View source for Social:Dené–Caucasian languages

{{Short description|Proposed language family}}

{{Infobox language family
| name = Dené–Caucasian
| acceptance = widely rejected
| region = scattered in [[Earth:Eurasia|Eurasia]] and [[Earth:North America|North America]]
| familycolor = superfamily
| family = Hypothetical language family
| protoname = [[Social:Proto-Dené–Caucasian language|Proto-Dené–Caucasian]]
| child1 = [[Social:Na-Dene languages|Na-Dené]] (including ''Haida'')
| child2 = [[Social:Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian]]
| child3 = [[Social:North Caucasian languages|North Caucasian]]
| child4 = [[Social:Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]]
| child5 = [[Social:Burushaski|Burushaski]]
| child6 = [[Social:Vasconic languages|Vasconic]]
| child7 = [[Social:Tyrsenian languages|Tyrsenian]] (sometimes included)
| child8 = [[Social:Sumerian language|Sumerian]] (sometimes included)
| child9 = [[Social:Algonquian–Wakashan languages|Almosan]] (rarely included)
| glotto = none
| map = Dené-Caucasian.JPG
| mapcaption = 
| ancestor = 
| glottoname = 
| glottorefname = 
| notes = 
}}

'''Dené–Caucasian''' is a proposed [[Social:Language family|language family]] that includes widely-separated language groups spoken in the Northern Hemisphere: [[Social:Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan languages]], [[Social:Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian languages]], [[Social:Burushaski|Burushaski]] and [[Social:North Caucasian languages|North Caucasian languages]] in Asia; Na-Dené languages in North America; and the [[Social:Vasconic languages|Vasconic languages]] from Europe (including [[Biography:Basque language|Basque]]).

A narrower connection specifically between North American Na-Dené and Siberian Yeniseian (the [[Social:Dené–Yeniseian languages|Dené–Yeniseian languages]] hypothesis) was proposed by Edward Vajda in 2008, and has met with some acceptance within the community of professional linguists. The validity of the rest of the family, however, is viewed as doubtful or rejected by nearly all historical linguists.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1gKF9iWqt0gC&q=%22sino-austronesian%22+%22sino-caucasian%22&pg=RA1-PT151 |title = Past Human Migrations in East Asia: Matching Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics|isbn = 9781134149629|last1 = Sanchez-Mazas|first1 = Alicia|last2 = Blench|first2 = Roger|last3 = Ross|first3 = Malcolm D.|last4 = Peiros|first4 = Ilia|last5 = Lin|first5 = Marie|date = 2008-07-25| publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>Campbell, Lyle (1997). ''American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 286-288</ref><ref>Goddard, Ives (1996). "The Classification of the Native Languages of North America". In Ives Goddard, ed., "Languages". Vol. 17 of William Sturtevant, ed., ''Handbook of North American Indians''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pg. 318</ref><ref>Trask, R. L. (2000). ''The Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pg. 85</ref><ref>Dalby, Andrew (1998). ''Dictionary of Languages''. New York: Columbia University Press. pg. 434</ref>

==History of the hypothesis==

Classifications similar to Dené–Caucasian were put forward in the 20th century by Alfredo Trombetti, Edward Sapir, Robert Bleichsteiner, Karl Bouda, E. J. Furnée, René Lafon, Robert Shafer, Olivier Guy Tailleur, Morris Swadesh, Vladimir N. Toporov, and other scholars.

Morris Swadesh included all of the members of Dené–Caucasian in a family that he called "Basque-Dennean" (when writing in English, 2006/1971: 223) or "''vascodene''" (when writing in Spanish, 1959: 114). It was named for [[Biography:Basque language|Basque]] and [[Social:Navajo language|Navajo]], the languages at its geographic extremes. According to Swadesh (1959: 114), it included "Basque, the Caucasian languages, Ural-Altaic, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Chinese, Austronesian, Japanese, Chukchi (Siberia), Eskimo-Aleut, Wakash, and Na-Dene", and possibly "Sumerian".<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYQkVkdsKXgC&q=macro-quechua+swadesh&pg=PA114 |title = Tras la huella lingüística de la prehistoria|isbn = 9789683603685|last1 = Swadesh|first1 = Mauricio|year = 1987}}</ref> Swadesh's Basque-Dennean thus differed from Dené–Caucasian in including (1) Uralic, Altaic, Japanese, Chukotian, and Eskimo-Aleut (languages which are classed as [[Earth:Eurasiatic languages|Eurasiatic]] by the followers of Sergei Starostin and those of Joseph Greenberg), (2) [[Social:Dravidian languages|Dravidian]], which is classed as [[Social:Nostratic languages|Nostratic]] by Starostin's school, and (3) [[Social:Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] (which according to Starostin is indeed related to Dené–Caucasian, but only at the next stage up, which he termed Dené–Daic, and only via [[Social:Austric languages|Austric]] (see [[Social:Borean languages#Starostin's model|Starostin's Borean macrofamily]])). Swadesh's colleague Mary Haas{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} attributes the origin of the Basque-Dennean hypothesis to Edward Sapir.

