Uralo-Siberian languages

Uralo-Siberian
(hypothetical)
Geographic distribution	Northern Eurasia, the Arctic
Linguistic classification	Proposed language family
Subdivisions	Uralic Yukaghir Eskimo–Aleut (formerly also Chukotko-Kamchatkan) Nivkh?
Glottolog	None

Uralo-Siberian is a hypothetical language family consisting of Uralic, Yukaghir, Eskimo–Aleut, possibly Nivkh and formerly Chukotko-Kamchatkan. It was proposed in 1998 by Michael Fortescue, an expert in Eskimo–Aleut and Chukotko-Kamchatkan, in his book Language Relations across Bering Strait. In 2011, Fortescue removed Chukotko-Kamchatkan from the proposal.^[1]

History[]

Structural similarities between Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut languages were observed early. In 1746, the Danish theologian  [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. In 1962, Morris Swadesh proposed a relationship between the Eskimo–Aleut and Chukotko-Kamchatkan language families. 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".

Michael Fortescue (2017) presents, besides new linguistic evidence, also several genetic studies, that support a common origin of the included groups, with a suggested homeland in Northeast Asia.^[2]

Typology[]

Fortescue (1998, pp. 60–95) surveys 44 typological markers and argues that a typological profile uniquely identifying the language families proposed to comprise the Uralo-Siberian family can be established. The Uralo-Siberian hypothesis is rooted in the assumption that this distinct typological profile was, rather than an areal profile common to four unrelated language families, the profile of a single language ancestral to all four: Proto-Uralo-Siberian.

Phonology

• A single, voiceless series of stop consonants.
  • Voiced stops such as /d/ occur in the Indo-European, Yeniseian, Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic, Japonic and Sino-Tibetan languages. They have also later arisen in several branches of Uralic.
  • Aspirated stops such as /tʰ/ occur in Korean, Nivkh, Na-Dene, Haida, etc.
  • Ejective stops such as /tʼ/ occur in Na-Dene, Haida, Salishan, Tsimshian, etc.
• A series of voiced non-sibilant fricatives, including /ð/, which lack voiceless counterparts such as /θ/.
  • Original non-sibilant fricatives are absent from most other languages of Eurasia. Voiceless fricatives prevail over voiced ones in most of northern America. Both voiced and voiceless fricatives occur in Nivkh.
• Primary palatal or palatalized consonants such as /ɲ ~ nʲ/, /ʎ ~ lʲ/.
• The occurrence of a rhotic consonant /r/.
  • Found in most other language families of northern Eurasia as well; however, widely absent from languages of northern America.
• Consonant clusters are absent word-initially and word-finally, but present word-medially.
  • A feature shared with most 'Altaic' languages. Contrasts with the presence of abundant consonant clusters in Nivkh, as well as in the Indo-European and Salishan languages.
• Canonically bisyllabic word roots, with the exception of pronouns.
  • Contrasts with canonically monosyllabic word roots in Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Yeniseian, Na-Dene, Haida, Tsimshian, Wakashan, Salishan, etc. Some secondarily monosyllabic word roots have developed in Aleut and multiple Uralic languages, and they predominate in Itelmen.
• Word-initial stress.

Morphology

• Exclusively suffixal morphology.
  • Contrasts particularly with Yeniseian and Na-Dene.
• Accusative case, genitive case and at least three local cases.
• singular, plural and dual number.
• The absence of adjectives and adverbs as morphologically distinct parts of speech.
• Evidentiality marking.
• Indicative markers based on participles.
• Possessive suffixes.

Syntax

• The presence of a copula, used as an auxiliary verb.
• Negation expressed by an auxiliary verb (known as a negative verb)
• Subordinate clauses based on non-finite verb forms.

None of the four families shows all of these 17 features; ranging from 12 reconstructible in Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan to 16 in Proto-Uralic. Frequently the modern-day descendant languages have diverged further from this profile — particularly Itelmen, for which Fortescue assumes substrate influence from a language typologically more alike to the non-Uralo-Siberian languages of the region.

