Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims seven language families, including Inuit–Yupik, descend from a common language that was spoken about 15,000 years ago.

Researchers identified 23 words that they said have remained relatively unchanged since the common language was spoken. The list includes words like "I" and "you" and "bark."

"These words point to the existence of a linguistic super-family tree that unites seven major language families of Eurasia," the researchers said in a press release.

The Inuit–Yupik language family includes languages spoken in Alaska, Canada and Greenland. The study claims this family is related to the Altaic, Chukchi-Kamchatkan, Dravidian, Indo-European,, Kartvelian and Uralic families.

To establish a relationship, the researchers looked at words in the reconstructed proto-language of each family. For example, they claim the word for "hand" is similar in Proto-Eskimo–Aleut language and Proto-Indo-European language.

Since the study was based on reconstructed proto-languages, the 23 words on the list may not seem or sound familiar to modern-day speakers.

Get the Story:
Linguists identify 15,000-year-old ‘ultraconserved words’ (The Washington Post 5/7)
European and Asian languages traced back to single mother tongue (The Guardian 5/6)
Ancient Languages Have Common Words in Common (The Epoch Times 5/7)
Before Babel? Ancient Mother Tongue Reconstructed (LiveScience 5/6)

Get the Study:
Ultraconserved words point to deep language ancestry across Eurasia (May 6, 2013)