Re: [tied] How should Nostratic be viewed?

Nostraticists generally tend to lump Japanese and Korean with "Altaic" in the traditional sense. Almost everybody agrees that Ainu has nothing to do with Japanese or Altaic. It remains a moot question whether "Altaic" is a bona fide family or a Sprachbund involving three genetically independent families (Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic). It's probably true that most Altaicists believe in the Altaic family, but there are voices of dissent that deserve to be heard out.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael J Smith" <lookwhoscross-eyednow@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>; <Nostratica@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2003 7:46 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] How should Nostratic be viewed?


> Hasn't there been dispute about Japanese and Korean being considered
> Altaic languages and also whether Ainu is an Altaic language? I've even
> seen a seperate Japanese-Korean family proposed, or both of them as
> language isolates.