The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis posits that the Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut language families belong to a common macrofamily. It is not generally accepted by linguists because the similarities can also be merely areal features, common to unrelated language families. In 1818, the Danish linguist Rasmus Rask grouped together the languages of Greenlandic and Finnish. The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis was put forward by Knut Bergsland in 1959. A similar theory was suggested in 1998 by Michael Fortescue, 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.[1]
Eskimo–Uralic | |
---|---|
(hypothetical) | |
Geographic distribution | northern Eurasia and far northern North America |
Linguistic classification | Proposed language family |
Subdivisions |
|
Glottolog | None |
Comparisons between Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut languages were made early. In 1746, the Danish theologian Marcus Wøldike [da] compared Greenlandic to Hungarian. In 1818, Rasmus Rask considered Greenlandic to be related to the Uralic languages, Finnish in particular, and presented a list of lexical correspondences (Rask also considered Uralic and Altaic to be related to each other). In 1959, Knut Bergsland 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.[2]
In 1998, Michael Fortescue 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".[3] 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.[4]
Apparently shared elements of Eskimo–Uralic morphology include the following:
*-t | plural |
*-k | dual |
*m- | 1st person |
*t- | 2nd person |
*ka | interrogative pronoun |
*-n | genitive case |
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, and Proto-Eskimo–Aleut.[5]
Proto-Uralic | Proto-Eskimo–Aleut |
---|---|
*aja- 'drive, chase' | *ajaɣ- 'push, thrust at with pole' |
*appe 'father in law' | *ap(p)a 'grandfather' |
*elä 'not' | *-la(ɣ)- 'not' (A) |
*pitV- 'tie' (FU) | *pətuɣ- 'tie up' |
*toɣe- 'bring, take, give' (FU) | *teɣu- 'take' (PE) |
Proposed sound correspondences:
Uralic | EA[6][7][8] |
---|---|
s | Ø |
a | sa |
l | t |
m | m |
x | v |
s | Ø |
d | ð |
k | ɣ |
t | c |
j | y/i |
n | ŋ |
tä | ci |
ti | cai |
ü | u |
Uralic *t- : Eskimo *t- (before a Uralic back vowel)
Uralic *t- : Eskimo *c- (before a Uralic front vowel)
Uralic *ń- : Eskimo *Ø-
Uralic *Ø- : Eskimo *n-
Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut number and case markers:[7]
Proto-Uralic | Proto-Eskimo-Aleut | |
---|---|---|
nom./absolutive sing. | Ø | Ø |
dual | *-kə | *k |
plural | *-t | *-t |
locative | *-(kə)na | *-ni |
accusative sing | *-m | – |
plural accusative | *-j/i | *-(ŋ)i |
ablative | *-(kə)tə | *-kənc |
dative/lative | *-kə/-ŋ | *-ŋun |
Possessive suffixes:[10]
Pronoun | Samoyedic | Eskimo-Aleut |
---|---|---|
1sg | *mǝ | *m(ka) |
2sg | *tǝ | *t |
3sg | *sa | *sa |
1pl | *mat | *mǝt |
2pl | *tat | *tǝt |
3pl | *iton | *sat |
Nenets accusative and Eskimo relative possessive affixes[7]
1sg | 2sg | 4sg | 1pl | 2pl | 4pl |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ma | vət/mət | mi | mta | vci/mci | məŋ |
sg1 | 2sg | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
m'i/mə | mtə | mtab | waq/mat | mtaq/mtat | mtoh/mton |
A few potential lexical cognates between Proto-Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut are pointed out in Aikio (2019: 53–54).[11] These are:
Proto-Uralic | Proto-Eskimo |
---|---|
*ila- ‘place under or below’ | *at(ǝ)- ‘down’; *alaq ‘sole’ |
*elä- ‘live’ | *ǝt(ǝ)- ‘be’ |
*tuli- ‘come’ | *tut- ‘arrive, land’; *tulaɣ- |
*kuda ‘morning, dawn’ | *qilaɣ- ‘sky’ |
*kuda- ‘weave’ | *qilaɣ- ‘knit, weave’ |
A regular sound correspondence with Uralic *-l- and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut *-t can be seen.[11]
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.[11]
Some or all of the Eskimo–Uralic families have been included in more extensive groupings of languages, most notably the Eurasiatic languages. 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).[12]
The linguist Frederik Kortlandt (2006:1) asserts that Indo-Uralic (a proposed language family consisting of Uralic and Indo-European) is itself a branch of Eskimo–Uralic and that, furthermore, the Nivkh language also belongs to Eskimo–Uralic. This would make Eskimo–Uralic the proto-language of a much vaster language family.[13] Kortlandt (2006:3) considers that Eskimo–Uralic and Altaic (defined by him as consisting of Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic, Korean, and Japanese) may be coordinate branches of the Eurasiatic language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg.[14]
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)
Language families of Eurasia | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Europe | |||||||
West Asia |
| ||||||
Caucasus | |||||||
South Asia | |||||||
East Asia | |||||||
Indian Ocean rim | |||||||
North Asia |
| ||||||
Proposed groupings |
| ||||||
Substrata |
| ||||||
|