In the 1980s, Sergei Starostin, using strict linguistic methods (proposing regular phonological correspondences, reconstructions, [[Glottochronology#Starostin.27s method|glottochronology]], etc.), became the first{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} to put the idea that the Caucasian, Yeniseian and Sino-Tibetan languages are related on firmer ground.<ref>See Starostin 1984, Starostin 1991</ref>{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} In 1991, Sergei L. Nikolaev added the Na-Dené languages to Starostin's classification.<ref>See Nikola(y)ev 1991</ref>

The inclusion of the Na-Dené languages has been somewhat complicated by the ongoing dispute over whether Haida belongs to the family. The proponents of the Dené–Caucasian hypothesis incline towards supporters of Haida's membership in Na-Dené, such as Heinz-Jürgen Pinnow<ref>See Pinnow 1985a, Pinnow 1985b, Pinnow 1986a, Pinnow 1986b, Pinnow 1988, Pinnow 1990a, Pinnow 1990b</ref> or, most recently, John Enrico.<ref>See Enrico 2004</ref> Edward J. Vajda, who otherwise rejects the Dené–Caucasian hypothesis, has suggested that [[Biography:Tlingit language|Tlingit]], Eyak, and the [[Social:Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan languages]] are closely related to the [[Social:Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian languages]], but he denies any genetic relationship of the former three to Haida.<ref>See Vajda 2000a, Vajda 2000b, Vajda 2000c, Vajda 2000d, [[Social:Dené–Caucasian languages#|Vajda 2000e]], Vajda 2001a, Vajda 2001b, Vajda 2002, Vajda 2004</ref> Vajda's ideas on the relationship of Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit and Yeniseian have found support independently in works of various authors, including Heinrich K. Werner<ref name="See #refWern04|Werner 2004">See Werner 2004</ref> or Merritt Ruhlen.<ref>See Ruhlen 1998c</ref> DNA analyses have not shown any special connection between the modern Ket population and the modern speakers of the Na-Dené languages.<ref>See Rubicz et al. 2002</ref>

In 1996, John D. Bengtson added the [[Social:Vasconic languages|Vasconic languages]] (including Basque, its extinct relative or ancestor [[Social:Aquitanian language|Aquitanian]], and possibly [[Social:Iberian language|Iberian]]), and in 1997 he proposed the inclusion of [[Social:Burushaski|Burushaski]]. The same year, in his article for ''Mother Tongue'', Bengtson concluded that [[Social:Sumerian language|Sumerian]] might have been a remnant of a distinct subgroup of the Dené–Caucasian languages.<ref>See Bengtson 1996, Bengtson 1997, Bengtson 1997</ref>

In 1998, Vitaly V. Shevoroshkin rejected the [[Social:Amerind languages|Amerind]] affinity of the Almosan (Algonquian-Wakashan) languages, suggesting instead that they had a relationship with Dené–Caucasian. Several years later, he offered a number of lexical and phonological correspondences between the North Caucasian, [[Social:Salishan languages|Salishan]], and [[Social:Wakashan languages|Wakashan languages]], concluding that Salishan and Wakashan may represent a distinct branch of North Caucasian and that their separation from it must postdate the dissolution of the [[Social:Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian]] unity (Avar-Andi-Tsezian), which took place around the 2nd or 3rd millennium BC.<ref name="Shev980304">See Shevoroshkin 1998, Shevoroshkin 2003, and Shevoroshkin 2004</ref>

==Academic concerns with Dené–Caucasian==

* The somewhat heavy reliance on the reconstruction of Proto-(North-)Caucasian by Starostin and Nikolayev.<ref name="ReferenceA">See [[Social:Dené–Caucasian languages#|Starostin 1994]]</ref> This reconstruction contains much uncertainty due to the extreme complexity of the sound systems of the [[Social:North Caucasian languages|Caucasian languages]]; the sound correspondences between these languages are difficult to trace.
* The use of the reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan by Peiros and Starostin,<ref>See Peiros & Starostin 1996</ref> parts of which have been criticized on various grounds,<ref>See Handel 1998</ref> although Starostin himself has proposed a few revisions.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> All reconstructions of Proto-Sino-Tibetan suffer from the facts that many languages of the huge Sino-Tibetan family are underresearched and that the shape of the Sino-Tibetan tree is poorly known and partly controversial.
* The use of Starostin's reconstruction of Proto-Yeniseian{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} rather than the competing one by Vajda{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} or that by Werner.<ref name="See #refWern04|Werner 2004"/>

