Abstract
The historical connection between the Transeurasian languages, i.e. the Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic, and Turkic languages, is among the most disputed issues of historical linguistics. Here, we will combine the power of classical historical-comparative linguistics and computational Bayesian phylogenetic methods to infer a phylogeny of the Transeurasian languages. To this end, we will use lexical etymologies supporting the reconstruction of proto-Transeurasian forms with meanings that belong to the Leipzig-Jakarta 200 basic vocabulary list. Our application of Bayesian phylogenetic inference to the classification of the Transeurasian languages is unprecedented. In addition to the methodological implications for Bayesian inference applied to proposed language phyla at relatively deep time depths and with relatively sparse sets of surviving daughter languages, our research has also factual implications for the existing theories of Transeurasian relationships. Our results move the field forward in that they provide a quantitative basis to test various competing hypotheses with regard to the internal structure of the Transeurasian family.
Highlights
The term ‘Transeurasian’ refers to a group of geographically adjacent and structurally homogeneous languages across Eurasia that consists of up to five different families: the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Koreanic, and Japonic languages
We will combine the power of classical historical-comparative linguistics and computational Bayesian phylogenetic methods to infer a phylogeny of the Transeurasian languages
As early as 1692, Nicolaes Witsen first mooted the contours of the Transeurasian language family, but Ramstedt is usually considered the founder of Transeurasian linguistics because he established a modern linguistic framework for Transeurasian comparison, supported by regular sound correspondences (1957) and morphological cognates (1952)
Summary
The term ‘Transeurasian’ refers to a group of geographically adjacent and structurally homogeneous languages across Eurasia that consists of up to five different families: the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Koreanic, and Japonic languages. It was coined by Johanson and Robbeets (2010: 1–2) to complement the traditional term ‘Altaic’, which we reserve for the unity of the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages only. These numbers approximate the number of languages per family recognized by Glottolog
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