Language isolate

A language isolate is a <a href="/facts/Language/IRcTok2q">language</a> that has no demonstrable <a href="/facts/Genetic_relationship_(linguistics)/Wnl94kES">genetic relationship</a> with any other languages. <a href="/facts/Basque_language/rEMpH97p">Basque</a> in Europe, <a href="/facts/Ainu_language/CsYQnHv0">Ainu</a> and <a href="/facts/Burushaski/v2qN3z8j">Burushaski</a> in Asia, <a href="/facts/Sandawe_language/uyBM2qka">Sandawe</a> in Africa, <a href="/facts/Haida_language/eagRtcgI">Haida</a> and <a href="/facts/Zuni_language/34A7Bjv0">Zuni</a> in North America, <a href="/facts/Kano%25C3%25AA_language/hF8qTDI8">Kanoê</a> in South America, and <a href="/facts/Tiwi_language/PVyVN1XI">Tiwi</a> in Oceania are all examples of such languages. The exact number of language isolates is yet unknown due to insufficient data on several languages.
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 have since disappeared without being documented, leaving them an orphaned language. One example is the <a href="/facts/Ket_language/IvVPnSKW">Ket</a> language spoken in <a href="/facts/Central_Siberian_Plateau/c3TImUVL">central Siberia</a>, which belongs to the wider <a href="/facts/Yeniseian_languages/3Ef7J5WA">Yeniseian</a> language family; had it been discovered in recent times independently from its now extinct relatives, such as <a href="/facts/Yugh_language/13tsMEQ4">Yugh</a> and <a href="/facts/Kott_language/hNpIYpf0">Kott</a>, 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 <a href="/facts/Sign_languages/Wjfl9Db6">sign languages</a> that have developed independently of other spoken or signed languages.
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 <a href="/facts/Japanese_language/EEv485a5">Japanese</a> and <a href="/facts/Georgian_language/DoKtMLfq">Georgian</a>: Japanese is now part of the <a href="/facts/Japonic_languages/SV2A3d5y">Japonic language family</a> with the <a href="/facts/Ryukyuan_languages/jusQa0ar">Ryukyuan languages</a>, and Georgian is the main language in the <a href="/facts/Kartvelian_languages/0SUb5BR9">Kartvelian language family</a>. There is a difference between language isolates and <a href="/facts/Unclassified_languages/JcDAqTlq">unclassified languages</a>, but they can be difficult to differentiate when it comes to classifying <a href="/facts/Extinct_language/ayaLa4DU">extinct languages</a>. If such efforts eventually do prove fruitful, a language previously considered an isolate may no longer be considered one, as happened with the <a href="/facts/Yanyuwa_language/Adb1DkfR">Yanyuwa language</a> of northern <a href="/facts/Australia/qLHpbppq">Australia</a>, which has been placed in the <a href="/facts/Pama%25E2%2580%2593Nyungan_languages/o934NJQT">Pama–Nyungan</a> family. Since linguists do not always agree on whether a genetic relationship has been demonstrated, it is often disputed whether a language is an isolate.

Language isolate open-in-new

Language isolate