What is an Altaicist?

Answer 1

An Altaicist is a linguist who subscribes to the Altaic language group theory - a hypothetical grouping of languages which includes the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages.

Answer 2

An Altaicist is a scholar who specializes in the study of the proposed Altaic language family, which includes Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and sometimes Korean and Japanese languages. Altaicists study the linguistic, historical, and cultural connections among these languages and their speakers.