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28-560: Arutani is one of the most poorly attested extant languages in South America, and may be a language isolate . Existing data is limited to a 1911 word list by Koch-Grünberg (1928: 308-313), a 1940 word list by Armellada & Matallana (1942: 101-110), and a 100-item Swadesh list by Migliazza (1978). There is also an unpublished Swadesh list by Fèlix Cardona i Puig from the 1930s-1940s, as well as an unpublished 200-item Swadesh list by Walter Coppens from 1970. Traditionally, Arutani

56-489: A common ancestral language. This is what makes up a language family , which is a set of languages for which sufficient evidence exists to demonstrate that they descend from a single ancestral language and are therefore genetically related. For example, English is related to other Indo-European languages and Mandarin Chinese is related to other Sino-Tibetan languages . By this criterion, each language isolate constitutes

84-882: A dozen sign languages of the hill tribes in Thailand including the Ban Khor Sign Language . These and more are all presumed isolates or small local families, because many deaf communities are made up of people whose hearing parents do not use sign language, and have manifestly, as shown by the language itself, not borrowed their sign language from other deaf communities during the recorded history of these languages. Some languages once seen as isolates may be reclassified as small families because their genetic relationship to other languages has been established. This happened with Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , Korean and Koreanic languages , Atakapa and Akokisa languages , Tol and Jicaque of El Palmar languages, and

112-446: A family of its own. In some situations, a language with no ancestor can arise. This frequently happens with sign languages —most famously in the case of Nicaraguan Sign Language , where deaf children with no language were placed together and developed a new language. Caution is required when speaking of extinct languages as language isolates. Despite their great age, Sumerian and Elamite can be safely classified as isolates, as

140-450: A few remaining native speakers, with no new acquisition, highly restricted use, and near-universal multilingualism. "Extinct" languages have no native speakers, but are sufficiently documented to be classified as isolates. With few exceptions, all of Africa's languages have been gathered into four major phyla: Afroasiatic , Niger–Congo , Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan . However, the genetic unity of some language families, like Nilo-Saharan ,

168-526: A language previously considered an isolate may no longer be considered one, as happened with the Yanyuwa language of northern Australia , which has been placed in the Pama–Nyungan family. Since linguists do not always agree on whether a genetic relationship has been demonstrated, it is often disputed whether a language is an isolate. A genetic relationship is when two different languages are descended from

196-589: A language to classify it as either a language isolate or as a part of another language family. Unclassified languages are different from language isolates in that they have no demonstrable genetic relationships to other languages due to a lack of sufficient data. In order to be considered a language isolate, a language needs to have sufficient data for comparisons with other languages through methods of historical-comparative linguistics to show that it does not have any genetic relationships. Many extinct languages and living languages today are very poorly attested, and

224-537: Is a critically endangered language . The anthropologist John Bradley has worked with the Yanyuwa people for three decades and is also a speaker of Yanyuwa. He has produced a large dictionary and grammar of the language, along with a cultural atlas in collaboration with a core group of senior men and women. Yanyuwa is extremely unusual in having 7 places of articulation for stops , compared to 3 for English and 4–6 for most other Australian languages . Also unusual

252-430: Is going to the fire to cook food. Another set of vocabulary is used during ceremonies and other ritual occasions. Many of the words used in ritual speech are sacred and kept secret. For example, a dingo is usually referred to as wardali , but during ritual occasions, the word used is yarrarriwira . That is one ritual term which is known to the general public, as are some other terms for flora and fauna. When on

280-665: Is questionable, and so there may be many more language families and isolates than currently accepted. Data for several African languages, like Kwisi , are not sufficient for classification. In addition, Jalaa , Shabo , Laal , Kujargé , and a few other languages within Nilo-Saharan and Afroasiatic -speaking areas may turn out to be isolates upon further investigation. Defaka and Ega are highly divergent languages located within Niger–Congo -speaking areas, and may also possibly be language isolates. Current research considers that

308-536: Is the Nicaraguan Sign Language , a well documented case of what has happened in schools for the deaf in many countries. In Tanzania, for example, there are seven schools for the deaf, each with its own sign language with no known connection to any other language. Sign languages have also developed outside schools, in communities with high incidences of deafness, such as Kata Kolok in Bali, and half

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336-419: Is the fact that Yanyuwa has no voiceless phoneme , as all its consonants are voiced (vowels are by default voiced, as is the norm in most languages). Yanyuwa has 16 noun classes , distinguished by prefixes. In some cases, different prefixes are used, depending on whether the speaker is a male or a female. Yanyuwa is unusual among languages of the world in that it has separate dialects for men and for women at

364-643: Is the language of the Yanyuwa people of the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria outside Borroloola ( Yanyuwa : Burrulula ) in the Northern Territory , Australia. Yanyuwa, like many other Australian Aboriginal languages , is a highly agglutinative language with ergative-absolutive alignment , whose grammar is pervaded by a set of 16 noun classes whose agreements are complicated and numerous. Yanyuwa

392-461: Is yet unknown due to insufficient data on several languages. One explanation for the existence of language isolates is that they might be the last remaining member of a larger language family, said language possibly could have had relatives in the past that have since disappeared without being documented leaving it an orphaned language much like the Ket language spoken in central Siberia who belongs to

