Lexicostatistics

Lexicostatistics is a method of comparative linguistics that involves comparing the percentage of lexical cognates between languages to determine their relationship. Lexicostatistics is related to the comparative method but does not reconstruct a proto-language. It is to be distinguished from glottochronology, which attempts to use lexicostatistical methods to estimate the length of time since two or more languages diverged from a common earlier proto-language. This is merely one application of lexicostatistics, however; other applications of it may not share the assumption of a constant rate of change for basic lexical items.

The term "lexicostatistics" is misleading in that mathematical equations are used but not statistics. Other features of a language may be used other than the lexicon, though this is unusual. Whereas the comparative method used shared identified innovations to determine sub-groups, lexicostatistics does not identify these. Lexicostatistics is a distance-based method, whereas the comparative method considers language characters directly. The lexicostatistics method is a simple and fast technique relative to the comparative method but has limitations (discussed below). It can be validated by cross-checking the trees produced by both methods.

History

Lexicostatistics was developed by Morris Swadesh in a series of articles in the 1950s, based on earlier ideas.[1][2][3] The concept's first known use was by Dumont d'Urville in 1834 who compared various "Oceanic" languages and proposed a method for calculating a coefficient of relationship. Hymes (1960) and Embleton (1986) both review the history of lexicostatistics.[4][5]

Method

Create word list

The aim is to generate a list of universally used meanings (hand, mouth, sky, I). Words are then collected for these meaning slots for each language being considered. Swadesh reduced a larger set of meanings down to 200 originally. He later found that it was necessary to reduce it further but that he could include some meanings that were not in his original list, giving his later 100-item list. The Swadesh list in Wiktionary gives the total 207 meanings in a number of languages. Alternative lists that apply more rigorous criteria have been generated, e.g. the Dolgopolsky list and the Leipzig–Jakarta list, as well as lists with a more specific scope; for example, Dyen, Kruskal and Black have 200 meanings for 84 Indo-European languages in digital form.[6]

Determine cognacies

A trained and experienced linguist is needed to make cognacy decisions. However, the decisions may need to be refined as the state of knowledge increases. However, lexicostatistics does not rely on all the decisions being correct. For each pair of words (in different languages) in this list, the cognacy of a form could be positive, negative or indeterminate. Sometimes a language has multiple words for one meaning, e.g. small and little for not big.

Calculate lexicostatistic percentages

This percentage is related to the proportion of meanings for a particular language pair that are cognate, i.e. relative to the total without indeterminacy. This value is entered into an N×N table of distances, where N is the number of languages being compared. When completed, this table is half-filled in triangular form. The higher the proportion of cognacy the closer the languages are related.

Create family tree

Creation of the language tree is based solely on the table found above. Various sub-grouping methods can be used but that adopted by Dyen, Kruskal and Black was:

  • all lists are placed in a pool
  • the two closest members are removed and form a nucleus which is placed in the pool
  • this step is repeated
  • under certain conditions a nucleus becomes a group
  • this is repeated until the pool only contains one group.

Calculations have to be of nucleus and group lexical percentages.

Applications

A leading exponent of lexicostatistics application has been Isidore Dyen.[7][8][9][10] He used lexicostatistics to classify Austronesian languages[11] as well as Indo-European ones.[6] A major study of the latter was reported by Dyen, Kruskal and Black (1992).[6] Studies have also been carried out on Amerindian and African languages.

Pama-Nyungan

The problem of internal branching within the Pama-Nyungan language family has been a long-standing issue for Australianist linguistics, and general consensus held that internal connections between the 25+ different subgroups of Pama-Nyungan were either impossible to reconstruct or that the subgroups were not in fact genetically related at all.[12] In 2012, Claire Bowern and Quentin Atkinson published the results from their application of computational phylogenetic methods on 194 doculects representing all major subgroups and isolates of Pama-Nyungan.[13] Their model "recovered" many of the branches and divisions that had erstwhile been proposed and accepted by many other Australianists, while also providing some insight into the more problematic branches, such as Paman (which is complicated by the lack of data) and Ngumpin-Yapa (where the genetic picture is obscured by very high rates of borrowing between languages). Their dataset forms the largest of its kind for a hunter-gatherer language family, and the second largest overall after Austronesian (Greenhill et al. 2008 Archived 2018-12-19 at the Wayback Machine). They conclude that Pama-Nyungan languages are in fact not exceptional to lexicostatistical methods, which have successfully been applied to other language families of the world.

Criticisms

People such as Hoijer (1956) have showed that there were difficulties in finding equivalents to the meaning items while many have found it necessary to modify Swadesh's lists.[14] Gudschinsky (1956) questioned whether it was possible to obtain a universal list.[15]

Factors such as borrowing, tradition and taboo can skew the results, as with other methods. Sometimes lexicostatistics has been used with lexical similarity being used rather than cognacy to find resemblances. This is then equivalent to mass comparison.

The choice of meaning slots is subjective, as is the choice of synonyms.

Improved methods

Some of the modern computational statistical hypothesis testing methods can be regarded as improvements of lexicostatistics in that they use similar word lists and distance measures.

