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55-666: In February 2008, a proposal connecting Na-Dene (excluding Haida) to the Yeniseian languages of central Siberia into a Dené–Yeniseian family was published and well received by a number of linguists. It was proposed in a 2014 paper that the Na-Dene languages of North America and the Yeniseian languages of Siberia had a common origin in a language spoken in Beringia , between the two continents. Edward Sapir originally constructed

110-518: A clade with Sino-Tibetan, which he called Sino-Yeniseian . The Sino-Caucasian hypothesis has been expanded by others to " Dené–Caucasian " to include the Na-Dené languages of North America, Burushaski , Basque and, occasionally, Etruscan . A narrower binary Dené–Yeniseian family has recently been well received. The validity of the rest of the family, however, is viewed as doubtful or rejected by nearly all historical linguists . A link between

165-435: A language isolate . In order to emphasise the exclusion of Haida, Campbell refers to the language family as Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit rather than Na-Dene . In 2010 Jeff Leer published extensive primary materials on what he calls PAET (Proto-Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit). In 2008, Edward Vajda of Western Washington University presented evidence suggesting that the Na-Dene languages (Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit) might be related to

220-597: A back-migration from Beringia to central Siberia, and the Dené–Yeniseians a result of a radiation of populations out of the Bering land bridge. The spread of ancient Yeniseian languages may be associated with an ancestry component from the Baikal area (Cisbaikal_LNBA), maximized among hunter-gatherers of the local Glazkovo culture . Affinity for this ancestry has been observed among Na-Dene speakers. Cisbaikal_LNBA ancestry

275-412: A combination of three distinct classes of morphemes and are not found in any other Native American language family. The phoneme system contains a large number of dorsal (velar or uvular) consonants (fronting in many modern Athabaskan languages to palatals and velars, correspondingly) as well as a general absence of labial obstruents (except where /b/ has arisen from *w). In the historical phonology there

330-520: A connection between Hattic , Hurro-Urartian and Karasuk, proposing some lexical correspondences. As noted by Tailleur and Werner, some of the earliest proposals of genetic relations of Yeniseian, by M.A. Castrén (1856), James Byrne (1892), and G.J. Ramstedt (1907), suggested that Yeniseian was a northern relative of the Sino–Tibetan languages. These ideas were followed much later by Kai Donner and Karl Bouda. A 2008 study found further evidence for

385-503: A family of languages that are spoken by the Yeniseian people in the Yenisei River region of central Siberia . As part of the proposed Dené–Yeniseian language family , the Yeniseian languages have been argued to be part of "the first demonstration of a genealogical link between Old World and New World language families that meets the standards of traditional comparative - historical linguistics ". The only surviving language of

440-612: A link between Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dené, and Yeniseian to be plausible but did not support the hypothesis that Sino-Tibetan and Na-Dené were related to the Caucasian languages (Sino–Caucasian and Dené–Caucasian). A 2023 analysis by David Bradley using the standard techniques of comparative linguistics supports a distant genetic link between the Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dené, and Yeniseian language families. Bradley argues that any similarities Sino-Tibetan shares with other language families of

495-442: A number of other respected linguists, such as Bernard Comrie , Johanna Nichols , Victor Golla , Michael Fortescue , Eric Hamp , and Bill Poser (Kari and Potter 2010:12). One significant exception is the critical review of the volume of collected papers by Lyle Campbell and a response by Vajda published in late 2011 that clearly indicate the proposal is not completely settled at the present time. Two other reviews and notices of

550-520: A number of other well-known linguists, including Bernard Comrie , Johanna Nichols , Victor Golla, Michael Fortescue , and Eric Hamp . The conclusion of this seminar was that the comparison with Yeniseic data shows that Haida cannot be classified in a genealogical unit with Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit. A link between the Na–Dené languages and Sino-Tibetan languages, known as Sino–Dené was proposed by Edward Sapir . Around 1920 Sapir became convinced that Na-Dené

605-411: A possible relation between Yeniseian and Sino–Tibetan, citing several possible cognates . Gao Jingyi (2014) identified twelve Sinitic and Yeniseian shared etymologies that belonged to the basic vocabulary, and argued that these Sino-Yeniseian etymologies could not be loans from either language into the other. The Sino-Caucasian hypothesis of Sergei Starostin posits that the Yeniseian languages form

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660-507: Is a wide-spread Athabaskan term for “person, people”; the element *-ne ( *-n , *-η ) which forms part of it is an old stem for “person, people” which, as suffix or prefix, is frequently used in Athabaskan in that sense. It is cognate with H. [= Haida] na "to dwell; house" and Tl. [= Tlingit] na “people”. The compound term Na-dene thus designates by means of native stems the speakers of the three languages concerned, besides continuing

