profiles of the language families of Europe, including the sign languages. It also discusses the areal typology, paying attention to the Standard Average European, Balkan, Baltic and Mediterranean convergence areas. Separate chapters deal with the old and new minority languages and with non-standard varieties. A major focus is language politics and policies, including discussions of the special status of English, the relation between language and the church, language and the school, and standardization. The history of European linguistics is another focus as is the history of multilingual European 'empires' and their dissolution. The volume is especially geared towards a graduate and advanced undergraduate readership. It has been designed such that it can be used, as a whole or in parts, as a textbook, the first of its kind, for graduate programmes with a focus on the linguistic (and linguistics) landscape of Europe. |
| altaic language family tree: Unknown Treasures of the Altaic World in Libraries, Archives and Museums Tatiana A. Pang, Simone-Christiane Raschmann, Gerd Winkelhane, 2013 Studien zur Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der Turkvölker was founded in 1980 by the Hungarian Turkologist György Hazai. The series deals with all aspects of Turkic language, culture and history, and has a broad temporal and regional scope. It welcomes manuscripts on Central, Northern, Western and Eastern Asia as well as parts of Europe, and allows for a wide time span from the first mention in the 6th century to modernity and present. |
| altaic language family tree: The Tungusic Languages Alexander Vovin, José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente, Juha Janhunen, 2023-08-31 The Tungusic Languages is a survey of Tungusic, a language family which is seriously endangered today, but which at the time of its maximum spread was present all over Northeast Asia. This volume offers a systematic succession of separate chapters on all the individual Tungusic languages, as well as a number of additional chapters containing contextual information on the language family as a whole, its background and current state, as well as its history of research and documentation. Manchu and its mediaeval ancestor Jurchen are important historical literary languages discussed in this volume, while the other Tungusic languages, around a dozen altogether, have always been spoken by small, local, though in some cases territorially widespread, populations engaged in traditional subsistence activities of the Eurasian taiga and steppe zones and the North Pacific coast. All contributors to this volume are well-known specialists on their specific topics, and, importantly, all the authors of the chapters dealing with modern languages have personal experience of linguistic field work among Tungusic speakers. This volume will be informative for scholars and students specialising in the languages and peoples of Northeast Asia, and will also be of interest to those engaged with linguistic typology, cultural anthropology, and ethnic history who wish to obtain information on the Tungusic languages. |
| altaic language family tree: A COURSE IN LINGUISTICS TARNI PRASAD, 2012-03-10 This compact and student-friendly text, now in its Second Edition, continues to cover in a single volume the diverse aspects of Linguistics, such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics, and language families. It also deals, in detail, with Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Stylistics. Written in a straightforward and easy-to-understand style, this book is thoroughly practical and should be of great help to students in understanding the basic concepts with ease. In the second edition, chapters on Morphology and Psycholinguistics have been thoroughly revised. The book is intended as a text for senior undergraduate and post-graduate students [BA (Hons.) and MA] of English, and undergraduate and postgraduate students [BA (Hons.) and MA] of Linguistics. In addition, this book would be of great help to all those who wish to have a general knowledge of English linguistics. KEY FEATURES : All the concepts of linguistics are discussed in a single book. Linguistic concepts are explained in detail, with examples, diagrams, and tables for better comprehension of the subject. |
Altaic languages - Wikipedia
The Altaic (/ æ l ˈ t eɪ. ɪ k / ⓘ) languages are a group of languages comprising the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families, with some …
Altaic languages | Turkic, Mongolic & Tungusic | Britan…
Altaic languages, group of languages consisting of three language families—Turkic, Mongolian, and Manchu-Tungus—that show …
Why the Altaic Hypothesis Was Rejected: Exploring the Contr…
Jun 9, 2025 · The Altaic hypothesis was once one of the most fascinating linguistic theories, proposing that several language families across …
All In The Language Family: The Altaic Languages - Babb…
Apr 30, 2020 · The Altaic languages — a collection of about 65 languages spoken throughout parts of Asia and Eastern Europe — are, to be sure, …
Altaic languages - Simple English Wikipedia, the free e…
Altaic is a language system that includes the Turkic languages, Mongolic, and the Tungusic languages. That is probably the meaning …
Altaic languages - Wikipedia
The Altaic (/ æ l ˈ t eɪ. ɪ k / ⓘ) languages are a group of languages comprising the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families, with some linguists including the Koreanic and …
Altaic languages | Turkic, Mongolic & Tungusic | Britannica
Altaic languages, group of languages consisting of three language families—Turkic, Mongolian, and Manchu-Tungus—that show noteworthy similarities in vocabulary, morphological and …
Why the Altaic Hypothesis Was Rejected: Exploring the …
Jun 9, 2025 · The Altaic hypothesis was once one of the most fascinating linguistic theories, proposing that several language families across Eurasia, including Turkic, Mongolic, and …
All In The Language Family: The Altaic Languages - Babbel.com
Apr 30, 2020 · The Altaic languages — a collection of about 65 languages spoken throughout parts of Asia and Eastern Europe — are, to be sure, part of a messy grouping. In fact, they …
Altaic languages - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Altaic is a language system that includes the Turkic languages, Mongolic, and the Tungusic languages. That is probably the meaning attributed to "Altaic" by most general linguists. It has …
ALTAIC - Encyclopaedia Iranica
Nov 17, 2017 · ALTAIC, The Altaic peoples and languages are distributed around 45° north latitude, from eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean. Until recently, the Altaic language family …
The Unity and Diversity of Altaic | Annual Reviews
The present review summarizes the basic facts concerning the Altaic language families, their common features, their patterns of interaction with each other and with other languages, and …
Altaic Languages - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Altaic is a widely, though not universally, accepted language family covering three branches: Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic, represented in this work by Evenki. The Turkic languages, …
Altaic languages and their status as a language family - Britannica
Altaic languages are spoken across Eurasia by more than 140 million people (the overwhelming majority of whom speak Turkic languages). Most scholars consider Altaic itself to be a family, …
Altaic Languages
graphic information about the Altaic linguistics in its time: Benzing 1953a; Poppe 1965; Rachewiltz & Rybatzki 2010, but these are only about the core Altaic branches, viz. Turkic, Mongolic and …
