Language Atlas
Claims this atlas currently marks as unsettled or as tested and found false. A debated fact is one scholars hold competing positions on; a debunked one has been checked against the record and found not to hold. Both are kept in view rather than quietly smoothed over, with the reasoning that put each one where it stands.
124 statements.
North Dravidian languages, Proto-Language StatusNorth Dravidian (or Brahui-Kurukh-Malto) has a reconstructed Proto-Northern Dravidian ancestor comprising Brahui, and Kurukh-Malto. Specialists differ somewhat on the internal grouping of its members.
North Dravidian languages, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States North Dravidian (or Brahui-Kurukh-Malto) has a reconstructed Proto-Northern Dravidian ancestor comprising Brahui, and Kurukh-Malto. Specialists differ somewhat on the internal grouping of its members.
Dravidianists differ somewhat in how Brahui, Kurukh and Malto are internally grouped (Subrahmanyam 1983, Zvelebil 1990, Krishnamurthi 2003), though the branch itself and its reconstructed Proto-Northern Dravidian ancestor are standard in the field.
Source Wikipedia: North Dravidian languages
North Sea Germanic, Proto-Language StatusWhether the shared features of North Sea Germanic come from a genuine common proto-language or instead arose through later language contact and mutual influence among neighboring dialects is itself an open scholarly debate.
North Sea Germanic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Whether the shared features of North Sea Germanic come from a genuine common proto-language or instead arose through later language contact and mutual influence among neighboring dialects is itself an open scholarly debate.
Source Wikipedia: North Sea Germanic
North-Central Vanuatu languages, Proto-Language StatusReconstructed by Ross Clark as an early mutually intelligible dialect chain; the grouping is not accepted by John Lynch (2018)
North-Central Vanuatu languages, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Reconstructed by Ross Clark as an early mutually intelligible dialect chain; the grouping is not accepted by John Lynch (2018)
The proto-language was reconstructed by Ross Clark as an early, mutually intelligible chain of dialects, but the article records that this is not accepted by Lynch (2018).
Source North-Central Vanuatu languages, Wikipedia
Northwest Germanic, Proto-Language StatusProto-Northwest Germanic, whether a unified proto-language is debated
Northwest Germanic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Proto-Northwest Germanic, whether a unified proto-language is debated
Source Northwest Germanic - Wikipedia
Nubian, Proto-Language StatusNubian is not securely placed above the family level: older classifications put it within Nilo-Saharan under Eastern Sudanic, but Glottolog treats it as its own primary family pending conclusive evidence either way.
Nubian, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Nubian is not securely placed above the family level: older classifications put it within Nilo-Saharan under Eastern Sudanic, but Glottolog treats it as its own primary family pending conclusive evidence either way.
Source Wikipedia: Nubian languages
Ongota, Proto-Language StatusClassification is genuinely obscure: proposed variously as Cushitic, Nilo-Saharan, a language isolate, an independent branch of Afroasiatic, a pidginised creole, or East Cushitic with a Nilo-Saharan substratum; more recent assessments treat it as an isolate heavily influenced by neighboring languages.
Ongota, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Classification is genuinely obscure: proposed variously as Cushitic, Nilo-Saharan, a language isolate, an independent branch of Afroasiatic, a pidginised creole, or East Cushitic with a Nilo-Saharan substratum; more recent assessments treat it as an isolate heavily influenced by neighboring languages.
Source Wikipedia: Ongota Language
Pama-Nyungan, Proto-Language StatusProto-Pama-Nyungan is reconstructed via the comparative method and computational phylogenetics, estimated at roughly 5,000 years old. Its status as a valid genetic family has been disputed by Dixon but is accepted by most other specialists.
Pama-Nyungan, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Proto-Pama-Nyungan is reconstructed via the comparative method and computational phylogenetics, estimated at roughly 5,000 years old. Its status as a valid genetic family has been disputed by Dixon but is accepted by most other specialists.
R. M. W. Dixon has argued the family is not a valid genetic group at all and treats Australian languages as a Sprachbund; Hale, Bowern and Atkinson and most other specialists accept the family and its comparative-method reconstruction.
Source Wikipedia: Pama-Nyungan Languages
Panini, Birth Year-400
Panini, Linguists
Standing
Concerns Birth Year
Currently States -400
Panini's exact dates are unresolved. Scholarly estimates range across the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, with a fourth-century-BCE floruit (contemporary with the rise of the Mauryan Empire) the most commonly cited middle estimate; some place him as early as the sixth century BCE, contemporary with the Buddha. No date more precise than a range commands consensus.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Papuan Gulf, Proto-Language StatusThe Papuan Gulf languages are treated as a proposed, not established, family uniting four branches: Kikorian, Strickland, Gogodala-Suki and Teberan-Pawaian.
Papuan Gulf, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States The Papuan Gulf languages are treated as a proposed, not established, family uniting four branches: Kikorian, Strickland, Gogodala-Suki and Teberan-Pawaian.
Marked as a proposed grouping in its own classification record; no proto-Papuan Gulf language has been reconstructed, and the four branches are united by preliminary typological and lexical similarity rather than systematic sound correspondences.