715-503: Is a widespread tendency, observable across many Athabaskan languages, for phonemic tonal distinctions to arise from glottal features originally found at the end of the syllable. The glottal features in question are often evident in Eyak or Tlingit. These languages are typologically unusual in containing extensive prefixation yet being SOV and postpositional, features normally associated with suffixing languages. A genealogical connection between

770-477: Is inferred to be rich in Ancient Paleo-Siberian ancestry, and also display affinity to Inner Northeast Asian (Yumin-like) groups. In Siberia, Edward Vajda observed that Yeniseian hydronyms in the circumpolar region (the recent area of distribution of Yeniseian languages) clearly overlay earlier systems, with the layering of morphemes onto Ugric, Samoyedic, Turkic, and Tungusic place names. It

825-655: Is one of the three main groups of Native languages spoken in the Americas. Contemporary supporters of Greenberg's theory, such as Merritt Ruhlen , have suggested that the Na-Dené language family represents a distinct migration of people from Asia into the New World that occurred six to eight thousand years ago, placing it around four thousand years later than the previous migration into the Americas by Amerind speakers; this remains an unproven hypothesis. Ruhlen speculates that

880-1037: Is presented below: Georg 2007 and Hölzl 2018 use a slightly different classification, placing Pumpokol in both branches: A more recent classification, introduced in Fortescue and Vajda 2022 and used in Vajda 2024, is presented below: It has been suggested that the Xiongnu and Hunnic languages were Southern Yeniseian. Only two languages of this family survived into the 20th century: Ket (also known as Imbat Ket ), with around 200 speakers, and Yugh (also known as Sym Ket ), now extinct. The other known members of this family—Arin, Assan, Pumpokol, and Kott—have been extinct for over 150 years. Other groups—the Baikot , Yarin ( Buklin ), Yastin , Ashkyshtym (Bachat Teleuts ), and Koibalkyshtym —are identifiable as Yeniseic speaking from tsarist fur-tax records compiled during

935-647: Is the author of 25 books and 200+ articles; two of his books ( American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America and Historical Syntax in Cross-Linguistic Perspectives , co-written with Alice C. Harris ) were awarded the Leonard Bloomfield Book Award by the Linguistic Society of America for the best book in linguistics published in the previous two years. He is also co-founder of

990-483: Is therefore proposed that the homeland, or dispersal point, of the Yeniseian languages lies in the boreal region between Lake Baikal, northern Mongolia, and the Upper Yenisei basin, referred to by Vajda as a territory "abandoned" by the original Yeniseian speakers. On the other hand, Václav Blažek (2019) argues that based on hydronomic evidence, Yeneisian languages were originally spoken on the northern slopes of

1045-686: Is thought to have occurred around 1,000 years ago, resulting in the settlement of southern North America. This phonological chart shows where the listed varieties have sounds which are the same, similar, and sometimes different. The sounds shown, obstruents , are a particular class of consonants. Where similarities are found between one or more varieties, this presents at least some evidence of genetic relatedness among those varieties. Table notes: Yeniseian languages The Yeniseian languages ( / ˌ j ɛ n ɪ ˈ s eɪ ə n / YEN -ih- SAY -ən ; sometimes known as Yeniseic , Yeniseyan , or Yenisei-Ostyak ; occasionally spelled with - ss -) are

1100-493: Is very controversial or viewed as doubtful or rejected by other linguists. Lyle Campbell Lyle Richard Campbell (born October 22, 1942) is an American scholar and linguist known for his studies of indigenous American languages , especially those of Central America , and on historical linguistics in general. Campbell is professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa . Lyle Campbell

1155-592: The American Southwest as far as northern Mexico . The southwestern division of Athabaskan is also called Southern Athabaskan or Apachean , and includes Navajo and all the Apache languages. Eyak was spoken in south-central Alaska; the last first language speaker died in 2008. Navajo is by far the most widely spoken language of the Na-Dene family, spoken in Arizona , New Mexico , and other regions of

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1210-763: The Kan River . From toponyms it can be seen that Yeniseian populations probably lived in Buryatia , Zabaykalsky , and northern Mongolia . As an example, the toponym ši can be found in Zabaykalsky Krai , which is probably related to the Proto-Yeniseian word *sēs 'river' and likely derives from an undocumented Yeniseian language. Some toponyms that appear Yeniseian extend as far as Heilongjiang . Václav Blažek argues, based on hydronymic data, that Yeniseians were once spread out even farther into

