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Ainu-Minoan languages

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Ainu-Minoan
(hypothetical)
Geographic
distribution		Abkhazia, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, India, Japan, Russia, Thailand, Turkey
Linguistic classificationhypothetical language macrofamily
Subdivisions

The Ainu-Minoan languages are a hypothetical macrofamily proposed by Alexander Akulov (2018) and supported by Tresi Nonno (2021). It is effectively a variant of the Dené–Caucasian languages, which is rejected by most linguists.[1]

Internal classification[edit]

Alexander Akulov (2015) is the first paper trying to prove a relation between the Ainu languages and Great Andamanese languages, in a hypothetical Ainu-Andamanese language family. For this, he uses the Prefixation Ability Index and the Verbal Grammar Correlation Index, two language comparison techniques developed by himself. According to him, this proves that Ainu would originate from further south than its present location, and that the two families would be about as distant as English and Persian (two Indo-European languages). He rejects the hypothesis that Ainu is related to the Austroasiatic, Austronesian or Altaic families, as he considers the genetic classification of languages to be based on syntax and grammar rather on the basis of lexicon, but supposes that Ainu-Andamanese may be linked to the West Papuan and North Halmahera families.

Afterwards, with the same methods, he extends his hypothesis to the Sino-Tibetan languages, forming an Ainu-Andamanese-Sino-Tibetan family. According to himself, Ainu is the closest to Qiang, which he explains by possible influence from Austric on Mandarin.

He then incorporates languages such as Northwest Caucasian, Minoan and Hattic into the macrofamily, which he renames the "Ainu-Minoan languages",[alpha 1] excluding a connection with Etruscan and the Hurro-Urartian languages due to their absence of prefixation and usage of suffixation and postpositions, and opening up possible connections to other languages. He then proposes the following classification:

 

Later, using words he considers to be cognates with Ket and Proto-Yeniseian with the Northwest Caucasian languages and Hattic, as well as loanwords of the hypothetical language of paja ul deˀŋ in Kildin Sámi, he puts the Yeniseian family and paja ul deˀŋ as being of Ainu-Minoan stock. He then reforms the classification, this time being split into two branches:

Ainu-Minoan
    • Western branch
    • Eastern branch
      • Sino-Tibetan
      • Ainu
      • Great Andamanese

He considers later that paja ul deˀŋ is intermediate between Yeniseian and other western Ainu-Minoan languages.

The Northeast Caucasian languages are later also included, but Akulov (2021a) criticizes Starostin's and other linguists' methods of comparing the "basic" lexicon. He also rejectds a connection between Northeast Caucasian and Hurro-Urartian.

Later, he proposes to add Sumerian to his hypothesis with the same methods, and writes off other hypotheses of the affiliation of Sumerian to be "naïve and amateurish" or looking "like a plot for a vaudeville sketch". He supposes Sumerian to be particularly close to Northeast Caucasian.

Proto-language[edit]

Proto-Ainu-Minoan
(hypothetical)
Reconstruction ofAinu-Minoan
Era50000-60000 BP

Proto-Ainu-Minoan is believed by its proponents to have existed around 50 000 to 60 000 years ago,[2] thus being very difficult to reconstruct, and the different branches would have separated after that time. The reconstructed form of "man" for Proto-Ainu-Minoan is *[k]wVd[V], based on proto-forms of its constituent languages.[2] Based on genetic analysis of haplogroup Y-D, present in Qiang, Tibetans, Andamanese and Ainu, Akulov supposes that the eastern branch of Ainu-Minoan originated in the Bay of Bengal. According to Tresi Nonno (2021), the Great Andamanese languages were the first to diverge from Eastern Ainu-Minoan.

Contradictions[edit]

The general consensus among linguists is that the language families are unrelated. In the case of certain language families, there is debate on the relations between them.

A possible connection between Ainu and Great Andamanese has only been studied by Akulov, but Ainu[3][4][5] and Great Andamanese[6] are generally considered to be individual language families unrelated to any other.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Akulov refers to his hypothetical language family by this name.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Campbell, Lyle (2017). Language Isolates. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-61090-8. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b Nonno, Tresi (May 2021). "A preliminary attempt to reconstruct the lexeme of "man" / "person" of the Ainu-Minoan proto-language" (PDF). Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics.
  3. ^ Strazny, Philipp (2013). Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-135-45523-1. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  4. ^ Heinrich, Patrick (2012). The Making of Monolingual Japan. Multilingual Matters. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-847-69656-4. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  5. ^ Gottlieb, Nanette (2005). Language and Society in Japan. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-521-53284-6. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  6. ^ Fedorak, Shirley A. (2013). Global Issues. University of Toronto Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-442-60598-5. Retrieved 12 March 2023.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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