Is it true that “the theories about Finno-Ugrian language relationship have been shown to be false”?
No, it isn’t. No serious scholar of the Finno-Ugrian languages has ever doubted the common origin of these languages. Of course, there are different opinions on how this common origin and the relation between FU languages should be concretely explained and interpreted. What has been falsified is probably the antiquated idea of Finno-Ugrian cultural or even racial relationship. Besides, there are people possessed by more or less crazy ideas of relating their native language with some very prestigious or exotic language (e.g. Hungarian with Sumerian). There may be political or nationalist undertones to this, like in Hungary in the 19th century, when some Hungarians who didn’t want to be “related” to “the most primitive peoples in Eurasia” fought their “Ugro-Turkic war”, trying to prove that Hungarian is related to the Turkic languages – which would have made them descendants or relatives of the mighty warriors of the East.
Related Questions
- What is the relationship between MSU, MVU and the Confucius Institute at MSU as it relates to online Chinese language and culture courses?
- Is it true that "the theories about Finno-Ugrian language relationship have been shown to be false"?
- What is the nature of the relationship between thought and language?
