Transeurasian as a continuum of diffusion

Abstract

Intermingling of Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic speakers over many centuries left multiple overlapping layers of contact-induced language change in their wake. While the dynamics of pastoralist mobility spread linguistic traits far and wide, it remains unresolved whether contact alone (together with coincidental resemblance) can account for all of the shared features in the families traditionally grouped as “Altaic,” or whether some homologies represent evidence of deeper common ancestry. Without arguing strongly for or against either possibility, this chapter considers how typological parallels may have diffused among pastoral Inner Eurasia’s four autochthonous families—Uralic, Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic—and also into Yeniseian, Yukaghir, Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Nivkh, Ainu, Koreanic, and Japonic—families and isolates that interacted less pervasively with steppe and forest pastoralists.