Re: beyond languages

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...>
wrote:

> Ainu has many loanwords from Nivkh, Japanese and
> probably Tungusic. So beware of that. Paul Sidwell
> made the case that it's related to (I believe)
> Austro-Asiatic at some level and Vovin seconded that
> (albeit about 8 or 9 years ago).

John Bengtson (Mother Tongue XI) proposes Ainu as a member of
a "Greater Austric" macro-family which would also comprise
Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Daic, Hmong-Mien, and Nahali -- see the
pdf version of the paper at

http://jdbengt.net/articles/Austric.pdf

There's no genetic relationship of Ainu with Chinese or Uralic in
sight.

Regards,
Francesco