Cover not available

In:Investigating Language Isolates: Typological and diachronic perspectives
Edited by Iker Salaberri, Dorota Krajewska, Ekaitz Santazilia and Eneko Zuloaga
[Typological Studies in Language 135] 2025
► pp. 2–19

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Introduction

State of the art of research on language isolates

ORCiD logo with link | University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
ORCiD logo with link | University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
ORCiD logo with link | Public University of Navarre (UPNA)
ORCiD logo with link | University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
Published online: 16 January 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.135.intro
Abstract
This paper discusses the issues faced by linguists analyzing language isolates, namely their definition, recovering their histories, and commonly used methods that implicitly rely on non-isolate status. This is followed by a critical review of recent approaches meant to overcome these issues. We argue that the techniques used to retrieve the history of non-isolate languages are also valid for isolates, including the comparative method applied to dialects, internal reconstruction, the philological study of texts, the study of past and present situations of language contact, and typological comparison. Nevertheless, we contend that new methodologies should be developed and combined with the already existing ones. We conclude by summarizing how the papers included in this volume contribute to the study of isolates.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Problems relating to the study of language isolates
    • 2.1Defining language isolates
    • 2.2Recovering the history of language isolates
  • 3.Recent advances in the study of language isolates
  • 4.Contributions to this volume
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
References
Achar, Pandurang. 1971. Phonology and Morphonology of Gondi, with Particular Reference to the Parsi Gondi of Mandla and the Gondi of Balaghat and Betul. PhD dissertation, Ravishankar University.
Campbell, Lyle (ed). 2017a. Language Isolates. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017b. Introduction. In Language Isolates [Routledge Language Family Series], Lyle Campbell (ed), xi–xiv. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017c. Language isolates and their history. In Language Isolates [Routledge Language Family Series], Lyle Campbell (ed), 1–18. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. How many language families are there in the world? Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca “Julio de Urquijo” 52(1/2): 133–152. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Coetsem, Frans. 1988. Loan Phonology and the Two Transfer Types in Language Contact. Dordrecht: Foris. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crowley, Terry & Bowern, Claire. 2010. An Introduction to Historical Linguistics (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eberhard, David M., Simons, Gary F., & Fennig, Charles D. (eds). 2024. Ethnologue: Languages of the World (27th ed.). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics International. <[URL]>
Epps, Patience. 2020. Amazonian linguistic diversity and its sociocultural correlates. In Language Dispersal, Diversification, and Contact: a Global Perspective, Mily Crevels & Pieter Muysken (eds), 275–290. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Epps, Patience & Michael, Lev (eds). 2023a. Language Isolates I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Chapra. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(eds). 2023b. Language Isolates II: Kanoe to Yurakaré. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gamallo, Pablo, Pichel, José Ramon, & Alegria, Iñaki. 2020. Measuring language distance of isolated European languages. Information 11(4): 181. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Georg, Stefan (ed). 2015. Language Isolates (Vols. 1–4). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Gijn, Rik, Norder, Sietze, Arias, Leonardo, Emlen, Nicholas Q., Azevedo, Matheus C. B. C., Caine, Allison, Dunn, Saskia, Howard, Austin, Julmi, Nora, Krasnoukhova, Olga, Stoneking, Mark, & Wiegertjes, Jurriaan. 2022. The social lives of isolates (and small language families): the case of the Northwest Amazon. Interface Focus 13(20220054). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gorrochategui, Joaquín. 2018. La lengua vasca en la Antigüedad. In Historia de la lengua vasca, Joaquín Gorrochategui, Iván Igartua, & Joseba A. Lakarra (eds), 245–305. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Basque Government.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greenhill, Simon J., Hua, Xia, Welsh, Caela F., Schneemann, Hilde, & Bromhan, Lindell. 2018. Population size and the rate of language evolution: a test across Indo-European, Austronesian, and Bantu languages. Frontiers in Psychology 9(576). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hammarström, Harald, Forkel, Robert, Haspelmath, Martin, & Bank, Sebastian. 2024. Glottolog 5.0. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hantgan, Abbie & van Gijn, Rik. 2024. The limits of the comparative method: innovative approaches to understanding orphan languages. Workshop held at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea, 21–24 August 2024, University of Helsinki.
Heath, Jeffrey. 1978. Linguistic diffusion in Arnhem Land. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hombert, Jean-Marie & Philippson, Gérard. 2009. The linguistic importance of language isolates: the African case. In Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory 2, Peter K. Austin, Oliver Bond, Monik Charette, David Nathan, & Peter Sells (eds), 145–151. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kachru, Yamuna. 2006. Hindi. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju. 2003. The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mailhammer, Robert. 2007. The Germanic Strong Verbs: Foundations and Development of a New System. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. Etymology. In The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Claire Bowern & Bethwyn Evans (eds), 374–392. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meillet, André. 1925. La méthode comparative en linguistique historique. Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miestamo, Matti, Bakker, Dik, & Arppe, Antti. 2016. Sampling for variety. Linguistic Typology 20(2): 233–296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mithun, Marianne. 2017. Language isolates of North America. In Language Isolates [Routledge Language Family Series], Lyle Campbell (ed), 193–228. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitxelena, Koldo. 1964. Sobre el pasado de la lengua vasca. Donostia-San Sebastián: Auñamendi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Munshi, Sadaf. 2019. Srinagar Burushaski: A Descriptive and Comparative Account with Analyzed Texts. Leiden/Boston: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nagaraja, Keralapura S. 1999. Korku Language: Grammar, Texts, and Vocabulary. Tokyo: Tokyo University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2014. The Nihali Language (Grammar, Texts and Vocabulary). Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Natarajan, Gowravajjala V. 1985. Abujhmaria Grammar. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nettle, Daniel. 1999. Linguistic diversity of the Americas can be reconciled with a recent colonization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96(6): 3325–3329. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nichols, Johanna. 2009. Linguistic complexity: a comprehensive definition and survey. In Language Complexity as an Evolving Variable, Geoffrey Sampson, David Gil, & Peter Trudgill (eds), 110–125. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Saussure, Ferdinand. 1916. Cours de linguistique générale. Lausanne/Paris: Payot.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stilo, Donald L. 2005. Iranian as buffer zone between the universal typologies of Turkic and Semitic. In Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic, Éva Á. Csató, Bo Isaksson, & Carina Jahani (eds), 35–63. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomason, Sarah G. 2001. Language Contact. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trask, Robert L. 1997. The History of Basque. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter. 2011. Sociolinguistic Typology: Social Determinants of Linguistic Complexity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Urban, Matthias. 2021. The geography and development of language isolates. Royal Society Open Science 8(202232). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. Language isolates. In Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vaz, Christopher. 2005. A functional grammar sketch of Hill Madia. Summer Institute of Linguistics Electronic Working Papers 2005(14): 1–32.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vovin, Alexander. 2017. Origins of the Japanese language. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, Changyong, Yang, Sehung, & O’Grady, William. 2019. Jejueo: The Language of Korea’s Jeju Island. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue