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Kozintsev A. The Dene-Caucasian Macrofamily: Lexicostatistical Classification and Homeland

A. Kozintsev
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS
Saint Petersburg, Russia
ORCID: 0000-0002-0165-8109
E-mail: alexanderkozintsev@yandex.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. To test the competing theories about the structure of the Dene-Caucasian (DC) macrofamily, the matrix of lexical matches between 42 extant and reconstructed DC languages (Basque, Burushaski, Yeniseian, Northwest Caucasian, eight Northeast Caucasian, 27 Sino-Tibetan, three Na-Dene) and 39 other languages, based on short (50-item) wordlists from The Tower of Babel: The Global Lexicostatistical Database, compiled by G. S. Starostin, A. S. Kassian, and M. A. Zhivlov, was subjected to several multivariate analyses. The articcle’s author constructed rooted networks and applied the quasi-spatial model, which has rarely been used in lexicostatistics. The results support the classification by G. Starostin et al. while revealing specific details that went unnoticed under a strictly genealogical approach. Basque is connected with Northeast Caucasian, specifically proto-Nakh, not only genealogically but also by areal ties. The Yeniseian-Burushaski clade appears to have had areal connections with Altaic. Na-Dene may be a Sprachbund rather than a clade. Based on geographic and genetic considerations, especially the distribution of the autosomal component ANE, the DC homeland, like that of Eurasian languages, was located in southern Siberia or eastern Kazakhstan.

Moreover, the filial branches of both macrofamilies expanded along the same four principal routes – western (toward Caucasus, Anatolia, and, in the case of DC, further west into Europe), northern (into the Siberian taiga), northeastern (toward Beringia), and eastern (toward northeastern China). The totality of genetic, craniological, and archaeological facts suggests that the Okunev and the Karasuk people were among the DC speakers. Their probable affiliation was Yeniseian, but the relic Okunev population may have been collaterally related also to other DC groups such as Na-Dene and Sino-Tibetan.

 

KEYWORDS: Lexicostatistics, Dene-Caucasian macrofamily, Basque, Burushaski, North Caucasian, Yeniseian, Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dene, population genetics, Okunev culture

 

DOI 10. 312 5 0/2 618 - 8 6 0 0 -2 02 3 -3 (21) - 45 - 67
УДК 81-112

 

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