Isolated languages
An isolated language is a language that has no genetic relationship to any other language. As far as we know today, the only isolated language in Europe still spoken today is Basque .
This article provides an overview of the world's isolated languages, sorted by continent.
Problems of the term
The apparently simple definition of the term "isolated language" - a language for which no genetic relationship with any other language has been proven - is problematic:
- Problem of dialects and splits: Even isolated languages can of course have dialects and these can develop into independent languages today or in the future. It is often a matter of definition whether one speaks of "one" language with several dialects or several independent, closely related languages. This not clearly definable difference turns an “isolated language” into a small family of closely related languages.
- Problem of the extinct sister languages: The Ket (a Yenisei language ) would have to be considered “isolated” today, since no other Yenisei language is spoken apart from Ket. From the previous centuries, however, at least five sister languages, which have since become extinct, are known, which is why the Ket cannot be viewed as isolated, but is the only surviving member of the Yenisese language family. Likewise, z. For example, Sumerian ancient relatives, which are now considered to be isolated, had relatives which - in contrast to Sumerian - were not recorded in writing.
The notion of “isolated languages” according to the above definition is therefore rather unhistorical: in reality, all languages in the world have or had “relatives” who simply could not be determined for various reasons. B. because they became extinct without written fixation or because the research methods are not (yet) sufficient to prove the relationship with other languages. If one assumes that no language was created out of “nothing”, all languages are genetically related to one another . However, this cannot be proven in practice, since any genetic similarities have been completely (sometimes several times) masked by other effects of language development over the millennia. Nevertheless, or precisely because of this, linguistic research on the large hypothetical macro- families , which comprise several “classical” language families and “isolated languages”, is of particular interest in this context . (See also Eurasian , Nostratic , Dene-Caucasian , Australian , Indo-Pacific , Amerindian, and others). With the establishment of each larger genetic language unit, the number of "isolated languages" is reduced.
In the following, most of the languages considered to be “isolated” today are listed alphabetically with their number of speakers by continent and within them. Some are advised of the reasons why they may not be "isolated" after all. The basis is the compilation of Ethnologue , which was supplemented by specialists based on additional knowledge and corrected where necessary.
Not to be confused with the “isolated languages” are the “ unclassified languages ”: these are either extinct and so weakly handed down that classification with the available material is not possible, or they still exist but not yet sufficiently researched to make them one To be able to assign a language family or to claim with great certainty that they are "isolated". Languages can also be unclassifiable if they have the characteristics of two language families. Such languages are called hybrid or mixed languages . In practice, the difference between “isolated” and “unclassified” is not very sharp, so some unclassified languages are also listed here.
Ethnologue as a problematic source
For almost all of these isolated languages, some of which are only known to experts, information about the ethno-linguistic situation, the number of speakers and their geographical distribution can be found in Ethnologue . However, the classification in Ethnologue is not always compatible with the one used here, so that some of the languages referred to here as isolated are assigned to a language family there. Conversely, some languages designated as isolated in Ethnologue are assigned to a language family here, e.g. B. Tinigua , Puelche and others. In addition, some confusion of names in Ethnologue lead to erroneous classifications and assessments. In case of doubt, the current primary sources for the individual language families or area-specific language groups should always be consulted.
Eurasia
Isolated languages of Eurasia
The following languages of Eurasia are considered isolated by the majority of researchers today:
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Ainu | nearly † | Japan , Sakhalin ; Candidate for the Eurasian macro family, weak candidate for Macro Altai |
| Basque | 800,000 | Spain , France ; the extinct Aquitaine may have been a dialect of ancient Basque; probably not related to the old Iberian languages . Possibly. Member of the Dene-Caucasian macro family (JD Bengtson) or the Proto-Eurasian macro family (M. Morvan). |
| Burushaski | 100,000 | Pakistan ; perhaps relationship with the Yenisian, candidate for Dene-Caucasian |
| Elamish | † | Iran : Khusistan ; Relationship with Dravidian possible: "Elamo-Dravidian" |
| Hattisch | † | Anatolia |
| Jukagirian | 200 | Russia , Eastern Siberia ; possibly related to the Uralic languages : "Uralisch-Jukagirisch" |
| Korean | 78,000,000 | Korea ; possibly related to Japanese; possibly. along with Japanese to Macro Altaic |
| Kusunda | nearly † | Nepal ; from the oldest language class in the Himalayas |
| Nahali | 2,000 | India ; alternatively Kalto, Nahal, Nahale, Nihal; from the oldest language class in India |
| Niwchisch | 400 | Russia, Eastern Siberia; Candidate for the Eurasian Macro Family |
| Sumerian | † | southern Mesopotamia ; possibly dene-caucasian |
Unclassified living languages of Eurasia
These languages are listed in Ethnologue as " unclassified " because they have not yet been researched or not sufficiently researched to be able to classify them genetically. It is rather unlikely that these are "isolated" languages.