Several more widely spread typologically significant features may also instead represent contact influence, according to Fortescue (1998):

• Primary uvular consonants are absent from Uralic, but can be found in Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Eskimo-Aleut. They are also present in Yukaghir, though are likely to be of secondary origin there (as also in the Uralic Selkup, as well as a large number of Turkic languages). They are, however, firmly entrenched in the non-Uralo-Siberian languages of northernmost Eurasia, including Yeniseian, Nivkh, Na-Dene, Haida, Salishan, etc. Fortescue suggests that the presence of uvulars in CK and EA may, then, represent an ancient areal innovation acquired from the earlier, "pre-Na-Dene" languages of Beringia.

Evidence[]

Morphology[]

Apparently shared elements of Uralo-Siberian morphology include the following:

*-t	plural
*-k	dual
*m-	1st person
*t-	2nd person
*ka	interrogative pronoun
*-n	genitive case

Proponents of the Nostratic hypothesis consider these apparent correspondences to be evidence in support of the proposed larger Nostratic family.

Lexicon[]

Fortescue (1998) lists 94 lexical correspondence sets with reflexes in at least three of the four language families, and even more shared by two of the language families. Examples are *ap(p)a 'grandfather', *kað'a 'mountain' and many others.

Below are some lexical items reconstructed to Proto-Uralo-Siberian, along with their reflexes in Proto-Uralic, Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan (sometimes ), and Proto-Eskimo–Aleut (sometimes Proto-Eskimo or Aleut). (Source: Fortescue 1998:152–158.)

Proto-Uralo-Siberian	Proto-Uralic	Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan	Proto-Eskimo–Aleut
*aj(aɣ)- 'push forward'	*aja- 'drive, chase'	*aj-tat- 'chase, herd' (PC)	*ajaɣ- 'push, thrust at with pole'
*ap(p)a 'grandfather'	*appe 'father in law'	*æpæ 'grandfather'	*ap(p)a 'grandfather'
*el(l)ä 'not'	*elä 'not'	*ællæ 'not' (PC)	*-la(ɣ)- 'not' (A)
*pit(uɣ)- 'tie up'	*pitV- 'tie' (FU)	*pət- 'tie up'	*pətuɣ- 'tie up'
*toɣə- 'take'	*toɣe- 'bring, take, give' (FU)	*teɣiŋrə- 'pull out'	*teɣu- 'take' (PE)

Regular sound correspondences[]

These sound correspondences with Yukaghir were suggested in Fortescue (1998):^[3]

Yukaghir	Proto-Eskimo-Aleut
l/l’	Ø-/-l-
-nt	-t-/-n
-nc’-	-t-
-ŋk-	-k-
-mp-	-p-
w	Ø-/-v-
j	Ø-/-y-
-ɣ-	-ɣ-/-R- (and -k-/-q-)
-r-	-l/ð-

Yukaghir and Uralic:^[4]

Uralic	Yukaghir
kk	k
tt	t/δ
pp	p
mp	pp

Uralic	EA[5][6][7]
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

Examples of proposed regular sound correspondences:^[8]

Uralic *t- : Eskimo *t- (before a Uralic back vowel)

Proto-Uralic *tolɨ- ‘come’

Proto-Eskimo *tulaɣ- ‘to land'

Proto-Finno-Ugric *toxi- ‘bring’

Proto-Eskimo *təkit- ‘arrive'

Proto-Uralic *tumti- ‘know’

Proto-Eskimo *tucaʀ- ‘understand’

Proto-Finno-Ugric *tålå ‘shelter’

Proto-Eskimo *talu(-) ‘screen or partition’

Uralic *t- : Eskimo *c- (before a Uralic front vowel)

Proto-Finno-Ugric *täwi ‘full’

Proto-Eskimo *ciləɣ- ‘be full’

Proto-Finno-Ugric *teki- ‘do’

Proto-Eskimo *caɣiqə- ‘make an effort’

Uralic *ń- : Eskimo *Ø-

Proto-Uralic *ńåxlɨ- ‘lick’

Proto-Eskimo *aluɣ- ‘lick’

Uralic *Ø- : Eskimo *n-

Proto-Finno-Ugric *äktä ‘cut’

Proto-Eskimo *naɣci(t)- ‘catch on bottom’

