The Nostratic hypothesis was postulated for the first time by the Danish Indo-Europeanist, Holger Pedersen, at the beginning of the 20th century. Today we suppose a Nostratic origin for Afroasiatic (Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic), with perhaps a rather independent position; Kartvelian, Indo-European, Uralic (Fenno-Ugric and Samoyed), Dravidian (probably together with the extinct Elamite) and Altaic (Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusian, Korean, Japanese).