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.
West Semitic, Proto-Language StatusWest Semitic has no separately reconstructed proto-language of its own in general use; it names a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic set against East Semitic (the extinct Akkadian and Eblaite languages), a division coined by Fritz Hommel in 1883. Its internal shape stays contested: Robert Hetzron and John Huehnergard group Arabic with Northwest Semitic as Central Semitic, while a traditional classification instead groups Arabic with South Semitic (Ethiopic and Old and Modern South Arabian).
West Semitic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States West Semitic has no separately reconstructed proto-language of its own in general use; it names a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic set against East Semitic (the extinct Akkadian and Eblaite languages), a division coined by Fritz Hommel in 1883. Its internal shape stays contested: Robert Hetzron and John Huehnergard group Arabic with Northwest Semitic as Central Semitic, while a traditional classification instead groups Arabic with South Semitic (Ethiopic and Old and Modern South Arabian).
Classification breadth is genuinely disputed among linguists, per the cited article; the West Semitic node itself, not just one fact about it, is the debated part.
Source Wikipedia: West Semitic languages
Western Iranian, Proto-Language StatusWestern Iranian is directly attested rather than comparatively reconstructed from its earliest stage: Old Persian survives in Achaemenid royal inscriptions from roughly 600 to 300 BCE, most importantly the Behistun Inscription of 522 BCE, with the related Median language known only through loanwords preserved in Old Persian texts. Its modern grouping has no settled genetic classification: linguists Ludwig Paul and Gernot Windfuhr describe its languages as sitting on a scale of Northwesternness or Southwesternness rather than forming discrete daughter branches.
Western Iranian, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Western Iranian is directly attested rather than comparatively reconstructed from its earliest stage: Old Persian survives in Achaemenid royal inscriptions from roughly 600 to 300 BCE, most importantly the Behistun Inscription of 522 BCE, with the related Median language known only through loanwords preserved in Old Persian texts. Its modern grouping has no settled genetic classification: linguists Ludwig Paul and Gernot Windfuhr describe its languages as sitting on a scale of Northwesternness or Southwesternness rather than forming discrete daughter branches.
The historical attestation (Old Persian, Median) is solid; what is debated is only whether the modern Neo-Iranian languages form discrete genetic sub-branches at all.
Source Wikipedia: Western Iranian languages
Xincan, Proto-Language StatusXincan has no demonstrated affiliation with any other family. A proposed link to Lencan (Lehmann 1920) was never demonstrated, and a later automated lexical comparison found similarities that could reflect borrowing rather than common descent.
Xincan, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Xincan has no demonstrated affiliation with any other family. A proposed link to Lencan (Lehmann 1920) was never demonstrated, and a later automated lexical comparison found similarities that could reflect borrowing rather than common descent.
Source Wikipedia: Xincan languages
Yok-Utian languages, Proto-Language StatusProposed Yok-Utian proto-language, spoken in the Great Basin at least as early as 4500 BC
Yok-Utian languages, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Proposed Yok-Utian proto-language, spoken in the Great Basin at least as early as 4500 BC
Source Wikipedia: Yok-Utian languages