Editing Proto-Human language (section)

===Vocabulary===
Ruhlen tentatively traces several words back to the ancestral language, based on the occurrence of similar sound-and-meaning forms in languages across the globe. Bengtson and Ruhlen identify 27 "global etymologies".<ref name="bengtson-ruhlen-1994" /> The following table lists a selection of these forms:<ref name="ruhlen1994">{{cite book |last1=Ruhlen |first1=Meritt |title=The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue |date=1994 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |location=New York |isbn=9780471159636 |access-date=27 June 2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVBzFDrpBwYC}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:.5em auto"
|-
!scope="col"| Language<br /> phylum
!scope="col"| Who?
!scope="col"| What?
!scope="col"| Water
!scope="col"| Hair
!scope="col"| Smell / Nose	
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left" | [[Nilo-Saharan languages|Nilo-Saharan]]
| *na || *de || *nki || *sum || *t͡ʃona 
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left" | [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]]
| *k(w) || *ma || *ak’ʷa || *somm || *suna
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left" | [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]]
| *yāv || *yā || *nīru || *pūṭa || *čuṇṭu 
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left" | [[Eurasiatic languages|Eurasiatic]]
| *kʷi || *mi || *akʷā || *punče || *snā
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left" | [[Dené–Caucasian languages|Dené–Caucasian]]
| *kʷi || *ma || *ʔoχʷa || *t<sup>ʃ</sup>ām || *suŋ
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left" | [[Indo-Pacific languages|Indo-Pacific]]
| &nbsp;|| *mina || *okho || *utu || *sɨnna
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left" | [[Amerind languages|Amerind]]
| *kune || *mana || *akwā || *summe || *čuna
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="6" | ''Source:''.<ref name="ruhlen1994" />{{rp|103}} The symbol ''V'' stands for "a vowel whose precise character is unknown" (ib. 105).
|}

Based on these correspondences, Ruhlen<ref name="ruhlen1994" />{{rp|105}} lists these roots for the ancestor language:

*''*ku'' = 'who'
*''*ma'' = 'what'
*''*akʷa'' = 'water'
*''*sum'' = 'hair'
*''*čuna'' = 'nose, smell'

Selected items from Bengtson's and Ruhlen's (1994) list of 27 "global etymologies":<ref name="bengtson-ruhlen-1994" />

:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! No. !! Root !! Gloss
|-
| 4 || *čun(g)a || 'nose; to smell'
|-
| 10 || *ku(n) || 'who?'
|-
| 26 || *tsuma || 'hair'
|-
| 27 || *ʔaq'wa || 'water'
|}