| Uralo-Siberian | |
|---|---|
| (hypothetical) | |
| Geographic distribution | Northern Eurasia, the Arctic |
| Linguistic classification | Proposed language family |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
 | |
Uralo-Siberian is a hypothetical language family consisting of Uralic, Yukaghir, and Eskaleut. It was proposed in 1998 by Michael Fortescue,[1] an expert in Eskaleut and Chukotko-Kamchatkan, in his book Language Relations across Bering Strait. Some have attempted to include Nivkh in Uralo-Siberian. Until 2011, it also included Chukotko-Kamchatkan. However, after 2011 Fortescue only included Uralic, Yukaghir and Eskaleut in the theory, although he argued that Uralo-Siberian languages have influenced Chukotko-Kamchatkan.[2]
Connections with the Uralic and other language families are generally seen as speculative,[3] including Fortescue's Uralo-Siberian hypothesis. Fortescue's observations have been evaluated by specialists as "inspiring" and "compelling" but are viewed as scattered evidence and still remain highly speculative and unproven and the soundness of the reconstructed common ancestors are challenging to evaluate.[4][5]
- ^ Vajda, Edward; Fortescue, Michael (2022-01-31). Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-43682-4.
- ^ Fortescue, Michael (2011). "The relationship of Nivkh to Chukotko-Kamchatkan revisited". Lingua. 121 (8): 1359–1376. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2011.03.001.
I would no longer wish to relate CK directly to [Uralo-Siberian], although I believe that some of the lexical evidence [...] will hold up in terms of borrowing/diffusion.
- ^ "Uralic languages | Finno-Ugric, Samoyedic, & Permic Groups". Britannica. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
- ^ Abondolo, Daniel; Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa (2023-03-31). The Uralic Languages. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-23097-7.
Fortescue's observations are encylopaedic, and often innovative and inspiring, but the picture arrived at is one of disetcta membra [sic]
- ^ Berge, Anna (2024). "Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America. By Michael Fortescue and Edward Vajda. Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, vol. 17. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2022. Part 1: The Uralo-Siberian Hypothesis, pp. 13–234. USD $179, hardcover or e-book edition". Review article. International Journal of American Linguistics. 90 (1): 130–132. doi:10.1086/727525.
As a result, F's list of proposed cognates contains numerous gaps, with many stems not found in more than two or three languages among the languages being compared. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to evaluate the soundness of the reconstruction, and more illustrative examples would have helped.