A
language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a
natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic") relationship with other languages, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. Language isolates are in effect
language families consisting of a single language. Commonly cited examples include
Basque,
Korean,
Ainu,
Sumerian and
Burushaski, though in each case a small minority of linguists claim to have demonstrated a relationship with other languages.