1265-621: The Tianshan and Pamir Mountains before dispersing downstream via the Irtysh River . The modern populations of Yeniseians in central and northern Siberia are thus not indigenous and represent a more recent migration northward. This was noted by Russian explorers during the conquest of Siberia: the Ket are recorded to have been expanding northwards along the Yenisei, from the river Yeloguy to

1320-1176: The University of Canterbury , in Christchurch , New Zealand (1994–2004), the University of Utah (2004–2010), and finally the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (2010–). He has been a visiting professor at Australian National University , Colegio de México , Memorial University , Ohio State University , University of Hamburg , University of Helsinki , National Autonomous University of Mexico , Universidad del País Vasco , University of Turku , and at three universities in Brazil . He has held joint appointments in Linguistics, Anthropology, Behavioral Research, Latin American Studies, and Spanish . Campbell's research and teaching specializations include: historical linguistics, American Indian languages, documentation and revitalization of endangered languages, typology, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology , and Uralic languages. Campbell

1375-637: The Yeniseian (or Yeniseic) languages of Siberia , the only living representative of which is the Ket language . Key evidence by current comparative methodologies includes homologies in verb prefixes and also a systematic correspondence between the distribution of Ket tones and consonant articulations found in Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit. Vajda's paper has been favorably reviewed by several experts on Na-Dene and Yeniseic languages, including Michael Krauss , Jeff Leer, James Kari , and Heinrich Werner, as well as

1430-541: The ergative languages of Eurasia. In 2008, Edward Vajda of Western Washington University presented evidence for a genealogical relation between the Yeniseian languages of Siberia and the Na–Dené languages of North America. At the time of publication (2010), Vajda's proposals had been favorably reviewed by several specialists of Na-Dené and Yeniseian languages—although at times with caution—including Michael Krauss , Jeff Leer , James Kari , and Heinrich Werner , as well as

1485-515: The prefixing verb inflection, and highly complex morphophonology . The Yeniseian languages have been described as having up to four tones or no tones at all. The 'tones' are concomitant with glottalization , vowel length , and breathy voice , not unlike the situation reconstructed for Old Chinese before the development of true tones in Chinese. The Yeniseian languages have highly elaborate verbal morphology . The following table exemplifies

1540-625: The 17th century, but nothing remains of their languages except a few proper names. Ket , the only extant Yeniseian language, is the northernmost known. Historical sources record a contemporaneous northern expansion of the Ket along the Yenisei during the Russian conquest of Siberia. Today, it is mainly spoken in Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai in far northern Siberia, in villages such as Kellog and Sulomay  [ ru ] . Yugh, which only recently faced extinction,

1595-497: The American Southwest. All of these languages share a highly complex prefixing verb structure in which tense and mood markers are interdigitated between subject and object agreement markers. The morphological hallmark of the family is a series of prefixes found directly before the verb root that raise or lower the transitivity of the verb word. These prefixes, traditionally known as "classifiers", derive historically from

1650-494: The East Asia area such as Hmong-Mien, Altaic (which is actually a sprachbund ), Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, Austronesian came through contact; but as there has been no recent contact between Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dené, and Yeniseian language families then any similarities these groups share must be residual. According to Joseph Greenberg 's controversial classification of the languages of Native North America, Na-Dené (including Haida)

1705-517: The East Asia area such as Hmong-Mien, Altaic (which is actually a sprachbund), Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, Austronesian came through contact; but as there has been no recent contact between Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dené, and Yeniseian language families then any similarities these groups share must be residual. Bouda, in various publications in the 1930s through the 1950s, described a linguistic network that (besides Yeniseian and Sino-Tibetan) also included Caucasian , and Burushaski , some forms of which have gone by

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1760-589: The Kureyka, from the 17th century onward. Based on these records, the modern Ket-speaking area appears to represent the very northernmost reaches of Yeniseian migration. The origin of this northward migration from the Mongolian steppe has been connected to the fall of the Xiongnu confederation . It appears from Chinese sources that a Yeniseian group might have been a major part of the heterogeneous Xiongnu tribal confederation, who have traditionally been considered

1815-554: The Na-Dene languages, while mostly closely related to other North American indigenous peoples, derive around 10% of their ancestry from a Siberian source closely related to Koryaks not found in other Native American groups. The contact between the ancestors of Na-Dene speakers and this Siberian group is suggested to have occurred around 9,000-5,500 years ago. The urheimat (origin point of the family) has been suggested to have been in Alaska. A large southward migration of Athabaskan peoples

