language isolate

A language isolate is a natural language with no demonstrable genetic relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been proved to descend from a common ancestor to any other language. Commonly cited examples include Korean, Basque, Ainu, Burushaski, and Japanese, although in each case a minority of linguists claims to have demonstrated a relationship with another language (see Dene-Caucasian and Altaic). Some languages became isolates in historical times, after all their known relatives became extinct. The Pirah language of Brazil is one such example, the last surviving member of the Mura family. Others, like Basque, have been isolates for as long as their existence has been documented. Language isolates may be seen as a special case of unclassified languages, being languages which remain unclassified even after extensive efforts. If eventually such efforts do prove fruitful, a language previously considered an isolate may no longer be considered one; and since linguists do not always agree on whether a genetic relationship has been demonstrated, it is often disputed whether a language constitutes a true isolate or not. A second use of the term understands "isolate" to be within a particular context. For instance, Albanian and Armenian are considered isolates within Indo-European. While part of the Indo-European family, they have no demonstrable close genetic relationship with any particular languages, but instead form independent branches of their own. However, without a disambiguating context, "isolate" is understood to be in the absolute sense.

Genetic relationship

The term "genetic relationship" is meant in the sense of historical linguistics, which claims that almost all languages spoken in the world today can be grouped by derivation from common ancestral languages into a relatively small number of families. For example, English is related to other Indo-European languages and Mandarin is related to many other Sino-Tibetan languages. By this criterion, each language isolate constitutes a family on its own, which explains the exceptional interest that those languages have received from linguists.

Looking for relationship

It is possible, though not certain, that all languages spoken in the world today are genetically related by descent from a single ancestral tongue. The established language families would then be only the upper branches of the genealogical tree of all languages. For this reason, isolate languages have been the object of numerous studies seeking to uncover their genealogy. For instance, Basque has been compared with every living and extinct language family known, from Sumerian to the South Caucasian — without conclusive results. There are some situations in which a language with no ancestor might arise. For example, if deaf parents were to raise a group of hearing children who have no contact with others until adulthood, they might develop a verbal language among themselves and keep using it later, teaching it to their children, and so on. Eventually, it could develop into the full-fledged language of a population. Such a situation is not very likely to occur at any one time but, looking at tens of thousands of years of human history plus pre-history, the likelihood of this occurring at least a few times increases.

Isolate, Not Isolated

One should not confuse the concept of a language isolate with a language whose speakers are isolated in some sense, such as people who have little contact with other cultures (like the language of Easter Island) or because they live far away from the regions where related languages are spoken (like the Malagasy language of Madagascar whose closest relatives are spoken in Kalimantan). These two languages are definitely not isolates.

List of language isolates

Below is a list of known language isolates, along with notes on possible relations to other languages or language families:

