Language Isolates

Language Isolates: A Summary

• Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families.
• Examples of language isolates include Basque, Ainu, Sandawe, and Haida.
• One explanation for the existence of language isolates is that they might be the last remaining branch of a larger language family.
• Another explanation for language isolates is that they developed in isolation from other languages.
• There is a difference between language isolates and unclassified languages, but they can be difficult to differentiate when it comes to classifying extinct languages.
• A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic") relationship to any other known language.
• Unclassified languages are different from language isolates in that they have no demonstrable genetic relationships to other languages due to a lack of sufficient data.
• A number of sign languages have arisen independently, without any ancestral language, and thus are language isolates.
• Some languages once seen as isolates may be reclassified as small families because their genetic relationship to other languages has been established.
• Below is a list of known language isolates, arranged by continent, along with notes on possible relations to other languages or language families.
• With few exceptions, all of Africa's languages have been gathered into four major phyla.
• The genetic unity of some language families, like Nilo-Saharan, is questionable, and so there may be many more language families and isolates than currently accepted.