Proto-Eskimo_language
Proto-Eskimoan language
Reconstructed ancestor of the Eskimo languages
Proto-Eskimoan, Proto-Eskimo, or Proto-Inuit-Yupik, is the reconstructed ancestor of the Eskimo languages.[1] It was spoken by the ancestors of the Yupik and Inuit peoples. It is linguistically related to the Aleut language, and both descend from the Proto-Eskaleut language.[2]
Comparative studies of Eskimo and Aleut languages suggest that the Proto-Eskimoan and Proto-Aleut languages diverged between 4000 and 2000 BCE.[3][4]