1870-543: The Na-Dené speakers may have arrived in boats, initially settling near the Haida Gwaii , now in British Columbia , Canada. Bouda, in various publications in the 1930s through the 1950s, described a linguistic network that (besides Yeniseian and Sino-Tibetan) also included Caucasian , and Burushaski , some forms of which have gone by the name of Sino-Caucasian. The works of R. Bleichsteiner and O.G. Tailleur,

1925-462: The Na–Dené languages and Sino-Tibetan languages, known as Sino–Dené had also been proposed by Edward Sapir . Around 1920 Sapir became convinced that Na-Dené was more closely related to Sino-Tibetan than to other American families. Edward Vadja's Dené–Yeniseian proposal renewed interest among linguists such as Geoffrey Caveney (2014) to look into support for the Sino–Dené hypothesis. Caveney considered

1980-537: The Sino–Dené hypothesis. Caveney considered a link between Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dené, and Yeniseian to be plausible but did not support the hypothesis that Sino-Tibetan and Na-Dené were related to the Caucasian languages (Sino–Caucasian and Dené–Caucasian). A 2023 analysis by David Bradley using the standard techniques of comparative linguistics supports a distant genetic link between the Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dené, and Yeniseian language families. Bradley argues that any similarities Sino-Tibetan shares with other language families of

2035-490: The Tlingit, Eyak and Athabaskan languages was suggested early in the 19th century, but not universally accepted until much later. Haida , with 15 fluent speakers (M. Krauss, 1995), was originally linked to Tlingit by Franz Boas in 1894. Both Haida and Tlingit were then connected to Athabaskan by Edward Sapir in 1915. Linguists such as Lyle Campbell (1997) today consider the evidence inconclusive. They have classified Haida as

2090-514: The Xiongnu spoke a Yeniseian language, the Yeniseian languages are thought to have contributed many ubiquitous loanwords to Turkic and Mongolic vocabulary, such as Khan , Tarqan , and the word for 'god', Tengri . This conclusion has primarily been drawn from the analysis of preserved Xiongnu texts in the form of Chinese characters . The classification of the Yeniseian languages has changed from time to time. A traditional classification

2145-464: The ancestors of the Huns and other Northern Asian groups. However, these suggestions are difficult to substantiate due to the paucity of data. Alexander Vovin argues that at least parts of the Xiongnu, possibly its core or ruling class, spoke a Yeniseian language. Positing a higher degree of similarity of Xiongnu to Yeniseian as compared to Turkic, he also praised Stefan Georg 's demonstration of how

2200-399: The basic Yeniseian numerals as well as the various attempts at reconstructing the proto-forms: The following table exemplifies a few basic vocabulary items as well as the various attempts at reconstructing the proto-forms: Until 2008, few linguists had accepted connections between Yeniseian and any other language family, though distant connections have been proposed with most of

2255-401: The development of former affricates to stops , and the use of postpositions or grammatical enclitics as clausal subordinators . Yeniseic nominal enclitics closely approximate the case systems of geographically contiguous families. Despite these similarities, Yeniseian appears to stand out among the languages of Siberia in several typological respects, such as the presence of tone ,

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2310-418: The group today is Ket . From hydronymic and genetic data, it is suggested that the Yeniseian languages were spoken in a much greater area in ancient times, including parts of northern China and Mongolia. It has been further proposed that the recorded distribution of Yeniseian languages from the 17th century onward represents a relatively recent northward migration, and that the Yeniseian urheimat lies to

2365-445: The late Sergei A. Starostin and Sergei L. Nikolayev have sought to confirm these connections. Others who have developed the hypothesis, often expanded to Dené–Caucasian, include J.D. Bengtson, V. Blažek, J.H. Greenberg (with M. Ruhlen ), and M. Ruhlen. George Starostin continues his father's work in Yeniseian, Sino-Caucasian and other fields. This theory is very controversial or viewed as obsolete by other linguists. Speakers of

2420-454: The name of Sino-Caucasian. The works of R. Bleichsteiner and O.G. Tailleur, the late Sergei A. Starostin and Sergei L. Nikolayev have sought to confirm these connections. Others who have developed the hypothesis, often expanded to Dené–Caucasian, include J.D. Bengtson, V. Blažek, J.H. Greenberg (with M. Ruhlen ), and M. Ruhlen. George Starostin continues his father's work in Yeniseian, Sino-Caucasian and other fields. This theory