==Family tree proposals==

===Starostin's theory===
The Dené–Caucasian family tree and approximate divergence dates (estimated by [[Glottochronology#Modifications|modified glottochronology]]) proposed by S. A. Starostin and his colleagues from the Tower of Babel project:<ref>See The preliminary phylogenetic tree according to the Tower of Babel Project</ref>

{{tree list}}
* '''Dené–Caucasian languages''' [8,700 BCE]
** Na-Dené languages (Athabascan–Eyak–Tlingit)
** Sino-Vasconic languages [7,900 BCE]
*** Vasconic (see below)
*** '''Sino-Caucasian languages''' [6,200 BCE]
**** Burushaski
**** Caucaso-Sino-Yeniseian [5,900 BCE]
***** [[Social:North Caucasian languages|North Caucasian languages]]
***** Sino-Yeniseian [5,100 BCE]
****** [[Social:Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian languages]]
****** [[Social:Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan languages]]
{{tree list/end}}

===Bengtson's theory===
John D. Bengtson groups Basque, Caucasian and Burushaski together in a Macro-Caucasian (earlier '''Vasco-Caucasian''') family (see the section on [[Social:Dené–Caucasian languages#Macro-Caucasian|Macro-Caucasian]] below).<ref>See Bengtson 1997a</ref> According to him, it is as yet premature to propose other nodes or subgroupings, but he notes that Sumerian seems to share the same number of isoglosses with the (geographically) western branches as with the eastern ones:<ref>See Bengtson 1997b</ref>

{{tree list}}
* '''Dené–Caucasian'''
** The Macro-Caucasian family
*** Basque
*** North Caucasian
*** Burushaski
** Sumerian
** Sino-Tibetan
** Yeniseian
** Na-Dené
{{tree list/end}}

==Proposed subbranches==

===Macro-Caucasian===

John Bengtson (2008)<ref name="Beng08">See Bengtson 2008</ref> proposes that, within Dené–Caucasian, the Caucasian languages form a branch together with Basque and Burushaski, based on many shared word roots as well as shared grammar such as:

* the Caucasian plural/collective ending {{IPA|*-/rV/}} of nouns, which is preserved in many modern Caucasian languages, as well as sometimes fossilized in singular nouns with collective meaning; one of the many Burushaski plural endings for class I and II (masculine and feminine) nouns is {{IPA|-/aro/}}. 
* the consonant -{{IPA|/t/}}, which is inserted between the components of some Basque compound nouns and can be compared to the East Caucasian element -{{IPA|*/du/}} which is inserted between the noun stem and the endings of cases other than the ergative.
* the presence of compound case endings (agglutinated from the suffixes of two different cases) in all three branches.
* case endings

===Karasuk===

{{Main|Social:Karasuk languages}}

George van Driem has proposed that the [[Social:Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian languages]] are the closest known relatives of Burushaski, based on a small number of similarities in grammar and lexicon. The Karasuk theory as proposed by van Driem does not address other language families that are hypothesized to belong to Dené–Caucasian,<ref>See Van Driem 2001</ref> so whether the Karasuk hypothesis is compatible or not with the Macro-Caucasian hypothesis remains to be investigated.

