The geography and development of language isolates

Abstract

This contribution theorizes the historical dynamics of so-called language isolates, languages which cannot be demonstrated to belong to any known language family. On the basis of a qualitative review of how isolates, language families or their branches lost territory to other languages through time, I develop a simple model for the genesis of isolates as a function of proximity to major geographical barriers, and pit it against an alternative view that sees them as one manifestation of linguistic diversity generally. Using a variety of statistical techniques, I test both accounts quantitatively against a worldwide dataset of language locations and distances to geographical barriers, and find support for the position that views language isolates as one manifestation of linguistic diversity generally. However, I caution that different processes which are not necessarily mutually exclusive may have shaped the present-day distribution of language isolates. These may form elements of a broader theory of language isolates in particular and language diversity in general.