420-472: The "Papuasphere" centered in New Guinea includes as many as 37 isolates. (The more is known about these languages in the future, the more likely it is for these languages to be later assigned to a known language family.) To these, one must add several isolates found among non- Pama-Nyungan languages of Australia : Yanyuwa language Yanyuwa ( Yanyuwa pronunciation: [jaṉuwa] )

448-453: The Máku , Sape , Warao , Tikuna-Yuri , and Tukano language families due to contact. Lexical similarities with Tucanoan languages are mostly cultural loanwords. Arutani and Tucanoan languages also have completely different pronominal systems, and sound correspondences are irregular. Thus, similarities between them can be attributed to contact with Eastern Tucanoan. Loukotka (1968) lists

476-490: The Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands , which is part of Yanyuwa territory, another set of vocabulary may be used to replace the terms used when on the mainland. There is more variance about the usage of island speech than the other speech styles. For example, on the mainland, fishing is referred to as wardjangkayarra , but on the islands, the word used is akarimantharra . Dixon (2002), who rejects

504-537: The Xincan Guatemala language family in which linguists have grouped the Chiquimulilla , Guazacapán , Jumaytepeque , and Yupiltepeque languages. Below is a list of known language isolates, arranged by continent, along with notes on possible relations to other languages or language families. The status column indicates the degree of endangerment of the language, according to the definitions of

532-622: The morphological level. The only time that men use the women's dialect is if they are quoting someone of the opposite sex and vice versa. An example of this speech is provided below: nya- buyi buyi nya- ardu ardu kiwa- wingka ka- wingka waykaliya waykaliya wulangindu wulangindu kanyilu- kala kila- kala nyikunya- baba. nyiku- baba. (woman) (man) nya- buyi nya- ardu kiwa- wingka waykaliya wulangindu kanyilu- kala nyikunya- baba. buyi ardu ka- wingka waykaliya wulangindu kila- kala nyiku- baba. The little boy went down to

560-604: The UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger . "Vibrant" languages are those in full use by speakers of every generation, with consistent native acquisition by children. "Vulnerable" languages have a similarly wide base of native speakers, but a restricted use and the long-term risk of language shift . "Endangered" languages are either acquired irregularly or spoken only by older generations. "Moribund" languages have only

588-678: The fact that they cannot be linked to other languages may be a reflection of our poor knowledge of them. Hattic , Gutian , and Kassite are all considered unclassified languages, but their status is disputed by a minority of linguists. Many extinct languages of the Americas such as Cayuse and Majena may likewise have been isolates. Several unclassified languages could also be language isolates, but linguists cannot be sure of this without sufficient evidence. A number of sign languages have arisen independently, without any ancestral language, and thus are language isolates. The most famous of these

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616-829: The following basic vocabulary items for Auaké. Language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America , Tiwi in Australia and Burushaski in Pakistan are all examples of such languages. The exact number of language isolates

644-576: The form of different affixes to usual speech, but generally, it is simply a change in vocabulary. For example, a digging stick is usually referred to as na-wabija , but when talking to one of the above relatives, the word used is na-wulungkayangu . An example of avoidance speech is given below: Ja-wingkayi Ja-wuynykurninji ki-buyukalu ki-bujibujilu wubanthawu runungkawu ma-ngarra. ma-wulyarri. (Normal) (Avoidance) Ja-wingkayi ki-buyukalu wubanthawu ma-ngarra. Ja-wuynykurninji ki-bujibujilu runungkawu ma-wulyarri. He

672-527: The languages are well enough documented that, if modern relatives existed, they would be recognizably related. A language thought to be an isolate may turn out to be related to other languages once enough material is recovered, but this is unlikely for extinct languages whose written records have not been preserved. Many extinct languages are very poorly attested, which may lead to them being considered unclassified languages instead of language isolates. This occurs when linguists do not have enough information on

700-570: The river and saw his brother. The BBC reported in 2018 that there were 3 fluent female speakers worldwide. In Yanyuwa, certain words have synonyms used to replace the everyday term in certain cultural situations. Avoidance speech is speech style used when talking to or near certain relatives: one's siblings and cousins of the opposite sex, one's brother-in-law, sister-in-law, father-in-law and mother-in-law, and one's nieces and nephews if their father (for male speakers) or their mother (for female speakers) has died. Occasionally, avoidance speech takes

728-636: The standard to be seen as different languages. Examples include Japanese and Georgian : Japanese is now part of the Japonic language family with the Ryukyuan languages , and Georgian is the main language in the Kartvelian language family. There is a difference between language isolates and unclassified languages , but they can be difficult to differentiate when it comes to classifying extinct languages . If such efforts eventually do prove fruitful,

756-644: The wider Yeniseian language family, had it been discovered in recent times independently from its now extinct relatives such as Yugh and Kott it would have been classified as an isolate. Another explanation for language isolates is that they arose independently in isolation and thus do not share a common linguistic genesis with any other language but themselves. This explanation mostly applies to sign languages that have developed independently of other spoken or signed languages. Some languages once seen as isolates may be reclassified as small families if some of their dialects are judged to be sufficiently different from

784-645: Was spoken along the Paragua River and Uraricaá River in southern Venezuela and the northern tip of Roraima , Brazil. Ethnic Arutani also speak Ninam (Shirián), since they now mostly live in Ninam villages. The remaining speakers of Arutani are found in the following Ninam villages. According to Loukotka (1968), it was once spoken on the southern banks of Maracá Island in the Rio Branco area. Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with

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