==See also==
*[[Social:Dené–Yeniseian languages|Dené–Yeniseian languages]]
*Language families and languages
*[[Social:Proto-language|Proto-language]]
*[[Social:Borean languages|Borean languages]]
*Haplogroup C-M217 (Y-DNA)
*[[Social:Sino-Uralic languages|Sino-Uralic]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*<cite id="refBene72">BENEDICT, Paul K., 1972. Sino-Tibetan: A Conspectus: 103ff; Ed. by J. A. Matisoff. Cambridge University Press.</cite>
*{{citation | first=John D. | last=BENGTSON |  contribution = Materials for a Comparative Grammar of the Dene–Caucasian (Sino-Caucasian) Languages. | contribution-url = http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/dene_gr.pdf | title = Aspects of Comparative Linguistics | volume = 3 | place = [[Place:Moscow|Moscow]] | publisher = RSUH Publishers | year = 2008 | pages = 45–118|ref=refBeng08}}
*<cite id="refBeng04">BENGTSON, John D., 2004. "Some features of Dene–Caucasian phonology (with special reference to Basque)." In Cahiers de l'Institut de Linguistique de Louvain (CILL): 33–54.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng03">BENGTSON, John D., 2003. "Notes on Basque Comparative Phonology." Mother Tongue 8: 21–39.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng02">BENGTSON, John D., 2002. "The Dene–Caucasian noun prefix *s-." In The Linguist's Linguist: A Collection of Papers in Honour of Alexis Manaster Ramer, ed. by F. Cavoto, pp. 53–57. Munich: LINCOM Europa.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng99a">BENGTSON, John D., 1999a. "Review of R.L. Trask, The History of Basque." In Romance Philology 52 (Spring): 219–224.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng99b">BENGTSON, John D., 1999b. "Wider genetic affiliations of the Chinese language." Journal of Chinese Linguistics 27 (1): 1–12.</cite>*<cite id="refBeng94">BENGTSON, John D., 1994. "Edward Sapir and the 'Sino-Dene' Hypothesis." Anthropological Science (Tokyo) 102: 207-230.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng98">BENGTSON, John D., 1998. "Caucasian and Sino-Tibetan: A Hypothesis of S. A. Starostin." General Linguistics, Vol. 36, no. 1/2, 1998 (1996). Pegasus Press, University of North Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng97a">BENGTSON, John D., 1997a. "Ein Vergleich von Buruschaski und Nordkaukasisch [A comparison of B. and North Caucasian]." Georgica 20: 88–94.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng97b">BENGTSON, John D., 1997b. "The riddle of Sumerian: A Dene–Caucasic language?" Mother Tongue 3: 63–74.</cite>
*<cite id="refBeng96">BENGTSON, John D., 1996. "A Final (?) Response to the Basque Debate in Mother Tongue 1." (see External links below)</cite>
*<cite id="refBerg98">BERGER, Hermann, 1998. Die Burushaski-Sprache von Hunza und Nager. 3 volumes. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.</cite>
*<cite id="refBerg74">BERGER, Hermann, 1974. Das Yasin-Burushaski (Werchikwar). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.</cite>
*<cite id="refBomh97">BOMHARD, Allan R., 1997. "On the origin of Sumerian." Mother Tongue 3: 75-93.</cite>
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*<cite id="refDiak97">DIAKONOFF, Igor M., 1997. "External Connections of the Sumerian Language." Mother Tongue 3: 54-63.</cite>
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*{{citation | first = Sergei A. | last = STAROSTIN |  editor-first = Starostin | editor-last = Sergei A. | editor2-first = Sergei L. | editor2-last = Nikola(y)ev | contribution = Preface | title = A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary | year = 1994 | pages = 7–199 | place = Moscow | publisher = Asterisk Publishers | contribution-url = http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/caucpref.pdf|ref="refStar94}}
*<cite id="refStar91">{{Citation | first = Sergei A. | last = STAROSTIN |  editor-last = SHEVOROSHKIN | editor-first = Vitaliy V. | contribution = On the Hypothesis of a Genetic Connection Between the Sino-Tibetan Languages and the Yeniseian and North Caucasian Languages | title = '''Dene–Sino-Caucasian languages''': materials from the First International Interdisciplinary Symposium on Language and Prehistory | year = 1991 | pages = 12–41 | place = Ann Harbor | publisher = Bochum: Brockmeyer}} [Translation of Starostin 1984]</cite>
*<cite id="refStar84">{{Citation | first = Sergei A. | last = STAROSTIN |  editor-last = Vardu | editor-first = I. F. | contribution = Гипотеза о генетических связях синотибетских языков с енисейскими и северокавказскими языками [A hypothesis on the genetic relationships of the Sino-Tibetan languages with the Yeniseian and the North Caucasian languages] | title = Лингвистическая реконструкция и древнейшая история Востока [Linguistic reconstruction and the ancient history of the East] | year = 1984 | pages = 19–38 | place = Moscow | publisher = Академия наук, Институт востоковедения Institute of Orientalistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences}} [See Starostin 1991 for English translation]</cite>