Proto-Finno-Ugric *uwå ‘stream’

Proto-Eskimo *nuvaɣ ‘saliva’

Vocabulary[]

Vocabulary:^[3][9]

Proto-Yukagir	Proto-Eskimo-Aleut
aka 'elder brother'	akkak 'uncle'
al 'below'	atə 'below'
amlə 'swallow'	ama 'suckle'
aŋa 'mouth'	aŋ-va- 'open'
carqə- 'bent'	caqə- 'turn, move away'
cowinə 'spear'	caviɣ 'knife'
kin 'who'	kina 'who'
ləɣ- 'eat'	iɣa- 'swallow'
mel 'breast'	məluɣ 'breast'
qar 'skin' 'cover'	qaðə 'surface of something'
um 'close'	uməɣ 'close'
n’ə 'get'	nəɣ 'get'
para 'origin'	paðə 'opening'
ta 'that'	ta 'that'
ŋōlā 'become'	-ŋŋuR 'become'
puɣö 'heat, sun'	puqla ‘heat, hot water’
u:- ‘roast, fry’	uɣu- ‘be cooked, heated up’
l’ə- ‘be’	-li- ‘become’
emä ‘mother’	PY əma ‘grandmother’
an- ‘speak’	anəR- ‘breathe (out)’
jeŋkilə ‘fire’	ək-nəR ‘fire’
ci:daɣa ‘ground squirrel’	cikðiɣ ‘(ground) squirrel’
n’e:- ‘call, tell’	nəpə ‘sound, voice’

Uralic	Eskimo-Aleut[7]
ila 'under'	at(ǝ) 'down
elä 'live'	ǝt(ǝ) 'be'
tuli 'come'	tut 'arrive,land'
kuda 'morning, dawn'	qilaɣ 'sky'
ke 'who'	kina 'who'
to 'that'	ta 'that'
kuda 'weave'	qilaɣ 'weave'

The meanings 'weave' and 'morning' are most likely unrelated, which means that these are instances of coincidental homonymy, which only very rarely happens by chance^{[citation needed]}, which means that some kind of contact most likely happened, but exact conclusions cannot be drawn with modern information.^[7]

Proto-Uralic	Proto-Yukaghir
käliw 'sibling-in-law'	käli
wanča 'root'	wanča
iś/ća 'father'	iśa
lunta 'bird'	lunta
toxi- 'to bring'	toxi
ela 'under'	ola

Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut number and case markers[]

Proto-Uralic and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut number and case markers:^[6]

	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

Yukaghir and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut verbal and nominal inflections[]

Yukaghir and Proto-Eskimo-Aleut verbal and nominal inflections:^[3]

	Yukaghir	Eskimo-Aleut
trans. 1s	ŋ	ŋa
3pl	ŋi	ŋi
3 poss.	ntə	n
vialis	*-(n)kən	*-(n)kən
Abl	*-(n)kət	m/n)əɣ
all	(ŋi)n’	-(m/n)un / ŋus/-ŋun
adv. loc./lative	nə	nə

Possessive suffixes[]

Possessive suffixes:^[10]

	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^[6]

Eskimo relative (singular. possessum)

1sg	2sg	4sg	1pl	2pl	4pl
ma	vət/mət	mi	mta	vci/mci	məŋ

Nenets accusative (singular. possessum)

sg1	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
m'i/mə	mtə	mtab	waq/mat	mtaq/mtat	mtoh/mton

Nivkh[]

Fortescue did not consider Nivkh a part of Uralo-Siberian, however, Frederik Kortlandt considers Nivkh part of Uralo-Siberian, as well as Indo-Uralic: some evidences for the relationship are: Uralic participle *-pa and Nivkh Gerund: *-pa. The pronouns *mi, *ti compared to Nivkh: n´i and či.^[11]

Chukotko-Kamchatkan[]

Fortescue at first included Chukotko-Kamchatkan in the family, but later concluded that the similarities are due to mutual influence. Fortescue also said that Chukotko-Kamchatkan has more similarities with Nivkh.^[12]

Similarities[]

Pronouns in EA and CK^[13]

