Ket-Navajo Linguistic Connection

Alice C. Linsley


This 2008 study showed that Ket, spoken in Siberia, and Na-Dene, the language of the Navajo, are cognate languages. Another study that traces the connection based on DNA has been reported at Science Daily.

Linguistic evidence indicates that the Yeniseian family of languages, spoken in central Siberia, is most closely related to the Na-Dene family of languages spoken, for the most part, in northwestern North America. This hypothesis locates the source of one of the three migrations responsible for the peopling of the Americas.

These reports indicate that some native peoples of the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and the American southwest came from Asia. This is not new information among anthropologists or linguists. What is new information is the migration of the Nilotic Annu. The Ainu did not come across the Bering Strait. They came through Finland, Greenland and Labrador to Eastern Canada. Why is this not grabbing media attention?

Many native peoples of the Atlantic coast of North America migrated from the Nile Valley, via Finland, Greenland and Labrador. These are the Ainu, a seafaring people who also went to Japan. The Ainu are at the center of Cavalli-Sforza's genetic distance chart, which is what we might expect from such an early migration out of Africa.

The Ainu are connected to Abraham's ancestors. Abraham's father held the title Tera which meant "priest" among the royal Ainu of the Upper Nile. Tera-neter means priest of  God. The name is associated with Het-u temples. Genesis 10 lists Het as a descendant of Noah. Het and Sidon are indicated as the original inhabitants of Canaan.


Related reading:  The Orign of the Na-Dene; Navajo and Ket are Cognate Languages; The Nile-Japan Ainu Connection; A Kindling of Ancient Memory

Navajo and Ket Are Cognate Languages

This Ket-Na-Dene connection is the first time a new world language group has been conclusively linked to an old world language group.

Comparative Linguist, Edward Vajda, says, "All known Yeniseic languages seem to be related at a time depth of about 2,500 years. The large number of cognates between them permits the reconstruction of much basic vocabulary, suggesting a proto-language spoken by mobile bands of hunter-gatherer-fishers in the boreal forests of northern Inner Asia."

Vajda is the director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham. His research links the Yeniseic language family in central Siberia with the Na-Dene languages in North America. The Yeniseic family includes the extinct languages Yugh, Kott, Assan, Arin, and Pumpokol. Only the Ket language is spoken today and according to Vajda, this language is on the verge of extinction with less than 200 speakers, most over the age of 50.

The reconstruction of proto-languages through the comparative method has proven an excellent tool in investigating migration theories, especially when used alongside biological and archaeological findings.

This study identifies 36 cognates common to the Yeniseian family and the Na-Dene family.

"Linguistic evidence indicates that the Yeniseian family of languages, spoken in central Siberia, is most
closely related to the Na-Dene family of languages spoken, for the most part, in northwestern North America. This hypothesis locates the source of one of the three migrations responsible for the peopling of the Americas." 

Related reading: Ket-Navajo Connection in the News