Language isolate: Difference between revisions

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A '''language isolate''', or an '''isolated language''', is a [[language]] that has no demonstrable [[Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetic relationship]] with any other languages.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Campbell|first=Lyle|date=2010-08-24|title=Language Isolates and Their History, or, What's Weird, Anyway?|journal=Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society|language=en|volume=36|issue=1|pages=16–31|doi=10.3765/bls.v36i1.3900|issn=2377-1666|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Salaberri |first1=Iker |title=State of the art of research on language isolates: Introduction |date=2025-01-16 |work=Investigating Language Isolates: Typological and diachronic perspectives |pages=2–19 |editor-last=Salaberri |editor-first=Iker |url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/tsl.135.intro |access-date=2025-01-17 |series=Typological Studies in Language |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |language=en |doi=10.1075/tsl.135.intro |isbn=978-90-272-1899-5 |last2=Krajewska |first2=Dorota |last3=Santazilia |first3=Ekaitz |last4=Zuloaga |first4=Eneko |editor2-last=Krajewska |editor2-first=Dorota |editor3-last=Santazilia |editor3-first=Ekaitz |editor4-last=Zuloaga |editor4-first=Eneko|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Basque language|Basque]] in Europe, [[Ainu language|Ainu]]<ref name=":1" /> and [[Burushaski]] in Asia, [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]] in Africa, [[Haida language|Haida]] and [[Zuni language|Zuni]] in North America, [[Kanoê language|Kanoê]] and [[Trumai language|Trumai]] in South America, and [[Tiwi language|Tiwi]] in Oceania are all examples of such languages. The exact number of language isolates is yet unknown due to insufficient data on several languages.<ref>p. xi. Lyle Campbell. 2018. "Introduction". ''Language Isolates'' edited by Lyle Campbell, pp. xi–xiv. Routledge.</ref>

One explanation for the existence of language isolates is that they might be the last remaining member of a larger language family. Such languages might have had relatives in the past that may have since disappeared without being documented, leaving them an orphaned language. One example is the [[Ket language|Ket]] language spoken in [[Central Siberian Plateau|central Siberia]], which belongs to the wider [[Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian]] language family; had it been discovered in recent times independently from its probably now extinct relatives, such as [[Yugh language|Yugh]] and [[Kott language|Kott]], it would have been classified as an isolate. Another explanation for language isolates is that they arose independently in isolation and thus do not share a common linguistic genesis with any other language but themselves. This explanation mostly applies to [[sign languages]] that have developed independently of other spoken or signed languages.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Urban|first=Matthias|date=April 2021|title=The geography and development of language isolates|journal=Royal Society Open Science|language=en|volume=8|issue=4|pages=rsos.202232, 202232|article-number=rsos.202232 |doi=10.1098/rsos.202232|pmid=33996125|pmc=8059667|bibcode=2021RSOS....802232U|issn=2054-5703}}</ref>

Some languages once seen as isolates may be reclassified as small families if some of their dialects are judged to be sufficiently different from the standard to be seen as different languages. Examples include [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and [[Georgian language|Georgian]]: Japanese is now part of the [[Japonic languages|Japonic language family]] with the [[Ryukyuan languages]], and Georgian is the main language in the [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian language family]]. There is a difference between language isolates and [[unclassified languages]], but they can be difficult to differentiate when it comes to classifying [[extinct language]]s.<ref name=":1" /> If such efforts eventually do prove fruitful, a language previously considered an isolate may no longer be considered one, as happened with the [[Yanyuwa language]] of northern [[Australia]], which has been placed in the [[Pama–Nyungan languages|Pama–Nyungan]] family.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bradley|first=John|title=Wuka nya-nganunga li-Yanyuwa li-Anthawirriyarra = Language for us, the Yanyuwa Saltwater People: a Yanyuwa encyclopaedia|volume =1|date=2016|others=Jean F. Kirton, Elfreda MacDonald|isbn=978-1-925003-67-3|___location=North Melbourne, Vic|oclc=957570810}}</ref> Since linguists do not always agree on whether a genetic relationship has been demonstrated, it is often disputed whether a language is an isolate.