Dené–Yeniseian

Dene–Yeniseian (/dɪˈneɪ ˌjɛnɪˈseɪ.ən/, dih-NAY YEN-ih-SAY-ən) is a proposed language family consisting of the Yeniseian languages of central Siberia and the Na-Dene languages of northwestern North America.

Reception among experts has been somewhat favorable; thus, Dene–Yeniseian has been called "the first demonstration of a genealogical link between Old World and New World language families that meets the standards of traditional comparative-historical linguistics". Other linguistic scholars have deemed Dene–Yeniseian only as "plausible". In 2025, a team of geneticists provided evidence that the ancient Paleo-Siberian genetic contribution to Athabaskan populations in Alaska stemmed from a population that lived to the west of Lake Baikal in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, and that this population also contributed genetically to modern Yeniseian populations. The authors of the study interpret this as "providing the first genetic data in support of the 'Dene-Yeniseian' hypothesis."