Macro-Andean

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The following is a list of proposed language families, which connect established families into larger genetic groups (macro-families). Support for these proposals vary from case to case. For example, the Dené–Yeniseian languages are a recent proposal which has been generally well received, whereas reconstructions of the Proto-World language are often viewed as fringe science. Proposals which are themselves based on other proposals have the likelihood of their parts noted in parentheses.

Under considerations

Proposed name Proposal Agree Disagree Doubt Ref.
Alarodian Igor M. Diakonoff (initiator), Sergei Starostin, Petri Kallio Johanna Nichols, Allan R. Bomhard
Austric Wilhelm Schmidt (initiator), La Vaughn H., Lawrence Reid, Gérard Diffloth, Paul Sidwell, Paul K. Benedict (later rejected), Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson, Automated Similarity Judgment Program (database) Robert Blust, Paul K. Benedict [1][2][3][4]
Wilhelm Schmidt (initiator)
Paul K. Benedict (initiator, later rejected), Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson, Weera Ostapirat (tentative)
John Bengtson (initiator)
Austro-Tai Paul K. Benedict (initiator, also including Japanese), Weera Ostapirat, Alexander Smith Graham Thurgood Laurent Sagart [5]
Aztec–Tanoan
Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric
Dene–Yeniseian Alfredo Trombetti (initiator), Merritt Ruhlen, Edward Vajda, Michael Krauss, Jeff Leer, James Kari, Heinrich Werner, Bernard Comrie, Johanna Nichols, Victor Golla, Michael Fortescue, Eric Hamp, Bill Poser, and Paul Kiparsky Georgiy Starostin (Vajda's proposal) Lyle Campbell [6][7]
Gulf
Hokan
Indo-Uralic Holger Pedersen (initiator), Kortlandt, Hannes Sköld, Alwin Kloekhorst, and Nikolai Dmitrievich Andreev Christian Carpelan, Asko Parpola, Petteri Koskikallio, and Johan Schalin [8]
Kortlandt (initiator) [9]
Japonic-Koreanic John Whitman, Alexander Takenobu Frances-Ratte, Samuel E. Martin Alexander Vovin [10][11]
Je–Tupi–Carib
Karasuk
Macro-Chibchan
Macro-Pama–Nyungan
Macro-Panoan
Macro-Siouan
Mataco–Guaicuru
Miao–Dai Ryuichi Kosaka (initiator) [12]
Niger–Congo
Nilo-Saharan
North Caucasian
Penutian
Pontic Émile Benveniste, Winfred P. Lehmann, Aert Kuipers, and John Colarusso [13]
Quechumaran
Serbi–Mongolic
Sino-Austronesian Laurent Sagart (initiator), Stanley Starosta Weera Ostapirat, Alexander Vovin, George van Driem Paul Jen-kuei Li and Robert Blust [14][15]
Tequiraca-Canichana
Tequiraca–Canichana
Terrence Kaufman (initiator) [16]
Totozoquean
Uralic–Yukaghir
Uralo-Siberian Michael Fortescue (initiator), Frederik Kortlandt [17]
Frederik Kortlandt (initiator) [18]
Yok-Utian Geoffrey Gamble (initiator), Catherine Callaghan

Widely rejected

Below are language families that are already rejected by most linguists. As they are widely rejected, only linguists who agree are shown.

Proposed name Proposal Status Agree Ref.
Almosan Widely rejected Joseph Greenberg, Georgiy Starostin, Ilia Peiros, Murray Gell-Mann
Amerind All languages in the Americas which do not belong to the Eskimo–Aleut or Na–Dene families Rejected Joseph Greenberg (initiator), Merritt Ruhlen
Altaic Widely rejected; generally considered a Sprachbund
Austronesian–Ongan Widely rejected Juliette Blevins (initiator) [19]
Borean All families except in sub-Saharan Africa, New Guinea, Australia, and the Andaman Islands Widely rejected Harold C. Fleming (initiator), Sergei Starostin, Murray Gell-Mann, John Bengtson
Coahuiltecan Native languages of modern Texas Sprachbund
Dene–Caucasian Na-Dené, North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan, Yeniseian, and others. Widely rejected Sergei Starostin, John Bengtson
Dravido-Korean Obsolete Susumu Ōno
Elamo-Dravidian Widely rejected David W. McAlpin, Franklin Southworth
Eurasiatic Widely rejected
Widely rejected
Ibero-Caucasian Widely rejected Arnold Chikobava (Initiator)
Indo-Pacific Several Pacific families. Widely rejected Joseph Greenberg (initiator)
Indo-Semitic Widely rejected Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (initiator)
Japhetic Widely rejected Nikolai Marr (initiator)
Khoisan Widely rejected Joseph Greenberg (initiator)
Macro-Mayan Widely rejected
Mosan Sprachbund
Nostratic Widely rejected Vladimir Dybo
Sino-Uralic Widely rejected Jingyi Gao (initiator)
Transeurasian Widely rejected Martine Robbeets, Remco Bouckaert
Ural–Altaic Obsolete; considered a linguistic convergence zone

