Language Isolates

Language isolates, or alternatively isolated languages, are languages for which it has not, or not yet, been possible to establish genealogical connections. A language isolate therefore forms a self-contained language family (in the sense of a phylum or a lineage) of which it is the only known member. The qualifier “not yet” is necessary because the comparative method of historical linguistics, which is used to demonstrate such connections, can only prove that languages are genealogically related, never that they are not. Therefore, it is always possible that a language isolate may eventually lose that status if successfully connected genealogically to other languages. The extent of research that has been carried out to do so varies drastically from language isolate to language isolate; Basque is probably among the language isolates for which most effort has been invested, though without leading to evidence that would satisfy all or even just the majority of specialists. On the other hand, the genealogical status of a language that had been previously assigned to a family may be reconsidered at a later, more mature state of research. In the course of such reevaluations, it may be found that evidence for the classification has been insufficient, which necessitates removing that language from the family and assigning it isolate status for the time being. This in fact happened in the case of Basque, which at an earlier state of research had been thought to form a family with the extinct so-called Iberian language (however, given the definition above with the qualifier “the only known member,” a language that is the sole survivor of a once-larger family whose relatives have ceased to be spoken is usually not labeled language isolate). There are around 150–200 languages that may be considered language isolates. Stating a more precise figure is difficult and of little scientific interest, for several reasons. One is the evolving nature of language classification just mentioned. Another has to do with the poor state of documentation of some extinct languages, especially in the former colonial world. In such cases, available materials may be insufficient to classify the language (however, there are no hard-and-fast rules as to how much is sufficient, and there is therefore no sharp boundary between languages that are unclassifiable for lack of documentation and a language isolate). The other reason is more properly linguistic: like any other language, a language isolate may be dialectally diverse, and if that diversification continues, it will eventually turn into a language family. Huave, a language isolate of Mexico, for instance, is now more commonly treated as a small Huavean language family of closely related languages.