Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin (russian: Серге́й Анато́льевич Ста́ростин; March 24, 1953 – September 30, 2005) was a Russian
historical linguist and
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
, perhaps best known for his reconstructions of hypothetical
proto-language
In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unattes ...
s, including his work on the controversial
Altaic theory, the formulation of the
Dené–Caucasian hypothesis, and the proposal of a
Borean language of still earlier date. He was also the author of a widely respected reconstruction of
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...
.
Theories
In 1986, Starostin and
Igor M. Diakonoff
Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (occasionally spelled Diakonov, russian: link=no, И́горь Миха́йлович Дья́конов; 12 January 1915 – 2 May 1999) was a Russian historian, linguist, and translator and a renowned expert on th ...
suggested that the
Hurro-Urartian languages belong to the
Northeast Caucasian
The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or ''Vainakh-Daghestani'', is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as ...
language family. Starostin was also instrumental in the reconstruction of
Proto-Kiranti,
Proto-Tibeto-Burman
Proto-Tibeto-Burman (commonly abbreviated PTB) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Tibeto-Burman languages, that is, the Sino-Tibetan languages, except for Chinese. An initial reconstruction was produced by Paul K. Benedict and since refined ...
,
Proto-Yeniseian
Proto-Yeniseian is the reconstruction of the language from which all Yeniseian languages are descended from. It is uncertain whether Proto-Yeniseian had a similar tone/pitch accent system as Ket
Kentucky Educational Television (KET) is a state ...
,
Proto-North-Caucasian, and
Proto-Altaic. He developed the hypothesis, originated by
Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur Khan in the 17th century, but really revived by
Gustaf John Ramstedt
Gustaf John Ramstedt (October 22, 1873 – November 25, 1950) was a Finnish diplomat, orientalist and linguist. He was also an early Finnish Esperantist, and chairman of the Esperanto-Association of Finland.
Biography
Ramstedt was born in Eken� ...
in the early 20th century, that
Japanese is related to the
Turkic and
Mongolic languages through an "
Altaic" family.
The
Dené–Caucasian hypothesis proposes that
Northwest Caucasian
The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian, Circassic, or sometimes ''Pontic languages'' (from the historical region of Pontus, in contrast to ''Caspian languages'' for the Northeast Cau ...
,
Northeast Caucasian
The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or ''Vainakh-Daghestani'', is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as ...
,
Yeniseian,
Sino-Tibetan
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
, and
Na-Dené
Na-Dene (; also Nadene, Na-Dené, Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit, Tlina–Dene) is a family of Native American languages that includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. Haida was formerly included, but is now considered ...
form a single, higher-order language family. According to Starostin, the Dené–Caucasian and
Austric
The Austric languages are a proposed language family that includes the Austronesian languages spoken in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Madagascar, as well as the Austroasiatic languages spoken in Mainland Southeast ...
macrofamilies, together with the
Nostratic macrofamily (as envisaged by
Vladislav Illich-Svitych, with some modifications), can further be linked at an earlier stage, which Starostin called the
Borean (i.e. 'Northern') languages.
Evolution of Human Languages project
Since 1985, Starostin had been developing STARLING, a
database management system
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases ...
designed for his website. He was assisted in his work by
Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann (; September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019) was an American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles. He was the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Theoretical ...
, a
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
-winning physicist. At the time of his death, he was a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...
at the
Russian State University for the Humanities, a visiting professor at the
Santa Fe Institute
The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, inclu ...
, and a frequent guest lecturer at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city o ...
in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, where he was awarded the degree of
doctor honoris causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad ho ...
in June 2005.
Starostin died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
on September 30, 2005 in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
after a lecture at the
Russian State University for the Humanities. His son,
Georgiy Starostin, is also a linguist.
Selected works
* 1986. Co-authored with
Igor M. Diakonoff
Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (occasionally spelled Diakonov, russian: link=no, И́горь Миха́йлович Дья́конов; 12 January 1915 – 2 May 1999) was a Russian historian, linguist, and translator and a renowned expert on th ...
. ''Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Language.'' Munich: R. Kitzinger.
* 1991. ''Altajskaja problema i proisxoždenie japonskogo jazyka'', 'The Altaic Problem and the Origin of the Japanese Language'. Moscow: Nauka.
*1995. "The historical position of Bai".
''Moskovskij Lingvisticheskij Zhurnal'' 1, 174-190. Moscow.
* 2003. Co-authored with
Anna V. Dybo and Oleg A. Mudrak. ''An Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'', 3 volumes. Leiden: Brill. .
* 2005. Co-authored with
Svetlana Burlak "Comparative linguistics". .
See also
*
Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
The Tower of Babel a large linguistics database built largely by Sergei and George Starostin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starostin, Sergei
1953 births
2005 deaths
20th-century linguists
Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Etruscan scholars
Historical linguists
Linguists from Russia
Linguists from the Soviet Union
Linguists of Altaic languages
Linguists of Borean languages
Linguists of Caucasian languages
Linguists of Dené–Caucasian languages
Linguists of Hurro-Urartian languages
Linguists of Na-Dene languages
Linguists of North Caucasian languages
Linguists of Nostratic languages
Linguists of Sino-Tibetan languages
Long-range comparative linguists
Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics
Moscow State University alumni
Paleolinguists
Russian State University for the Humanities faculty
People from Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe Institute people