See also

References

  1. Grierson, G. A. (January 1907). "Die Mon-Khmer-Völker, Ein Bindeglied Zwischen Völkern Zentralasiens und Austronesiens. By P. W. Schmidt, S.V.D. Reprinted from Archiv für Anthropologie, Neue Folge, Band v, Heft 1 u. 2. (Brunswick, 1906.)". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 39 (1): 187–191. doi:10.1017/s0035869x00035711. ISSN 0035-869X. S2CID 163114228.
  2. "Alphabetisches Verzeichnis der vorkommenden Sprachen und Dialekte", Die westlichen Sudansprachen und ihre Beziehungen zum Bantu, Berlin, Boston: DE GRUYTER, 1927, doi:10.1515/9783111390192-003, ISBN 9783111390192, retrieved 9 January 2023 {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  3. Benedict, Paul K. (12 October 1942). "Thai, Kadai, and Indonesian: A New Alignment in Southeastern Asia". American Anthropologist. 44 (4): 576–601. doi:10.1525/aa.1942.44.4.02a00040.
  4. Ostapirat, Weera. 2018. "Macrophyletic Trees of East Asian Languages Re examined." In Let's Talk About Trees, ed. by Ritsuko Kikusawa and Lawrence A. Reid. Osaka: Senri Ethnological Studies, Minpaku. doi:10.15021/00009007. Archived 2024-04-14 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Smith, Alexander (2022-01-28). Alves, Mark; Sidwell, Paul (eds.). "More Austro-Tai Comparisons and Observations on Vowel Correspondences". Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society: Papers from the 30th Conference of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (2021). 15 (3): 112–134. doi:10.5281/zenodo.5781307. ISSN 1836-6821. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  6. Starostin, George (2012). "Dene-Yeniseian: a critical assessment". p. 137
  7. Campbell, Lyle (2024). The Indigenous Languages of the Americas. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1.
  8. Aikio, Ante (January 2022). "Proto-Uralic". In Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena (eds.). Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  9. Kortlandt, Frederik (2004). "NIVKH AS A URALO-SIBERIAN LANGUAGE". researchgate.net.
  10. Whitman, John (2012). "The relationship between Japanese and Korean" (PDF). In Tranter, Nicolas (ed.). The Languages of Japan and Korea. Routledge. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-415-46287-7.
  11. Francis-Ratte, Alexander Takenobu (2016). Proto-Korean-Japanese: A New Reconstruction of the Common Origin of the Japanese and Korean Languages (Thesis). The Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  12. Kosaka, Ryuichi (2002). "On the affiliation of Miao-Yao and Kadai: Can we posit the Miao-Dai family?" (PDF). Mon-Khmer Studies. 32: 71–100.
  13. Colarusso, John (1997). "Proto-Pontic: Phyletic links between Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Northwest Caucasian". Journal of Indo-European Studies. 25: 119–51.
  14. Sagart, L. (1990) "Chinese and Austronesian are genetically related". Paper presented at the 23rd International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, October 1990, Arlington, Texas.
  15. Sagart, Laurent (2016). "The wider connections of Austronesian: A response to Blust (2009)". Diachronica. 33 (2): 255–281. doi:10.1075/dia.33.2.04sag.
  16. Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R. E.; Tait, Mary (1994), Atlas of the world's languages, London ; New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-01925-5
  17. Fortescue, Michael (2011). "The relationship of Nivkh to Chukotko-Kamchatkan revisited". Lingua. 121 (8): 1359–1376. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2011.03.001.I would no longer wish to relate CK directly to [Uralo-Siberian], although I believe that some of the lexical evidence [...] will hold up in terms of borrowing/diffusion.
  18. Kortlandt, Frederik (2004). "NIVKH AS A URALO-SIBERIAN LANGUAGE". researchgate.net.
  19. van Driem, George (2011). "Rice and the Austroasiatic and Hmong-Mien homelands". In N.J Enfield (ed.). Dynamics of human diversity: the case of mainland Southeast Asia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. Retrieved 13 November 2021.