Comments
Adai	Spoken in Texas and Louisiana, United States.
Aikan	Spoken in Rondnia, Brazil.
Alagilac	Spoken in Guatemala.
Andoque	Spoken in Colombia and Peru.
Atakapa	Spoken in Texas and Louisiana, United States.
Ainu	Endangered language that is spoken in northern Japan.
Baenan	Spoken in Brazil.
Basque	No known living relatives; found in the Basque region of France and Spain. Aquitanian is commonly regarded as a direct ancestor of Basque. Some linguists have claimed similarities with various languages of the Caucasus, especially because of its ergative case system, but the resemblances seem superficial. Other linguists have proposed a relation to Iberic.
Beothuk	Spoken in Newfoundland, Canada.
Betoi	Spoken in Colombia.
Birale (Ongota)	Often considered Afroasiatic.
Burushaski	Little information is available.
Calusa	Spoken in Florida, United States.
Cams	Spoken in Colombia.
Canichana	Spoken in Bolivia.
Cayubaba	Spoken in Bolivia.
Cayuse	Spoken in Oregon and Washington, United States.
Chimariko	Spoken in California, United States.
Chitimacha	Spoken in Louisiana, United States.
Coahuilteco	Spoken in Texas, United States and northeastern Mexico.
Cofn	Spoken in Colombia and Ecuador.
Cotoname	Spoken in Texas, United States and northeastern Mexico.
Cuitlatec	Spoken in Guerrero, Mexico.
Culle	Spoken in Peru.
Elamite	Extinct language of Elamite Empire. Some conjecture a relationship to the Dravidian languages.
Esselen	Spoken in California, United States.
Etruscan	Language of the ancient Etruscans in northwestern Italy; not well understood at present.
Gamela	Spoken in Maranho, Brazil.
Gorgotoqui	Spoken in Bolivia.
Hadza	Often listed as an outlier among the Khoisan languages.
Haida	Spoken in Alaska, United States and British Columbia, Canada. Some proposals to connect to Na-Den languages.
Huamo	Spoken in Pernambuco, Brazil.
Huave	Spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Iberic	There are lexical coincidences with Basque, but it is hard to know if they are more than a result of vicinity.
Irantxe	Spoken in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Itonama	Spoken in Bolivia.
Jalaa	An endangered language of northeastern Nigeria.
Japanese	Possibly related to Korean language, though not yet proven. Connections to the Altaic languages have also been proposed. See Altaic hypothesis for these theories.
Jot	Spoken in Venezuela.
Kalto	Also called Nahali, it is a near-extinct language of western India.
Karankawa	Spoken in Texas, United States.
Karir	Spoken in Paraba, Pernambuco, and Cear, Brazil.
Karok	Spoken in California, United States.
Ket	No known relatives. Some linguists have attempted to show a relationship with Burushaski.
Koay	Spoken in Rondnia, Brazil.
Konomihu	Spoken in California, United States.
Korean	Possibly related to Japanese language, though not yet proven. Connections to the Altaic languages have also been proposed. See the Altaic hypothesis for these theories.
Kukur	Spoken in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Kutenai	Spoken in Idaho and Montana, United States and British Columbia, Canada.
Kwadi	Often listed as an outlier among the Khoisan languages.
Kusunda	Nearly extinct language of Nepal. Sometimes considered one of the Tibeto-Burman languages.
Laal	Unclassified; sometimes considered Niger-Congo.
Mapudungu	Spoken in Chile and Argentina.
Maratino	Spoken in northeastern Mexico.
Mekejir (Shabo)	Often considered Nilo-Saharan.
Meroitic	Extinct language of ancient kingdom of Meroe (Kush).
Movima	Spoken in Bolivia.
Munichi	Spoken in Peru.
Nambiquaran	Spoken in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Naolan	Spoken in Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Natchez	Spoken in Mississippi and Louisiana, United States.
Nat	Spoken in Pernambuco, Brazil.
Nivkh	Also known as Gilyak. A Palaeosiberian language spoken in the lower Amur River basin and on the Sakhalin Islands. Ainu is also spoken on Sakhalin.
Omurano	Spoken in Peru.
Oropom	Possibly nonexistent.
Ot	Spoken in So Paulo, Brazil.
Pankarar	Spoken in Pernambuco, Brazil.
Pirah	Related to languages that have recently become extinct. Only known language with no number terminology, grammatical recursion, and several other unique features.
Puquina	Spoken in Bolivia.
Quinigua	Spoken in northeastern Mexico.
Sabela	Spoken in Ecuador and Peru.
Salinan	Spoken in California, United States.
Sandawe	Often listed as an outlier among the Khoisan languages.
Seri	Spoken in Sonora, Mexico.
Siuslaw	Spoken in Oregon, United States.
Solano	Spoken in Texas, United States and northeastern Mexico.
Sumerian	Long-extinct language of ancient Sumeria.
Taiap
Takelma	Spoken in Oregon, United States.
Tarairi	Spoken in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Tarascan	Latest research suggests the possibility that it may be related to a family of languages from Ecuador.
Tasmanian	Some theories suggest that they split Australian Aboriginal languages 10,000 years ago, but no conclusive proof exists.
Taushiro	Spoken in Peru.
Tequiraca	Spoken in Peru.
Ticuna	Spoken in Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.
Timucua	Spoken in Florida and Georgia, United States.
Tonkawa	Spoken in Texas, United States.
Tunica	Spoken in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, United States.
Tux	Spoken in Bahia and Pernambuco, Brazil. Now extinct.
Warao	Spoken in Guyana, Surinam, and Venezuela.
Washo	Spoken in California and Nevada, United States.
Xok	Spoken in Alagoas and Pernambuco, Brazil.
Xukur	Spoken in Pernambuco and Paraba, Brazil.
Ymana	Spoken in Chile.
Yana	Spoken in California, United States.
Yuchi	Spoken in Georgia and Oklahoma, United States. Connections to Siouan languages have been proposed.
Yukaghir	Connections to Uralic Languages have been proposed.
Yuracare	Spoken in Bolivia.
Yuri	Spoken in Colombia and Brazil.
Yurumangu	Spoken in Colombia.
Zuni	Spoken in New Mexico, United States. Connections to Penutian languages have been proposed.

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