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Andh | 80,000 | India ; only as a second language, the speaker's mother tongue is Marathi , probably Indo-Aryan |
| Chak | 25,000 | Myanmar ; probably Sino-Tibetan, branch unknown |
| Malakhel | 2,000 | Afghanistan ; probably identical to Ormuri , then Iranian |
| Mukha-dora | 17,000 | India; today only second language, poss. Mother tongue is Telugu, speakers also use Adivasi Oriya; probably Dravidian |
| Warduji | 5,000 | Afghanistan ; Possibly a dialect of Persian, very likely Iranian (Pamir language?) |
| Waxianghua | 300,000 | China ; very likely Sinitic branch of Sinotibetan |
Unclassified extinct languages of Eurasia with legible scripts
The extinct old European and oriental languages in this list could not yet be assigned to any language group, as they are only very sparsely preserved and documented. Whether these are isolated languages cannot be conclusively clarified ( pre-Indo-European substrate ).
| language | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|
| Eteocetan | Crete ; Language of some Iron Age inscriptions |
| Eteocyprian | Cyprus, Crete; Language of some Iron Age inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabar |
| Etruscan | Italy ; a relationship with Lemnian and other Aegean languages as well as with Rhaetian as so-called Tyrsenic languages were u. A. postulated by Helmut Rix , but has not been proven. |
| Gutäisch | Mesopotamia; only proper names known, cuneiform , from the Zāgros Mountains , possibly related to the Lulubian |
| Iberian | Iberian Peninsula; Connections to Basque rather unlikely; clearly distinguishable from Tartessian ; not to be confused with Ibero-Celtic |
| Kassitisch | Mesopotamia; only proper names and a tablet known, cuneiform, from the Zagros Mountains |
| Lulubian | Mesopotamia; only proper names known, cuneiform, from the Zagros Mountains, possibly related to the Gutaean |
| North Pikenish | Italy; in contrast to the Italian South Piken, it is certainly not the Indo-European language |
| Pictish | Scotland ; is sometimes assigned to the British branch of the island Celtic languages |
| Sican | Sicily; in contrast to the neighboring languages Elymian and Siculian, which are mostly regarded as Italian, probably non-Indo-European |
|
Tartessian or South Lusitan |
Relationship with the Iberian unlikely, certainly not Ibero-Celtic |
Unclassified extinct languages of Eurasia in as yet undeciphered scripts
The languages in this list cannot be assigned to any language group, as their scripts could not yet be deciphered. So they are actually hypothetical languages.
| language | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|
| Harappan | Pakistan , India ; Language of the Indus script that has not yet been deciphered; mostly regarded as related to Dravidian, then of course not in isolation |
| Minoan | Crete; Language of the texts in the not yet fully deciphered Linear A script and some other not deciphered Cretan texts, e.g. B. the disc of Phaistos; possible relationship with Eteocyprian and Eteocetan |
| Kyprominoic | Cyprus; Language of the not yet deciphered Bronze Age inscriptions of Cyprus, especially from Enkomi ; possible relationship with Minoan and Eteocyprian |
Languages of Eurasia, often incorrectly classified as isolated
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
|
Hurrian Urartian |
† † |
Hurrian ( Syria , Eastern Anatolia) and Urartian (Eastern Anatolia, Armenia , northwest Iran) together form the (isolated) Hurrian-Urartian language family ; not classified as isolated due to mutual relationship; Relationship to the North Caucasian languages postulated but not recognized |
| Japanese | 126,000,000 | Japan; not isolated, as the widely differing Ryūkyū languages of Okinawa are mostly evaluated as independent languages; possibly related to Korean, possibly member of Macro-Altaic; Candidate for Eurasian and Nostratic |
| Ket | 200 | Russia, Siberia ; Yenisan language, related to the now-extinct Yenisan languages Yugh , Kott , Pumpokol , Assan and Arin ; the Yenisan languages are a candidate for the Dene-Caucasian ; more recent hypotheses of the genetic relationship to the Na-Dené languages or to Burushaski |
Indo-pacific
The Austronesian and the so-called Papua languages belong to the Indo-Pacific area . While the Austronesian languages form a clearly identifiable genetic unit - there is little doubt whether a particular language is Austronesian or not - the genetic situation of the Papuan languages is very complex. Some of the non-Austronesian and non-Australian languages of New Guinea and some of the neighboring islands (the so-called Papua languages) are isolated in the sense that they cannot be assigned to any “family” (even if only one with two members) . There are also some little-researched, so far unclassified Papuan languages that could well belong to one of the ten or so Papuan language families.
