Proto-Eskimo–Aleut language

Proto-Eskimo–Aleut was the common ancestor of the Eskimo languages and Aleut. Its existence is known through similarities in Eskimo and Aleut. The existence of Proto-Eskimo–Aleut is generally accepted among linguists. It was for a long time true that no linguistic reconstruction of Proto-Eskimo–Aleut had yet been produced, as stated by Bomhard (2008:209). Such a reconstruction was offered by Knut Bergsland in 1986. Michael Fortescue (1998:124-125) has offered another version of this system, largely based on the reconstruction of Proto-Eskimo in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary he co-authored with Steven Jacobson and Lawrence Kaplan (1994:xi).

Phonology

Fortescue reconstructs the phoneme inventory of Proto-Eskimo-Aleut as follows:^[1]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Velar	Uvular
			plain	palatalized
Nasal		m	n	(nʲ)[decimal 1]	ŋ
Plosive		p	t	tʲ	k	q
Affricate			c[decimal 2]	sʲ[decimal 2]
Fricative	voiceless
	voiced	v	ð		ɣ	ʁ
Lateral fricative			(ɬ)[decimal 3]
Approximant			ɬ	j[decimal 4]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid		ə
Open		a

Notes:

1. • /nʲ/ may not have been distinct from */n/; Fortescue reconstructs it for the correspondence of "Sirenikski Eskimo initial /j/, elsewhere /n/".
2. It is not clear from Fortescue's description whether the sounds denoted by */c/ and */sʲ/ were affricates [ts tsʲ] or fricatives [s sʲ].
3. • /ɬ/ may have been a later development from clusters of */ɬ/ with a plosive.
4. • /j/ was most likely a fully palatal approximant, but it is grouped with the palatalized alveolars for convenience.

Possible relation to other language families

There are no generally accepted relations between Proto-Eskimo–Aleut and other language families. A substantial case for a genetic relationship between Proto-Eskimo–Aleut and several languages of northern Eurasia was published by Michael Fortescue in 1998 in Language Relations across Bering Strait (see Uralo-Siberian languages).

References

1. Fortescue 1998, pp. 124–125

Bibliography

• Bergsland, Knut. 1986. "Comparative Eskimo–Aleut phonology and lexicon." Journal de la Société finno-ougrienne 80:63-137.
• Bomhard, Allan R. 2008. Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic: Comparative Phonology, Morphology, and Vocabulary, 2 volumes. Leiden: Brill.
• Fortescue, Michael, Steven Jacobson, and Lawrence Kaplan. 1994. Comparative Eskimo Dictionary with Aleut Cognates. Alaska Native Language Center.
• Fortescue, Michael. 1998. Language Relations across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. London and New York: Cassell.