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.
120 statements marked Debated.
Tibetan Script, In Use Since (Year)620
Tibetan Script, Scripts
Standing
Concerns In Use Since (Year)
Currently States 620
Traditionally dated to c. 620 under King Songtsen Gampo, but the historical existence of Thonmi Sambhota, the minister credited with its invention, is difficult to verify, and the earliest Tibetan chronicles do not mention him.
Source Wikipedia: Tibetan Script
Tibeto-Burman, Proto-Language StatusDebated: Tibeto-Burman has not been demonstrated to be a valid subgroup in its own right, so no securely reconstructed Proto-Tibeto-Burman is treated as settled
Tibeto-Burman, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Debated: Tibeto-Burman has not been demonstrated to be a valid subgroup in its own right, so no securely reconstructed Proto-Tibeto-Burman is treated as settled
Tibeto-Burman as a coherent clade separate from Sinitic within Sino-Tibetan has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the field, so no proto-language for it is treated as securely reconstructed.
Source Wikipedia: Tibeto-Burman languages
Tomini-Tolitoli languages, Proto-Language StatusNot established, since the unity of the group itself has not been demonstrated
Tomini-Tolitoli languages, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Not established, since the unity of the group itself has not been demonstrated
Source Tomini-Tolitoli languages, Wikipedia
Totonacan, Proto-Language StatusA consonant inventory has been reconstructed for proto-Totonacan (Arana Osnaya 1953) and later refined, but the family's proposed genetic link to Mixe-Zoque remains unconfirmed.
Totonacan, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States A consonant inventory has been reconstructed for proto-Totonacan (Arana Osnaya 1953) and later refined, but the family's proposed genetic link to Mixe-Zoque remains unconfirmed.
Source Wikipedia: Totonacan languages
Trans-New Guinea, Proto-Language StatusA core of roughly 35-40 subgroups is accepted as genuinely related on the strength of regular sound correspondences; the family's outer boundary is contested.
Trans-New Guinea, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States A core of roughly 35-40 subgroups is accepted as genuinely related on the strength of regular sound correspondences; the family's outer boundary is contested.
William Foley rejects much of Stephen Wurm's broader evidence as merely typological rather than genetic, and Matthew Dryer (2022) has questioned classifications resting mainly on pronoun similarities, which may reflect contact between neighboring languages rather than common descent.
Source Wikipedia: Trans-New Guinea Languages
Tsimshianic, Proto-Language StatusConsidered by most linguists an independent language family with four main languages: Coast Tsimshian, Southern Tsimshian, Nisga'a and Gitksan. Edward Sapir's inclusion of Tsimshianic in his broader Penutian hypothesis is not widely accepted in its full form; Marie-Lucie Tarpent has judged a Penutian connection probable, while other scholars hold Tsimshianic is not closely related to any other North American language.
Tsimshianic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Considered by most linguists an independent language family with four main languages: Coast Tsimshian, Southern Tsimshian, Nisga'a and Gitksan. Edward Sapir's inclusion of Tsimshianic in his broader Penutian hypothesis is not widely accepted in its full form; Marie-Lucie Tarpent has judged a Penutian connection probable, while other scholars hold Tsimshianic is not closely related to any other North American language.
Source Wikipedia: Tsimshianic Languages
Turkic, Proto-Language StatusProto-Turkic is reconstructed via the comparative method and is securely established. Its proposed deeper unity with Mongolic and Tungusic under an Altaic macrofamily is a disputed and largely rejected hypothesis, not standard classification.
Turkic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Proto-Turkic is reconstructed via the comparative method and is securely established. Its proposed deeper unity with Mongolic and Tungusic under an Altaic macrofamily is a disputed and largely rejected hypothesis, not standard classification.
The internal Proto-Turkic reconstruction is not in dispute; the external Altaic hypothesis linking it to Mongolic and Tungusic is.
Source Glottolog
Ugric, Proto-Language StatusA common Proto-Ugric language is posited by comparative linguists, though Holopainen (2023) argues many shared Ugric vocabulary items show too much irregularity in sound correspondences to be derived from one common proto-language and may instead be independent borrowings among Hungarian, Mansi and Khanty.
Ugric, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States A common Proto-Ugric language is posited by comparative linguists, though Holopainen (2023) argues many shared Ugric vocabulary items show too much irregularity in sound correspondences to be derived from one common proto-language and may instead be independent borrowings among Hungarian, Mansi and Khanty.
Source Wikipedia: Ugric Languages
Uralic, Common NameFinno-Ugric
Uralic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Common Name
Currently States Finno-Ugric
Sometimes used as a loose synonym for Uralic, but more accurately denotes a narrower, disputed subdivision of the Uralic family excluding the Samoyedic languages; not a strict synonym.
Source Wikipedia: Uralic Languages
Volta-Congo, Proto-Language StatusThe genetic unity of Volta-Congo was substantially established by comparative research beginning with John M. Stewart in the 1960s and 1970s, but the results remain tentative, and some researchers suggest the branches may reflect a dialect continuum rather than clearly separated families.
Volta-Congo, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States The genetic unity of Volta-Congo was substantially established by comparative research beginning with John M. Stewart in the 1960s and 1970s, but the results remain tentative, and some researchers suggest the branches may reflect a dialect continuum rather than clearly separated families.
Source Wikipedia: Volta-Congo Languages
Weser-Rhine Germanic, RegionAround the Weser and Rhine rivers
Weser-Rhine Germanic, Proto-Language StatusProposed subgroup; existence widely doubted
West Atlantic, Proto-Language StatusIts unity as a single genealogical group is disputed. The wide traditional concept of Atlantic including the Southern Atlantic languages is no longer accepted by current scholarship.
West Atlantic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Its unity as a single genealogical group is disputed. The wide traditional concept of Atlantic including the Southern Atlantic languages is no longer accepted by current scholarship.
Source Wikipedia: Atlantic Languages
West Bird's Head, Proto-Language StatusNo published reconstruction of a proto-West Bird's Head language was found; the six-language family's own internal unity is treated as well established, but its proposed external link to the North Halmahera languages of North Maluku is disputed.
West Bird's Head, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States No published reconstruction of a proto-West Bird's Head language was found; the six-language family's own internal unity is treated as well established, but its proposed external link to the North Halmahera languages of North Maluku is disputed.
Called a clear relationship by Reesink (1998), but the lexical evidence supporting a North Halmahera link is termed flimsy and inconclusive by Holton and Klamer (2018).
Source Wikipedia: West Bird's Head languages
West Germanic, Proto-Language StatusScholars have long disputed whether shared West Germanic features reflect a genuine common proto-language or arose instead through Sprachbund contact effects among neighboring dialects; individual Proto-West Germanic lexemes have nonetheless been reconstructed.
West Germanic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Scholars have long disputed whether shared West Germanic features reflect a genuine common proto-language or arose instead through Sprachbund contact effects among neighboring dialects; individual Proto-West Germanic lexemes have nonetheless been reconstructed.
Source Wikipedia: West Germanic Languages
West Papuan languages, Proto-Language StatusNot established as a proper family; may be an areal network
West Papuan languages, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Not established as a proper family; may be an areal network
Sources describe the classification as contested
Source West Papuan languages - Wikipedia
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