1730年瑞典軍官 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg 依語言間的相似性將語言分類,其中包含一些後來被歸入阿爾泰語系的語言。1844年 Matthias Castrén 首先提出了阿爾泰語系,除了包括突厥、蒙古和通古斯語,也納入後來成為烏拉爾語系的薩莫耶德語族與芬蘭-烏戈爾語族,稱之為烏拉爾-阿爾泰語系。
但朝鲜语、日本语、琉球语均缺少人稱後綴,如通古斯語(赫哲) Mini bithe-i 我的書,Bi mini bithe-we-i hvla-i.我讀我的書。 bithe-we-i中的we是受格後綴,而i是第一人稱領屬後綴。hvla-i中的i為動詞第一人稱後綴。蒙古語 Teguu-d-mini og.給我弟弟。d為與格後綴,mini為第一人稱領屬後綴。
^ 1.01.1"While 'Altaic' is repeated in encyclopedias and handbooks most specialists in these languages no longer believe that the three traditional supposed Altaic groups, Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic, are related." Lyle Campbell & Mauricio J. Mixco, A Glossary of Historical Linguistics (2007, University of Utah Press), pg. 7.
^ 2.02.1"When cognates proved not to be valid, Altaic was abandoned, and the received view now is that Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic are unrelated." Johanna Nichols, Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time (1992, Chicago), pg. 4.
^ 3.03.1"Careful examination indicates that the established families, Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic, form a linguistic area (called Altaic)...Sufficient criteria have not been given that would justify talking of a genetic relationship here." R.M.W. Dixon, The Rise and Fall of Languages (1997, Cambridge), pg. 32.
^ 4.04.1"...[T]his selection of features does not provide good evidence for common descent" and "we can observe convergence rather than divergence between Turkic and Mongolic languages--a pattern than is easily explainable by borrowing and diffusion rather than common descent", Asya Pereltsvaig, Languages of the World, An Introduction (2012, Cambridge) has a good discussion of the Altaic hypothesis (pp. 211-216).