Source Wikipedia: Papuan Gulf languages
Payagua, Proto-Language StatusNo proto-language; classified as a language isolate
Payagua, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States No proto-language; classified as a language isolate
Campbell (2012) treats it as an isolate; other scholars have proposed Mataco-Guaicuru or Macro-Guaicuruan affiliations.
Source Payagua language, Wikipedia
Penutian, Proto-Language StatusNo secure Proto-Penutian has been reconstructed. Penutian is a proposed phylum uniting several California and Pacific Northwest language families; its validity as a single genetic unit remains disputed among specialists.
Penutian, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States No secure Proto-Penutian has been reconstructed. Penutian is a proposed phylum uniting several California and Pacific Northwest language families; its validity as a single genetic unit remains disputed among specialists.
Debated since the original 1913 Dixon and Kroeber proposal; some narrower groupings within it (Utian, Yok-Utian, Plateau Penutian) are more securely demonstrated than the phylum as a whole, and its unity remains disputed rather than established by the standard comparative method.
Source Wikipedia: Penutian Languages
Puroik, Proto-Language StatusDebated: traditionally considered a Sino-Tibetan language; Lieberherr and Bodt (2017) classify Puroik within the Kho-Bwa group, while Roger Blench (2011) considers it a language isolate.
Puroik, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Debated: traditionally considered a Sino-Tibetan language; Lieberherr and Bodt (2017) classify Puroik within the Kho-Bwa group, while Roger Blench (2011) considers it a language isolate.
Traditionally grouped as Sino-Tibetan; Lieberherr and Bodt (2017) place it within Kho-Bwa, while Blench (2011) argues for isolate status; no proto-language reconstruction is agreed on across these competing classifications.
Source Wikipedia: Puroik Language
Rongorongo, In Use Since (Year)1450
Rongorongo, Scripts
Standing
Concerns In Use Since (Year)
Currently States 1450
Genuinely disputed among scholars: proposed dates range from the 13th century, tied to the start of agricultural forest-clearing on the island, to as late as the 1770s, a hypothesis that the script was inspired by the 1770 Spanish annexation treaty and forgotten within a century. A 2024 Nature-published carbon-dating study of the Rome tablets found most dated to the 19th century, with one securely dated to the mid-15th century; that securely dated figure is recorded here as the best-attested physical date, not necessarily the invention date.
Source Wikipedia: Rongorongo
Sahaptian, Proto-Language StatusIts own two-language branch (Nez Perce and Sahaptin) is uncontroversial, but its place within the broader Penutian hypothesis remains a proposed, unconfirmed grouping.
Sahaptian, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Its own two-language branch (Nez Perce and Sahaptin) is uncontroversial, but its place within the broader Penutian hypothesis remains a proposed, unconfirmed grouping.
Source Wikipedia: Sahaptian Languages
Senu River, Proto-Language StatusNo proto-language reconstruction has been published. Family membership itself has shifted across classifications (Baron 1983, Usher 2020), and Laycock's earlier Kwomtari-Fas grouping is now considered spurious.
Senu River, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States No proto-language reconstruction has been published. Family membership itself has shifted across classifications (Baron 1983, Usher 2020), and Laycock's earlier Kwomtari-Fas grouping is now considered spurious.
Source Wikipedia: Senu River Languages
Senufo, Proto-Language StatusEstablished as its own branch of the Atlantic-Congo sub-family of Niger-Congo. Its earlier classification as a Gur language was called into doubt by Gabriel Manessy in 1975, and later scholarship has questioned a close relationship to Central Gur.
Senufo, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Established as its own branch of the Atlantic-Congo sub-family of Niger-Congo. Its earlier classification as a Gur language was called into doubt by Gabriel Manessy in 1975, and later scholarship has questioned a close relationship to Central Gur.
Source Wikipedia: Senufo Languages
Senufo, Speaker Count2700000.000000
Senufo, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Speaker Count
Currently States 2700000.000000
Estimates vary by source: Anne Garber puts total Senufo speakers at about 1.5 million, while Ethnologue counts 2.7 million; the higher Ethnologue figure is stored here.
Source Wikipedia: Senufo Languages
Sepik, Proto-Language StatusOriginally proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 as part of a broader Sepik-Ramu family; Malcolm Ross argues the most promising external relationship is instead with the Torricelli family, and Palmer (2018) classifies the Leonhard Schultze languages as an independent phylum separate from Sepik proper.
Sepik, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Originally proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 as part of a broader Sepik-Ramu family; Malcolm Ross argues the most promising external relationship is instead with the Torricelli family, and Palmer (2018) classifies the Leonhard Schultze languages as an independent phylum separate from Sepik proper.
Source Wikipedia: Sepik Languages
Singlish, Variety KindCreole or Pidgin
Sinitic, Proto-Language StatusDebated: no separately named Proto-Sinitic reconstruction is in general use; branches such as Min are commonly held to descend directly from the attested Old Chinese stage
Sinitic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Debated: no separately named Proto-Sinitic reconstruction is in general use; branches such as Min are commonly held to descend directly from the attested Old Chinese stage
No separately named Proto-Sinitic reconstruction is in general use; Sinitic branches are commonly described as descending directly from the attested Old Chinese stage rather than from a distinct reconstructed proto-language.
Source Wikipedia: Sinitic languages