The Unity and Diversity of Altaic

Bibliographic Data

ID13091724
AuthorsJuha Janhunen (0000-0003-1242-8808, University of Helsinki, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume9
Issue1
Pages135-154
Publication date2023-01-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnual Review of Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2333-9683 • E-ISSN: 2333-9691
PublisherAnnual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030521-042356
OpenAlexW4317038763
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited52

In popular conception, Altaic is often assumed to constitute a language family, or perhaps a phylum, but in reality, it involves a historical, areal, and typological complex of five separate language families of different origins—Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Koreanic, and Japonic—to which Uralic also adheres in the transcontinental context of Ural-Altaic. The similarities between the individual Altaic language families are due to prolonged contacts that have resulted in both lexical borrowing and structural interaction in a number of binary patterns. The historical homelands of the Altaic language families were located in continental Northeast Asia, but secondary expansions have subsequently brought these languages to most parts of northern and central Eurasia, including Anatolia and eastern Europe. The present review summarizes the basic facts concerning the Altaic language families, their common features, their patterns of interaction with each other and with other languages, and their historical and prehistorical context

Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Diversity (politics · Genealogy · Geography · Historical linguistics · Language family · Linguistics · Sociology · Anthropology · History · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy