More Rule than Exception: Parallel Evidence of Ancient Migrations in Grammars and Genomes of Finno-Ugric Speakers.

Patrícia Santos,Giuseppe Longobardi,Andrea Ceolin,Emiliano Trucchi,Cristina Guardiano,Guido Cordoni,Guido Barbujani,Gloria Gonzàlez-Fortes

doi:10.3390/genes11121491

Abstract

To reconstruct aspects of human demographic history, linguistics and genetics complement each other, reciprocally suggesting testable hypotheses on population relationships and interactions. Relying on a linguistic comparative method based on syntactic data, here we focus on the non-straightforward relation of genes and languages among Finno-Ugric (FU) speakers, in comparison to their Indo-European (IE) and Altaic (AL) neighbors. Syntactic analysis, in agreement with the indications of more traditional linguistic levels, supports at least three distinct clusters, corresponding to these three Eurasian families; yet, the outliers of the FU group show linguistic convergence with their geographical neighbors. By analyzing genome-wide data in both ancient and contemporary populations, we uncovered remarkably matching patterns, with north-western FU speakers linguistically and genetically closer in parallel degrees to their IE-speaking neighbors, and eastern FU speakers to AL speakers. Therefore, our analysis indicates that plausible cross-family linguistic interference effects were accompanied, and possibly caused, by recognizable demographic processes. In particular, based on the comparison of modern and ancient genomes, our study identified the Pontic-Caspian steppes as the possible origin of the demographic processes that led to the expansion of FU languages into Europe.

Highlights

Darwin proposed that linguistic diversity along human history tends to be correlated with the biological differentiation of populations [1]
Genes 2020, 11, 1491 exception [2,4,7,8,9,10]. This implies that linguistic diversity may offer a set of testable hypotheses about the demographic processes shaping genetic diversity, and vice versa
We focus on Altaic- Finno-Ugric- (FU) and Indo-European(IE) speaking populations, with a special emphasis on FU speakers

Summary

Introduction

Darwin proposed that linguistic diversity along human history tends to be correlated with the biological differentiation of populations [1]. Through a multidisciplinary approach comparing grammars and genomes, we contribute to a better understanding of population diversity, both cultural and biological, in western/Central Eurasia. The reason is that FU has appeared as a possible exception to the general gene-language correspondence. The westernmost FU-speaking populations in northern and especially Central Europe have been shown to display a peculiar exception to the conclusion that, in Europe, grammars are better predictors of genetic distances than geography [4]. This exception is worth some further investigation

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion