A legkeletibb uráliak

The author argues that the Uralic language family spread originally from a relatively limited eastern homeland, located in the region between the upper courses of the Ob and the Yenisei. This conclusion is supported both by the internal structure of the Uralic language family and by its external areal and typological connections with the languages of the Altaic complex. To describe the relations between the Uralic and the so-called Altaic languages, the author proposes the term Ural–Altaic Phenomenon. The homelands of the Altaic languages were located in Manchuria, including Korea and adjacent parts of northern China. There are reasons to assume that the territory between Uralic and the Altaic languages was once filled by Para-Uralic languages, which would have been collaterally related to Uralic, and which would have formed a direct areal link between Uralic and the Altaic complex. With the spread of Uralic towards the west and north, its easternmost and southernmost members became gradually extinct. The main mechanism of both expansion and extinction has always been language shift.