*<cite id="refStarTree">{{Citation | title = The preliminary phylogenetic tree | work = The Tower of Babel | publisher = Evolution of Human Language Project | date = 2006-05-28 | url = http://starling.rinet.ru/images/globet.png | format = [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] | access-date = 2008-01-28}}</cite>
*<cite id="refTras99">TRASK, R. L., 1999. "Why should a language have any relatives?" Pages 157–176 in: C. Renfrew & D. Nettle (eds.): Nostratic: Examining a Linguistic Macrofamily, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge (UK).</cite>
*<cite id="refTras97">TRASK, R. L., 1997. "Basque and the Superfamilies". The History of Basque, Routledge, London. (See especially pages 403–408.)</cite>
*<cite id="refTras95">TRASK, R. L., 1995. "Basque and Dene–Caucasian: A Critique from the Basque Side". Mother Tongue 1:3–82.</cite>
*<cite id="refTras94">TRASK, R. L., 1994–1995. "Basque: The Search for Relatives (Part 1)." Dhumbadji! 2:3–54.</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd04">VAJDA, Edward J. (2004): Ket. (Languages of the World, Materials, 204) München: LINCOM Europa</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd02">VAJDA, Edward J. (2002): The origin of phonemic tone in Yeniseic. CLS 37 (Parasession on Arctic languages): 305-320</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd01a">VAJDA, Edward J. (2001a): Toward a typology of position class: comparing Navajo and Ket verb morphology. Read at: SSILA Summer Meeting, July 7, 2001</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd01b">VAJDA, Edward J. (2001b): Linguistic relations across Bering Strait: Siberia and the Native Americans. Read at: Bureau of Faculty Research, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, March 8, 2001</cite>
*<cite id="">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000. Evidence for a genetic connection between Na-Dene and Yeniseian (Central Siberia). – Paper read at: January 2000 meeting of Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of America (SSILA) and Linguistic Society of America (LSA)</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd00a">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000a. Yeniseian and Na-Dene: evidence for a genetic relationship. – Paper read at: 38th Conference on American Indian Languages (SSILA), Chicago, Jan. 2000</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd00b">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000b. Yeniseian and Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit.' – Paper read at: Linguistics Department Colloquium, University of British Columbia, Mar. 2000</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd00c">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000c. Ket verb morphology and its parallels with Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit: evidence of a genetic link. – Paper read at: Athabaskan Language Conference, Moricetown, BC, June 9, 2000</cite>
*<cite id="refVajd00d">VAJDA, Edward J. 2000d. Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit and Yeniseian: lexical and phonological parallels. Read at: 39th Conference on American Indian Languages, San Francisco, Nov. 14-18, 2000</cite>
*<cite id="refDrie01">VAN DRIEM, George, 2001. "The Languages of the Himalayas." Brill, Leiden.</cite>
*<cite id="refVovi02">VOVIN, Alexander, 2002. "Building a 'bum-pa for Sino-Caucasian." Journal of Chinese Linguistics 30.1: 154–171.</cite>
*<cite id="refVovi97">VOVIN, Alexander, 1997. "The Comparative Method and Ventures Beyond Sino-Tibetan." Journal of Chinese Linguistics 25.2: 308–336.</cite>
*<cite id="refWern04">WERNER, Heinrich K. (2004): Zur jenissejisch-indianischen Urverwandtschaft [On the Yeniseian-[American] Indian primordial relationship]. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz</cite>
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*Nikolayev, Sergei. 2014. ''[https://starling.rinet.ru/confer/Nikolayev-2014.pdf Possible Dene-Caucasian cognates]''. The 9th Annual Sergei Starostin Memorial Conference on Comparative Historical Linguistics. Moscow: RSUH.
*Starostin, George. 2014. ''[https://starling.rinet.ru/confer/Starostin-2014.pdf Basque / North Caucasian lexical matches on the 50-item wordlist]''. 9th Annual Readings in memory of S. Starostin. Moscow, RSUH, March 27–28, 2014.
*Vajda, Edward. 2013. ''[https://starling.rinet.ru/confer/16_Vajda.pptx Assessing the Sino-Caucasian Hypothesis]''. Comparative-Historical Linguistics of the XXIst Century: Issues and Perspectives. Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities. Moscow, March 20–22, 2013.

==External links==
*[http://moslex.org/ Moscow Lexical Database] (MosLex) by Alexei Kassian, which compares basic vocabulary for Dené–Caucasian languages
*[http://ehl.santafe.edu/maps5.htm Dené–Caucasian ethno-linguistic map]
*[http://starling.rinet.ru/ The Tower of Babel] (site in English and Russian including [http://starling.rinet.ru/images/globet.png Proposed family tree] and [http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/wordfin.pdf Word-final resonants in Sino-Caucasian])
*[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mt26s.html A Final (?) Response to the Basque Debate in Mother Tongue 1] (GIF)


{{DEFAULTSORT:Dene-Caucasian Languages}}
[[Category:Proposed language families]]

{{Sourceattribution|Dené–Caucasian languages}}