Isolated and unclassified Papuan languages
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Abinomn | 300 | Indonesia: West New Guinea; maybe to Yoke-Warembori |
| Burmeso | 250 | Indonesia: West New Guinea; maybe to Ost-Vogelkopf |
| Doso | ? 700 | Papua New Guinea |
| Karkar-Yuri | 1,100 | Papua New Guinea; maybe to Pauwasi |
| Kembra | nearly † | Indonesia: West New Guinea |
| Kibiri | 1,100 | Papua New Guinea; maybe to Trans New Guinea, Kiwai group |
| Lepki | 500 | Indonesia: West New Guinea; perhaps related to Murkim |
| Murkim | 300 | Indonesia: West New Guinea; perhaps related to Lepkin |
| Odiai or Busa | 250 | Papua New Guinea |
| Yale | 600 | Papua New Guinea |
Australia
According to new findings of one of the best experts in these languages, RMW Dixon (see reference), the genetic unity of the Australian languages cannot be proven because the phase of possible uniformity is far too far back (at least 20,000 years). In particular, the genetic unit of the largest group of Australian languages to date, the Pama Nyunga languages, is being abandoned by Dixon. According to this model, there are various smaller genetic and areal units, many languages remain "isolated". Only the "isolated languages" that are still alive are listed here, including the most spoken languages in Australia. In total, only 40,000 people of the Aboriginal people speak one of the 80 or so native languages; there were at least 350 languages before the colonization.
| language | Number of speakers | comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kala Lagaw Ya or West Torres | 1,000 | Queensland: Western Torres Strait; Papuan language with Australian substrate |
| Kuku-Yalandji | 240 | Queensland; the dialects Yalandji, Djangun and Muluridji are sometimes considered as separate languages, then a small language family |
| Tiwi | 1,800 | Northern Territory; possibly small language family |
| Whyungu | 500 | Northern Territory |
| Western Desert Language | 6,500 | Western Desert; the dialects Martu Wangka (700 speakers), Karkutja (300 speakers), Pintupi-Luritja (1,000), Ngaatjatjarr (1,200), Pitjantjatjara (2,500) and Yankuntjatjarra (200) are sometimes considered to be separate languages; then the Western Desert Language Group is a small language family |
In addition, a number of extinct or near-extinct languages of Australia must be considered isolated or unclassified. See the external link “The Classification of the Australian Languages”.
Africa
According to Joseph Greenberg's now undisputed achievement of an overall classification of African languages into the four great phyla Afro-Asian , Niger-Congo , Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan (last version published in 1963), no African language was initially "isolated" because they all belonged to one of the four phyla.
Some Africanists are convinced, however, that Khoisan and Nilo-Saharan are not language families in the narrower sense, but only groups of languages that are typologically similar and form an areal linguistic union . (Details on this topic in the article African languages .) So while some experts consider certain languages to be part of the Phyla Nilosaharan or Khoisan, if no close relatives are recognizable they are considered by others as "isolated" or "unclassified". In addition, there are a number of unclassified and hybrid languages (mixed languages) in Africa.
Isolated languages
The following languages are now considered to be isolated, in the past they were added to the Khoisan languages (so still in Ethnologue):
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Hadza | 800 | Tanzania |
| Sandawe | 40,000 | Tanzania |
| Kwadi | † | Angola |
| ǂHoa | 200 | Botswana ; possibly a South Khoisan language |
Unclassified African languages
The following languages probably belong to one of the great African phyla, a reliable assignment has not yet been possible:
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Exercise | nearly † | Cameroon ; Probably Niger-Congo language, bantoid |
| Centúúm | 200 | Nigeria |
| Kujarge | 1,000 | Chad |
| Lufu | 3200 | Nigeria; maybe Niger-Congo language, jukunoid |
| Luo | † | Cameroon; not to be confused with the Nilosaharan Luo |
| Meroitic | † | Sudan ; the language of the Nubian kingdom of Meroe ; possibly Nilosaharan |
| Mpre | † | Ghana ; probably Niger-Congo language, maybe Kwa branch; only described once in 1931 |
| Pré | 200 | Ivory Coast ; probably Niger-Congo language; to the Volta-Congo branch rather than the Mande branch |
Hybrid African languages (mixed languages)
The following languages have characteristics from different language families:
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Imeraguen | 500 | Mauritania ; Features of Afro-Asian (Semitic: Hassaniya) and Niger-Congo (Mande: Soninke) |
| Laal | 750 | Chad ; Characteristics of Afro-Asian (Chadian) and Niger-Congo (Adamawa); unknown substrate |
| Shabo | 450 | Ethiopia ; Features of Afro-Asian (specifically Omotic) and Nilo-Saharan |
| Weyto | † | Ethiopia; possibly Nilo-Saharan (East Sudan?) or Afro-Asian (Kushitic?); probably hybrid |
Sometimes African languages incorrectly classified as isolated
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kara (Fer) | 4,800 | Central African Republic ; Nilo-Saharan , Central Sudanese, Bongo Bagirmi group; at Ethnologue wrongly stated as "unclassified" |
| Ongota (Birale) | nearly † | Ethiopia; after Harold Fleming a separate branch of Afro-Asian; at least Afro-Asian |
America
"Only the living languages" are listed here. A complete overview of the current state of knowledge - including the extinct, but somehow handed down languages - is given on the web links "Classification of North, Meso and South American Languages" and the article Language families of the world . If Joseph Greenberg were right in classifying American languages into just three genetic units - Na-Dene, Eskimo-Aleut, and Amerind - there would be no isolated American languages. The present presentation is based on the now generally recognized genetic groups of America, whereby attempts are made again and again to demonstrate larger units in which the "isolated" languages listed here can then also be absorbed. According to the majority opinion of researchers today, America (especially South America) is the continent with the most - sometimes quite large - isolated languages.
