The Siberian Connection

An upcoming symposium will explore possible linguistic connection between the Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit (Dene) language family of North America and the Yeniseic family of central Siberia [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/dy2008.html]. Positing such long-distance genetic relationships between language families is certainly nothing new, and indeed, connections between some Yeniseic languages and Tlingit and Athabascan were proposed at least as early as 1923. However, most of this work lies at the margins of respectable linguistics. That is, it makes for exciting newspaper stories (think "Nostratic," the proposed proto-World language), but generally doesn't pan out in academic circles. Recent work in this area by Ed Vajda may be something quite different.

Vajda has delved into Yeniseic linguistics with a vengeance, publishing an excellent bibliography of Yeniseic research and a sketch grammar of Ket, one of the Yeniseic languages. Moreover, Vajda has also immersed himself in the rather opaque world of Athabascan linguistics as well. I first met him at a 1998 Athabascan Languages Conference, where he presented some of his initial ideas on the Dene - Yeniseic connection. What is particularly intriguing about Vajda's work is that he has gone beyond the mass comparison ("gee, don't these words look similar?") approach and begun to apply techniques from the established comparative method.

Vajda's work is complicated by the status of the Dene data. Work on reconstructing AET was begun long ago and was advanced primarily by Jeff Leer of the Alaska Native Language Center during the last couple decades. However, most of Leer's work has remained unpublished and inaccessible. This may be about to change as Leer is posed to release a major new paper detailing recent advances in AET comparison.

The upcoming workshop Feb 26, 27, and 29 will bring together Vajda, Leer, and a number of leading international scholars in order to examine the data more closely. If solid evidence for a Dene-Yeniseic connection can be found, this could be one of the most exciting advances in historical linguistics in recent times, helping to shed light on the prehistoric settlement of North America.