Proposed larger groupings of languages and language families that are debated or rejected by many linguists. They represent hypotheses of remote kinship that the evidence does not yet establish, and are treated here as proposals rather than settled families. They are included because writers on religion and culture often cite them, but the reader should treat each as an open question rather than an agreed finding of historical linguistics. Members placed here so far include Altaic, Nostratic, Dene-Caucasian.
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Proposed Groupings (Language Families)
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Altaic languages (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Altaic, Lead sentence, classQuote, Has Member: Altaic, Lead sentence, class
The grouping was previously proposed as a language family, a theory which found support in the 20th century but is now rejected by many linguists, who have concluded the similarities among Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages are better explained by areal convergence rather than a shared genetic lineage.
Nostratic languages (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Nostratic, Lead sentence, classQuote, Has Member: Nostratic, Lead sentence, class
Nostratic is a hypothetical language macrofamily including many of the language families of northern Eurasia, first proposed in 1903.
Dené-Caucasian languages (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Dene-Caucasian, Lead sentence, classQuote, Has Member: Dene-Caucasian, Lead sentence, class
A narrower connection specifically between North American Na-Dené and Siberian Yeniseian (the Dené-Yeniseian languages hypothesis) was proposed by Edward Vajda in 2008, and was met with some acceptance within the community of professional linguists.
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