最早有關「德內-葉尼塞語系」的文獻在1998年刊登,當時Merritt Ruhlen在一份同行評審的期刊《Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences》提出;另一方面,Michael Fortescue亦獨立地在他的新作《Language Relations Across Bering Strait》裡提出這個語系存在的可能[6]。Fortescue在書的第一頁這樣寫[7]:
I have attempted throughout to find a middle way between the cavalier optimism of 'lumpers' and the pessimism of orthodox 'splitters' on the matters of deep genetic relationship between the continents.
Rubicz, R., Melvin, K.L., Crawford, M.H. Genetic Evidence for the phylogenetic relationship between Na-Dene and Yeniseian speakers. Human Biology. 2002, (43(6)): 743–60.
Ruhlen, Merritt (1998). "The Origin of the Na-Dene". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 95(23):13994-6.
Fortescue, Michael (1998). Language Relations across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. London and New York: Cassell.
Wilson, Joseph A.P. A New Perspective on Later Migration(s): The Possible Recent Origin of Some Native American Haplotypes. Critique of Anthropology. 2008, (28(3)): 267–78.
Dene-Yeniseic Symposium. Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. (原始内容存档于2009-05-26).