Proto-Eskimo–Aleut


Proto-Eskimo–Aleut or Proto-Inuit-Yupik-Unangan is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Eskimo languages and Aleut. Its existence is known through similarities in Eskimo and Aleut. The existence of Proto-Eskimo–Aleut is generally accepted among linguists. It was for a long time true that no linguistic reconstruction of Proto-Eskimo–Aleut had yet been produced, as stated by Bomhard. Such a reconstruction was offered by Knut Bergsland in 1986. Michael Fortescue 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.

Phonology

Fortescue reconstructs the phoneme inventory of Proto-Eskimo–Aleut as follows:
FrontCentralBack
Close
Mid
Open

Notes:

Possible relation to other language families

There are no generally accepted relations between Proto-Eskimo–Aleut and other language families. A substantial case for a genetic relationship between Proto-Eskimo–Aleut and several languages of northern Eurasia was published by Michael Fortescue in 1998 in Language Relations across Bering Strait.