North America
Note: The groups Hoka languages and Penuti languages are not considered here as genetic units. (See L. Campbell, American Indian Languages (1997) and various other current sources.)
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Haida | 50 | Canada; often counted as Na-Dene |
| Karuk (Karok) | nearly † | United States |
| Keres | 8,000 | UNITED STATES; possibly family of 2 languages with 7 varieties |
| Klamath-Modoc | nearly † | UNITED STATES; possibly related to the Sahapti languages and the Molala |
| Kutenai | nearly † | Canada |
| Washo | nearly † | United States |
| Yuchi | nearly † | United States |
| Zuñi | 10,000 | United States |
Central America
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Huave | 19,000 | Mexico ; four dialect groups that could also be counted as languages |
| Seri | 700 | Mexico |
| Purépecha | 120,000 | Mexico |
| Tol | 350 | Honduras |
| Lenca | nearly † | Honduras , San Salvador ; possibly two languages: Honduras and San Salvador Lenca |
South America
| language | Number of speakers | Occurrence / comment |
|---|---|---|
| Agavotaguerra | † | Brazil ; unclassified; maybe Arawak language |
| Aikaná (Tubarao) | 100 | Brazil; unclassified; maybe Arawak language |
| Amikoana | nearly † | Brazil |
| Andoque | 600 | Colombia |
| Camsá | 4,000 | Colombia |
| Candoshi Shapra | 3,000 | Peru |
| Carabayo | 150 | Colombia |
| Chiquitano | 6,000 | Bolivia; according to Kaufmann, a macro-Gé language |
| Cofan | 2,500 | Ecuador, Colombia; Loans from the Chibcha languages |
| Guarao (Warao) | 18,000 | Venezuela , Guyana |
| Himarimã | nearly † | Brazil |
| Irantxes | 200 | Brazil; maybe Arawak language |
| Itonama | nearly † | Bolivia |
| Karahawyana | nearly † | Brazil |
| Leco | nearly † | Bolivia |
|
Araucanian languages ( Mapudungun , Huilliche ) |
260,000 | Chile, Argentina |
| Movima | 1,500 | Bolivia |
| Paez | 80,000 | Colombia |
| Puinave | 2,000 | Colombia |
| Taushiro | probable † | Peru |
| Ticuna | 41,000 | Brazil, Colombia, Peru |
| Trumaí | 100 | Brazil |
| Tsimané Mosetén |
5,500 | Bolivia; Tsimané and Mosetén form a family of two. Kinship with the Chon family postulated by Kaufmann. |
| Urarina | 3,000 | Peru |
| Uru-pa-in | 200 | Brazil |
| Waorani (Sabela) | 1,700 | Ecuador |
| Yámana | probable † | Chile |
| Yari | 800 | Colombia; maybe to Carib or Huitoto |
| Yaruro (Jaruro, Pumé, Llaruro, Yuapin) | 3,400 | Venezuela ; perhaps related to the Esmeralda † |
| Yuracare | 3,000 | Bolivia |
| Yuwana (Joti, Waruwaru, Chicano) | 300 | Venezuela |
literature
- Willem FH Adelaar , Pieter C. Muysken : The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2004, ISBN 0-521-36275-X (area, not genetically divided).
- Robert MW Dixon : Australian Languages. Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2002, ISBN 0-521-47378-0 .
- Lyle Campbell : American Indian Languages. The historical Linguistics of Native America (= Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics. 4). Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1997, ISBN 0-19-509427-1 .
- Marianne Mithun: The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-23228-7 .
- Robert MW Dixon, Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (Eds.): The Amazonian Languages. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-57021-2 .
Web links
- ethnologue.com
-
Ernst Kausen : Classification of all languages in the world , therefore:
- The classification of the Australian languages. (DOC; 127 kB)
- The classification of the North American languages. (DOC; 138 kB)
- The classification of the Mesoamerican languages. (DOC; 93 kB)
- The classification of the South American languages. (DOC; 233 kB)