Proto-Eskaleut language
# Proto-Eskaleut language

Proto-Eskaleut, Proto-Eskimo–Aleut or Proto-Inuit-Yupik-Unangan is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Eskaleut languages, family containing Eskimo and Aleut. Its existence is known through similarities in Eskimo and Aleut. The existence of Proto-Eskaleut is generally accepted among linguists. It was for a long time true that no linguistic reconstruction of Proto-Eskaleut had yet been produced, as stated by Bomhard (2008:209). Such a reconstruction was offered by Knut Bergsland in 1986. Michael Fortescue (1998:124–125) has offered another version of this system, largely based on the reconstruction of Proto-Eskimo in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary he co-authored with Steven Jacobson and Lawrence Kaplan (1994:xi).

## Phonology

Fortescue reconstructs the phoneme inventory of Proto-Eskaleut as follows:

Consonants :

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Velar | Uvular |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | Labial | plain | palatalized | Velar | Uvular |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | (nʲ) | ŋ | |
| Plosive | Plosive | p | t | tʲ | k | q |
| Affricate | Affricate | | c | cʲ | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | | c | cʲ | | |
| Fricative | voiced | v | ð | | ɣ | ʁ |
| Lateral fricative | Lateral fricative | | (ɬ) | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | l | j | | |

Vowels :

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| Close | i | | u |
| Mid | | ə | |
| Open | | a | |

Notes:

* ↑ /nʲ/ may not have been distinct from */n/; Fortescue reconstructs it for the correspondence of "Sirenikski Eskimo initial /j/, elsewhere /n/".
* 1 2 It is not clear from Fortescue's description whether the sounds denoted by */c/ and */cʲ/ were affricates [ts tsʲ] or fricatives [s sʲ].
* ↑ /ɬ/ may have been a later development from clusters of */l/ with a plosive.
* ↑ /j/ was most likely a fully palatal approximant, but it is grouped with the palatalized alveolars for convenience.

## Possible relation to other language families

There are no generally accepted relations between Proto-Eskaleut and other language families. A substantial case for a genetic relationship between Proto-Eskaleut, Yukaghir and Uralic was published by Michael Fortescue in 1998 in Language Relations across Bering Strait (see Uralo-Siberian languages).