Person	EA	CK
1s	(t)ŋa/ka	kəm
1d	kuɣ	mək
1p	kut/vut	mət
2s	n/t/tən/kən	kəð
2d	ðəɣ, təɣ	tək
2p	ði/ci	turi

Uralic-Chukotko-Kamchatkan proposed cognates^[14]

CK	Uralic
ajtat 'chase'	aja 'drive, chase'
ajval 'wind side'	saja 'shelter'
ajwa 'brain	ojwa 'head'
ær 'flow out'	sarV 'current'
jæɣ 'foot'	jalka 'foot, leg'
jət 'go for'	juta 'go'
kəɣwa 'dry up'	kuiva 'dry' (Finnish)
tava 'crush'	tappa 'hit'
tæjkə 'do, make'	teke 'do'
təlvə 'burn'	tule 'fire'
təlæ 'go'	tule 'come'
wəltə 'close together'	welje 'brother'

Proposed Nivkh-Chukotko-Kamchatkan cognates

Nivkh	CK
aui 'mouth'	æw 'get a hole'
kama 'run'	kame 'move around'
juty 'pour'	jit 'drip'
poju 'smoke' (verb)	pujæ 'cook on hot stones in pit'
t'am 'stay calm'	təmɣə 'stay still, calm'
uige 'no'	ujŋæ 'no'

Proto-language[]

Proto-Uralo-Siberian lexical reconstructions by Michael Fortescue (2011) are:^{[1]: 152–159}

Proto-Uralo-Siberian	Meaning
*aj(aɣ)-	push forward
*al(a)/*ïl(a)	below
*am(u)-	scoop up
*an’a	older female relative
*aŋə	opening
*ap(p)a/*ïp(p)ï	grandfather
*äk(k)ä	male relative (of father)
*än(ə)-/*an(əɣ)-	breathe
*ciɣ(uɣ)/*cuɣ(uɣ)	sand
*el(ä)-	be, exist
*el(l)ä	not
*emä	mother
*ilu-	move
*imə(ɣ)-	suck (breast)
*jav(a)	way over there, behind
*jeləɣ-	burn
*joŋk(əɣ)-	nose, tip
*jutə(ɣ)-	go (in)to
*ka/*ko	what
*kað’a	mountain
*kanə-	go off
*kan(iɣ)	cold, winter
*kälə-	wade across
*käl(uɣ)-	lace up
*käm(əɣ)-	hard, strong
*käm(əɣ)	footwear
*keðe(ɣ)	warmth, summer
*kerə/*korə	skin
*ki	who
*kiɣ(aɣ)-	perforate
*koj(ra)	male animal
*kuð’(ə)/*kul’(ə)	above, cover
*kule-	make sound
*kumə-	flow
*kunta	fellow(s), tribe
*kurə(ɣ)-	tie
*le-	become
*lepa-/*lempa-	flap
*lep(p)ə	oar
*lup(sa)	liquid
*mal(iɣ)/*mïl(iɣ)	wave
*mäkə-	go up
*mäl(kə)	chest
*me	here, this
*menə-	go
*mi	what
*muɣə-	roam
*na/*nä	this
*naj(aɣ)	girl
*nimə	name, call
*n’ar(u)	skin with hair removed
*n’ik(a)-	bend down
*n’om(əɣ)-	squeeze, roll up
*o(w)-	this, that
*oj(wa)	head, neck
*ol(u)	cheek, jaw
*paŋkiɣ-	grasp
*pat’k(ə)-	penetrate
*päŋə	top
*pejə(ɣ)-/*pojə(ɣ)-	cook, steam
*pel(ju)	leaf or ear
*pel(aɣ)-	cut up, flense
*pit(uɣ)-	tie up
*poŋkə	hillock
*pura-	go in
*puwə-/*puɣə-	swell
*sac’(c’)a(ɣ)-	paternal aunt
*saɣə-	come, go
*sarə-	flow down or out
*seɣə-	eat
*soŋə-	get into/*onto s.th.
*sula-	thaw
*s’akə-/*s’äkə-	freeze
*s’ap(p)ə-	hack
*s’äŋkə-	break
*s’ep(u)	neck
*s’erä	surroundings, nature
*s’om(eɣ)-	worry, think
*s’up(p)ə-	cut or stab
*ta	that
*tap(p)a(ɣ)-	strike
*teŋ(ä)-	fly up
*toɣə-	take
*tuðka	tip
*tuɣlï/*tiluɣ	wing, feather
*tup(əɣ)-	cover
*t’ant’ə-/*t’unt’ə-	step
*t’ono/*t’eno	back
*uɣ(ə)-/*uj(ə)-	cook over fire
*wejə-	flow
*wel(ja)	thing or person next to
*wen(i)-	stretch skin out to dry
*wolə(ɣ)	knife, cut

