Language isolate: Difference between revisions

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A '''language isolate''', in the absolute sense, is a [[natural language]] with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic") relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect [[language family|language families]] consisting of a single language. Commonly cited examples include [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Ainu language|Ainu]], and [[Burushaski language|Burushaski]], though in each case a minority of linguists claim to have demonstrated a relationship with another language (see [[Dene-Caucasian languages|Dene-Caucasian]], [[Karasuk languages|Karasuk]], and [[Altaic languages|Altaic]], for three examples).

With context, a language isolate may be understood to be ''relatively'' isolated. For instance, [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], and [[Greek language|Greek]] are commonly called 'Indo-European isolates'. While part of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European family]], they do not belong to any established branch (like the [[Romance languages|Romance]], [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]], [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] or [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] branches), but instead form independent branches of their own. However, without such a disambiguating context, "isolate" is understood to be in the absolute sense.