Nostratic: Sifting the Evidence

The "Nostratic" hypothesis, positing a common linguistic ancestor for a wide range of language families including Indo-European, Uralic, and Afro-Asiatic, has produced one of the most enduring and often intense controversies in linguistics. Overwhelmingly, though, both supporters of the hypothesis and those who reject it have not dealt directly with one another's arguments. This volume brings together selected representatives of both sides, as well as a number of agnostic historical linguists, with the aim of examining the evidence for this particular hypothesis in the context of distant genetic relationships generally.

The volume contains discussion of variants of the Nostratic hypothesis, the mathematics of chance in determining the relationships posited for Nostratic, and the evidence from particular branches posited in Nostratic, with responses and additional discussion by various scholars. Specifically, the volume includes contributions from A. Bomhard, J. Greenberg, A. Manaster-Ramer, K. Baertsch, K. Adams, and P. Michalove on variants of the Nostratic hypothesis, R. Oswalt and D. Ringe on the mathematics of chance in determining the relationships posited for Nostratic, and L. Campbell, C. Hodge, and A. Vovin on the evidence from particular branches posited in Nostratic, with responses and additional discussion by E. Hamp, B. Vine, W. Baxter, and B. Comrie.

The "Nostratic" hypothesis, one of the most enduring and often intense controversies in linguistics, has posited a common linguistic ancestor for a wide range of language families, including Indo-European, Uralic, and Afro-Asiatic. Overwhelmingly, however, both supporters and detractors of the hypothesis have not directly engaged with each other's arguments. This volume brings together selected representatives of both sides, as well as a number of agnostic historical linguists, with the aim of examining the evidence for this particular hypothesis in the context of distant genetic relationships generally.

The volume's contents include discussions of variants of the Nostratic hypothesis, the mathematics of chance in determining the relationships posited for Nostratic, and the evidence from particular branches posited in Nostratic. Contributors include A. Bomhard, J. Greenberg, A. Manaster-Ramer, K. Baertsch, K. Adams, and P. Michalove on the variants of the hypothesis, R. Oswalt and D. Ringe on the mathematics of chance, and L. Campbell, C. Hodge, and A. Vovin on the evidence from particular branches. These contributions are accompanied by responses and additional discussion from E. Hamp, B. Vine, W. Baxter, and B. Comrie.

The "Nostratic" hypothesis, which posits a common linguistic ancestor for a wide range of language families including Indo-European, Uralic, and Afro-Asiatic, has produced one of the most enduring and often intense controversies in linguistics. Overwhelmingly, however, both supporters and detractors of the hypothesis have not directly engaged with each other's arguments. This volume brings together selected representatives of both sides, as well as a number of agnostic historical linguists, with the aim of examining the evidence for this particular hypothesis in the context of distant genetic relationships generally.

The volume contains discussions of variants of the Nostratic hypothesis, the mathematics of chance in determining the relationships posited for Nostratic, and the evidence from particular branches posited in Nostratic. Contributors include A. Bomhard, J. Greenberg, A. Manaster-Ramer, K. Baertsch, K. Adams, and P. Michalove on the variants of the hypothesis, R. Oswalt and D. Ringe on the mathematics of chance, and L. Campbell, C. Hodge, and A. Vovin on the evidence from particular branches. These contributions are accompanied by responses and additional discussion from E. Hamp, B. Vine, W. Baxter, and B. Comrie.

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