2475-693: The process demonstrating both a linguistic and geographic proximity between Yeniseian and Jie. The decline of the southern Yeniseian languages during and after the Russian conquest of Siberia has been attributed to language shifts of the Arin and Pumpokol to Khakas or Chulym Tatar , and the Kott and Assan to Khakas. The Yeniseian languages share many contact-induced similarities with the South Siberian Turkic languages , Samoyedic languages , and Evenki . These include long-distance nasal harmony ,

2530-618: The ruling elite of the Huns spoke a Yeniseian language and influenced other languages in the region. One sentence of the language of the Jie , a Xiongnu tribe who founded the Later Zhao state, appears consistent with being a Yeniseian language. Later studies suggest that Jie is closer to Pumpokol than to other Yeniseian languages such as Ket. This has been substantiated with geographical data by Vajda, who states that Yeniseian hydronyms found in northern Mongolia are exclusively Pumpokolic, in

2585-403: The south of Lake Baikal . The Yeniseians have been connected to the Xiongnu confederation , whose ruling elite may have spoken a southern Yeniseian language similar to the now extinct Pumpokol language . The Jie , who ruled the Later Zhao state of northern China, are likewise believed to have spoken a Pumpokolic language based on linguistic and ethnogeographic data. For those who argue

2640-489: The term Na-Dene to refer to a combined family of Athabaskan, Tlingit, and Haida (the existence of the Eyak language was not known to him at the time). In his “The Na-Dene languages: A preliminary report”, he describes how he arrived at the term (Sapir 1915, p. 558): The name that I have chosen for the stock, Na-dene , may be justified by reference to no. 51 of the comparative vocabulary. Dene , in various dialectic forms,

2695-683: The use of the old term Dene for the Athabaskan branch of the stock. In its uncontroversial core, Na-Dene consists of two branches, Tlingit and Athabaskan–Eyak: For linguists who follow Edward Sapir in connecting Haida to the above languages, Haida represents an additional branch, with Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit together forming the other. Dene or Dine (the Athabaskan languages) is a widely distributed group of Native languages spoken by associated peoples in Alberta , British Columbia , Manitoba , Northwest Territories , Nunavut , Saskatchewan , Yukon , Alaska , parts of Oregon , northern California , and

2750-597: The volume appeared in 2011 by Keren Rice and Jared Diamond . The Karasuk hypothesis, linking Yeniseian to Burushaski , has been proposed by several scholars, notably by A.P. Dulson and V.N. Toporov. In 2001, George van Driem postulated that the Burusho people were part of the migration out of Central Asia, that resulted in the Indo-European conquest of the Indus Valley. Alexei Kassian has suggested

2805-538: The west. He compares, for example, the word šet , found in more westerly river names, to Proto-Yeniseian * sēs 'river'. According to a 2016 study, Yeniseian people and their language originated likely somewhere near the Altai Mountains or near Lake Baikal . According to this study, the Yeniseians are linked to Paleo-Eskimo groups. The Yeniseians have also been hypothesised to be representative of

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2860-619: The word Tengri (the Turkic and Mongolic word for 'sky' and later 'god') originated from Proto-Yeniseian tɨŋVr . It has been further suggested that the Yeniseian-speaking Xiongnu elite underwent a language shift to Oghur Turkic while migrating westward, eventually becoming the Huns . However, it has also been suggested that the core of the Hunnic language was a Yeniseian language. Vajda et al. 2013 proposed that

2915-593: Was more closely related to Sino-Tibetan than to other American families. He wrote a series of letters to Alfred Kroeber where he enthusiastically spoke of a connection between Na-Dene and "Indo-Chinese". In 1925, a supporting article summarizing his thoughts, albeit not written by him, entitled "The Similarities of Chinese and Indian Languages", was published in Science Supplements. Edward Vajda's Dené–Yeniseian proposal renewed interest among linguists such as Geoffrey Caveney (2014) to look into support for

2970-514: Was raised in rural Oregon . He received a B.A. in archaeology and anthropology from Brigham Young University in 1966, then an M.A. in linguistics from the University of Washington in 1967, followed by doctoral studies at UCLA , earning a Ph.D. in 1971. Campbell has held appointments at the University of Missouri (1971–1974), the State University of New York at Albany (1974–1989), Louisiana State University (1989–1994),

3025-425: Was spoken from Yeniseysk to Vorogovo , Yartsevo , and the upper Ket River . The early modern distributions of Arin, Pumpokol, Kott, and Assan can be reconstructed. The Arin were north of Krasnoyarsk , whereas the more distantly related Pumpokol was spoken to the north and west of it, along the upper Ket. Kott and Assan, another pair of closely related languages, occupied the area south of Krasnoyarsk, and east to

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