Dene-Yeniseian Languages
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This page is intended as a focal point for up-to-date information about work on the genetic relationship between Dene and Yeniseian languages. The Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis proposes a genetic relationship between the Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit (or Dene) languages of North America and the Yeniseian languages of Central Siberia. In contrast to previous proposals to link Dene languages with languages of the Old World, the D-Y hypothesis is based on the identification of systematic parallels between Proto-AET and Yeniseian languages -- a comparison made possible by recent advances in historical AET linguistics. The D-Y hypothesis was publicly examined at a February 2008 symposium held in Fairbanks and Anchorage. The proposal was favorably received by a number of prominent experts in AET languages and historical linguistics.
News
- The next issue (Vol 5, New Series) of the Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska (APUA) is entitled The Dene-Yeniseian Connection. Ben Potter is the managing editor and James Kari is the special volume editor. This volume will contain most papers from the Feb. 26-29, 2008, symposium in Fairbanks and Anchorage with the addition of several contributed papers. The tentative Table of Contents for the volume is now available. We expect the issue to come out in March 2010, and advance sale of the volume should begin early in 2010. Contact Jim Kari at james.kari@alaska.edu if you have questions about this issue of APUA. [2009-11-19]
- The 2009 Athabaskan (Dene) Languages Conference featured a special session on Athabaskan origins.
- While we have used both Yeniseian and Yeniseic when referring to Ket and its extinct relatives, in future publications we will standardize to the term Yeniseian. Not ony does this practice more closely follow standard English derivational rules, it also -- as Vajda notes -- "better underscores the stark genetic division between this family and other North Asian families named with words ending in the suffix -ic (Tungusic, Turkic, Samoyedic)." [2009-02-02]
- There are still over 60 Dene-Yeniseian Symposium papers and background readings available at UAF Library’s E-Res page (password = D-Y). Ed Vajda’s and Jeff Leer’s papers are posted there as are other background readings. Some of the links to news items about Dene-Yeniseian are posted in a file called “D-Y links.” [2008-10-21]
Archive Documents
- Feb 2008 Workshop Summary [English | Russian]
- Vajda's symposium paper, A Siberian Link to Na-Dene languages [pdf] (brief overview)
- Symposium background readings (use the password "D-Y").
Dene-Yeniseian in the Press
- A 10,000-year-old word puzzle, an April 14, 2008 Toronto Globe and Mail story by Michael Erard
- Siberian, Native American Languages Linked -- A First, March 26, 2008 article in National Geographic News
- Distant Native languages bridge Bering Sea, article by George Bryson which appeared in March 4, 2008 issue of Anchorage Daily News.
- Old language a new cultural bridge, Anchorage Daily News column by Alan Boraas
- A Beringian bombshell, blog entry by Colby Cosh on the National Post
- Linguists demonstrate Siberian-North American link , LinguistList report by Johanna Nichols
- Verb Across the Bering Strait, Science vol. 319, 21 March 2008
Links of interest
- Multimedia Database of Ket Language, Moscow State (Lomonosov) University
- Comparative Athabascan Lexicon, ANLC
- Na-Dene Languages (Wikipedia)
- Yeniseic Languages (Wikipedia)
