Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Nostratic languages
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{multiple issues| {{Fringe theories|date=June 2023}} {{Cleanup rewrite|it currently reads like it's making a case for Nostratic instead of presenting the understanding of what it is and its current standing in historical linguistics|article|date=June 2023}}}} {{Short description|Proposed superfamily of Eurasian and African languages}} {{Infobox language family | name = Nostratic | acceptance = widely rejected<ref>{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Lyle |title=Historical Linguistics: An Introduction |date=1998 |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0262518499 |page=311}}</ref> | region = [[Europe]], [[Asia]] except for the [[classification schemes for Southeast Asian languages|southeast]], [[North Africa|North]] and [[Horn of Africa|Northeast Africa]], the [[Arctic]] | familycolor = superfamily | family = Hypothetical macrofamily | child1 = [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] | child2 = [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] | child3 = [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] ([[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]] and [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]]) | child4 = [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]] | child5 = [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] (not always considered) | child6 = [[Koreanic languages|Koreanic]] | child7 = [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] | child8 = [[Japonic languages|Japonic]] | child9 = [[Elamite language|Elamite]] (sometimes included) | child10 = [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] (sometimes included) | child11 = [[Nivkh language|Nivkh]] (sometimes included) | child12 = [[Yukaghir languages|Yukaghir]] (not always considered) | child13 = [[Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages|Chukotko-Kamchatkan]] (not always considered) | child14 = [[Eskimo–Aleut languages|Eskaleut]] (not always considered) | glotto = none | map = | mapcaption = | ancestor = | glottoname = | glottorefname = | notes = }} [[File:Nostratic tree.svg|thumb|330px|A phylogenetic representation of Nostratic proposed by [[Allan R. Bomhard|Allan Bomhard]] in 2008]] '''Nostratic''' is a hypothetical language [[macrofamily]] including many of the [[language families]] of northern Eurasia first proposed in 1903. Though a historically important proposal, it is now generally considered a [[fringe theory]]. Its exact composition varies based on proponent; it typically includes the [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]], [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] and [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] languages; some languages from the similarly controversial [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] family; the [[Afroasiatic languages]]; as well as the [[Dravidian languages]] (sometimes also [[Elamo-Dravidian languages|Elamo-Dravidian]]). The Nostratic hypothesis originates with [[Holger Pedersen (linguist)|Holger Pedersen]] in the early 20th century. The name "Nostratic" is due to Pedersen (1903), derived from the Latin ''[[:wikt:nostras|nostrates]]'' "fellow countrymen". The hypothesis was significantly expanded in the 1960s by Soviet linguists, notably [[Vladislav Illich-Svitych]] and [[Aharon Dolgopolsky]]. The hypothesis has fallen out of favour since the latter half of the 20th century and has limited degrees of acceptance, predominantly among a minority of Russian linguists. Linguists worldwide mostly reject Nostratic and many other macrofamily hypotheses with the exception of [[Dené–Yeniseian languages]], which has been met with some degree of acceptance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/828792941 |title=Historical linguistics : an introduction |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-7486-7559-3 |edition=Third |location=Edinburgh |pages=346 |oclc=828792941}}</ref> In [[Russia]], it is endorsed by a minority of linguists, such as [[Vladimir Dybo]], but is not a generally accepted hypothesis.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}} Some linguists take an agnostic view.<ref>For instance [[Philip Baldi]]: "No particular side on the issue is taken in this book" (Baldi 2002:18).</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Salmons|first1=Joseph C.|title=Nostratic: Sifting the Evidence|last2=Joseph|first2=Brian D.|date=1998|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-90-272-3646-3|language=en|quote=On the other hand, Comrie baldly states, in answer to his own question of the relatedness of Altaic, Uralic and Indo-European pronominal systems, 'I do not know'. Other agnostics represented in this volume, such as Ringe, Vine, Campbell, and even Hamp, demonstrate that the hypothesis is being taken seriously indeed by skeptics specializing in Indo-European and Uralic, at least. While these scholars seek to test the hypothesis, Nostratic has been around long enough and has been discussed widely enough that some regard the genetic affiliations as established.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Manaster Ramer|first1=Alexis|last2=Michalove|first2=Peter A.|title=Nostratic hypothesis {{!}} proposed language family|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nostratic-hypothesis|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|quote=The Nostratic theory is among the most promising of the many currently controversial theories of linguistic classification. It remains the best-argued of all the solutions hitherto presented for the affiliations of the languages of northern Eurasia, a problem that goes back to the German Franz Bopp and the Dane Rasmus Rask, two of the founders of Indo-European studies.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kallio|first1=Petri|title=Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics|last2=Koivulehto|first2=Jorma|date=2017|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-054243-1|editor-last=Klein|editor-first=Jared|volume=3|pages=2280–2291|language=en|chapter=Beyond Proto-Indo-European|quote=In general, Nostratic studies have failed to meet the same methodological standards as Indo-European studies, but then again so have most non-Indo-European studies.|editor-last2=Joseph|editor-first2=Brian|editor-last3=Fritz|editor-first3=Matthias}}</ref> [[Eurasiatic languages|Eurasiatic]], a similar grouping, was proposed by [[Joseph Greenberg]] (2000) and endorsed by [[Merritt Ruhlen]].
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)