Urheimat[]

Fortescue argues that the Uralo-Siberian proto-language (or a complex of related proto-languages) may have been spoken by Mesolithic hunting and fishing people in south-central Siberia (roughly, from the upper Yenisei river to Lake Baikal) between 8000 and 6000 BC, and that the proto-languages of the derived families may have been carried northward out of this homeland in several successive waves down to about 4000 BC, leaving the Samoyedic branch of Uralic in occupation of the Urheimat thereafter.

Relationships[]

Some or all of the four Uralo-Siberian families have been included in more extensive groupings of languages (see links below). Fortescue's hypothesis does not oppose or exclude these various proposals. In particular, he considers that a remote relationship between Uralo-Siberian and Altaic (or some part of Altaic) is likely (see Ural–Altaic languages). However, Fortescue holds that Uralo-Siberian lies within the bounds of the provable, whereas Nostratic may be too remote a grouping to ever be convincingly demonstrated.

The University of Leiden linguist Frederik Kortlandt (2006:1) asserts that Indo-Uralic (a proposed language family consisting of Uralic and Indo-European) is itself a branch of Uralo-Siberian and that, furthermore, the Nivkh language also belongs to Uralo-Siberian. This would make Uralo-Siberian the proto-language of a much vaster language family. Kortlandt (2006:3) considers that Uralo-Siberian 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 but rejected by most linguists.

Bibliography[]

Works cited[]

• Bergsland, Knut (1959). "The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis". Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne. 61: 1–29.
• Fortescue, Michael. 1998. Language Relations across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. London and New York: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-70330-3.
• Kortlandt, Frederik. 2006. "Indo-Uralic and Altaic".
• Swadesh, Morris (1962). "Linguistic relations across the Bering Strait". American Anthropologist. 64 (6): 1262–1291. doi:10.1525/aa.1962.64.6.02a00090.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Blažek, Václav. 2006. "Chukcho-Kamchatkan and Uralic: lexical evidence of their genetic relationship". In: Orientalia et Classica XI. Aspects of Comparativistics 2, pp. 197–212. Moscow.
• Georg, Stefan; Seefloth, Uwe 2020. "Uralo-Eskimo?".
• Greenberg, Joseph H (2000). "Review of Michael Fortescue, Language Relations across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence.". Review of Archaeology. 21 (2): 23–24.
• Künnap, A. 1999. Indo-European-Uralic-Siberian Linguistic and Cultural Contacts. Tartu, Estonia: University of Tartu, Division of Uralic Languages.
• Seefloth, Uwe (2000). "Die Entstehung polypersonaler Paradigmen im Uralo-Sibirischen". Zentralasiatische Studien. 30: 163–191.

See also[]

• Haplogroup N-M231
• Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan language
• Proto-Uralic language
• Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas
• Linguistic areas of the Americas

Related language family proposals[]

• Eskimo–Uralic languages
• Eurasiatic languages
• Indo-Uralic languages
• Nostratic languages
• Ural–Altaic languages
• Uralic–Yukaghir languages
• Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric languages
• Sino-Uralic languages

External links[]

• Linguist List post about Uralo-Eskimo grammar as reconstructed by Uwe Seefloth, who finds Uralic and Eskimo–Aleut to be each other's closest relatives within Uralo-Siberian
  • Discussion of the above and comparisons to Indo-European
  • More discussion of the above
• "Nivkh as a Uralo-Siberian language" by Frederik Kortlandt (2004)
• "Chukcho-Kamchatkan and Uralic: Evidence of their genetic relationship"^{[dead link]} by Václav Blažek (2006)