Mitian
Mitian is a term for a cluster of language families of nortern Eurasia and the North American arctic which are characterized by similar 1st and 2nd person pronoun roots, *mi and *ti, respectively, or similar (hence the designation "Mitian"). The groups consists of the following language families (in a west-to-east order):
- Indo-European
- Uralic
- Turkic
- Mongolic
- Tungusic
- Nivkh
- Yukaghir
- Chukotko-Kamchatkan
- Eskimo-Aleut
The resemblance of a pair of personal pronouns, however, is generally considered not sufficient to prove a relationship. Yet, the fact that these pronouns bear resemblance within a group of nine language families occupying a contiguous area strongly suggests that a common origin of these languages is likely, especially as the area in question has been characterized by large-scale migrations throughout history (and probably ever since the last glaciation) and thus constitutes a typical linguistic spread zone in which a single linguistic lineage could have spread across the entire area within a few thousand years.
The case needs to be investigated further by means of the traditional comparative method.
Suggested subgroups of Mitian
The Indo-Uralic hypothesis, linking Indo-European and Uralic, has many adherents. Also very popular is the hypothesis of a close relationship between Uralic and Yukaghir. Michael Fortescue, in his 1998 book Language Relations Across Bering Strait, proposes a Uralo-Siberian group consisting of Uralic, Yukaghir, Chukotko-Kamchatkan and Eskimo-Aleut.
The Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic languages have long been considered branches of a single family called Altaic, to which some scholars furthermore added Korean and Japanese. The validity of this family is now controversial.