See also

References

  1. ^ Swadesh, Morris (1955). "Towards greater accuracy in lexicostatistical dating". International Journal of American Linguistics. 21 (2): 121–137. doi:10.1086/464321. S2CID 144581963.
  2. ^ Swadesh, Morris (1952). "Lexicostatistical dating of prehistoric ethnic contacts". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 96: 452–463.
  3. ^ Swadesh, Morris (1950). "Salish internal relationships". International Journal of American Linguistics. 16 (4): 157–167. doi:10.1086/464084. S2CID 145122561.
  4. ^ Hymes, Dell (1960). "Lexicostatistics so far". Current Anthropology. 1 (1): 3–44. doi:10.1086/200074. S2CID 144569209.
  5. ^ Embleton, Sheila (1986). Statistics in Historical Linguistics. Bochum.
  6. ^ a b c Dyen, Isidore; Kruskal, Joseph; Black, Paul (1992). "An Indoeuropean Classification, a Lexicostatistical Experiment". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 82 (5): iii–132. doi:10.2307/1006517. JSTOR 1006517.
  7. ^ Dyen, Isidore (1962). "The lexicostatistically determined relationship of a language group". International Journal of American Linguistics. 28 (3): 153–161. doi:10.1086/464687. S2CID 143070513.
  8. ^ Dyen, Isidore (1963). "Lexicostatistically determined borrowing and taboo". Language. 39 (1): 60–66. doi:10.2307/410762. JSTOR 410762.
  9. ^ Dyen, Isidore, ed. (1973). Lexicostatistics in Genetic Linguistics. The Hague: Mouton.
  10. ^ Dyen, Isidore (1975). Linguistic Subgrouping and Lexicostatistics. The Hague: Mouton.
  11. ^ Dyen, Isidore (1965). "A lexicostatistical classification of the Austronesian languages". International Journal of American Linguistics. 19.
  12. ^ Dixon, Robert M.W. (2002). Australian languages: their nature and development. Cambridge University Press. pp. 48, 53. Australia provides a prototypical instance of a linguistic area. It has considerable time-depth, fairly uniform terrain leading to ease of interaction and communication, a fair proportion of reciprocal exogamous marriages, rampant multilingualism, and an open attitude to borrowing ... There is a basic uniformity to Australian languages which is the natural result of a long period of diffusion. Although no justification had been provided for 'Pama-Nyungan', it came to be accepted. People accepted it because it was accepted—as a species of belief. ... It is clear that 'Pama-Nyungan' cannot be supported as a genetic group. Nor is it a useful typological grouping.
  13. ^ Bowern, Claire; Atkinson, Quentin (2012). "Computational phylogenetics and the internal structure of Pama-Nyungan". Language. 88 (4): 817–845. doi:10.1353/lan.2012.0081. hdl:1885/61360. S2CID 4375648.
  14. ^ Hoijer, Harry (1956). "Lexicostatistics: a critique". Language. 32 (1): 49–60. doi:10.2307/410652. JSTOR 410652.
  15. ^ Gudschinsky, Sarah (1956). "The ABCs of lexicostatistics (glottochronology)". Word. 12 (2): 175–210. doi:10.1080/00437956.1956.11659599.

Further reading

  • Dobson, Annette (1969). Lexicostatistical Grouping. Anthropological Linguistics 7, 216-221.
  • Dobson, Annette and Black, Paul (1979). Multidimensional Scaling of some Lexicostatistical Data. Mathematical Scientist 1979/4, 55-61.
  • McMahon, April and McMahon, Robert (2005). Language Classification by Numbers. Oxford University Press.
  • Sankoff, David (1970). "On the Rate of Replacement of Word-Meaning Relationships." Language 46.564-569.
  • Wittmann, Henri (1969). "A lexico-statistic inquiry into the diachrony of Hittite." Indogermanische Forschungen 74.1-10.[1]
  • Wittmann, Henri (1973). "The lexicostatistical classification of the French-based Creole languages." Lexicostatistics in genetic linguistics: Proceedings of the Yale conference, April 3–4, 1971, dir. Isidore Dyen, 89-99. La Haye: Mouton.[2]
Look up lexicostatistics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Read other articles:

العلاقات الإسبانية الليبيرية

العلاقات الإسبانية الليبيرية إسبانيا ليبيريا   إسبانيا   ليبيريا تعديل مصدري - تعديل   العلاقات الإسبانية الليبيرية هي العلاقات الثنائية التي تجمع بين إسبانيا وليبيريا.[1][2][3][4][5] مقارنة بين البلدين هذه مقارنة عامة ومرجعية للدولتين: وجه ال...

 

Lee Elijah

Ini adalah nama Korea; marganya adalah Lee. Lee ElijahPada sore hari tanggal 13, di Istana Kekaisaran Seoul di Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, drama Jumat baru JTBC 'Aides-People Who Move the World'Nama asal이엘리야Lahir19 Februari 1990 (umur 34)Andong, Provinsi Gyeongsang Utara, Korea SelatanNama lainLee ElliyaPendidikanSeoul Institute of the Arts – Departmen AktingPekerjaanAktrisModelTahun aktif2012–sekarangAgenWS Entertainment (2012–2016) FNC Entertainment (...

 

استفتاء تعديل الدستور المصري 2011

استفتاء تعديل الدستور المصري 2011 النتائج الأصوات % نعم 14٬192٬577 77٫27% لا 4٬174٬187 22٫73% الأصوات الصحيحة 18٬366٬764 99٫08% الأوراق البيضاء والأصوات المرفوضة 171٬190 0.92% إجمالي الأصوات 18٬537٬954 100.00% المصدر: اللجنة العليا للإشراف علي استفتاء تعديل الدستور المصري [1] تم عقد استفتاء على تعديلا...

Fred Andrew Seaton

Cet article est une ébauche concernant un homme politique américain. Vous pouvez partager vos connaissances en l’améliorant (comment ?) selon les recommandations des projets correspondants. Pour les articles homonymes, voir Seaton. Fred Andrew Seaton Fonctions 36e secrétaire à l'Intérieur des États-Unis 8 juin 1956 – 20 janvier 1961(4 ans, 7 mois et 12 jours) Président Dwight D. Eisenhower Gouvernement Administration Eisenhower Prédécesseur Douglas McKay Suc...

 

Church of St. Michael (34th Street, Manhattan)

Not to be confused with St. Michael's Church (99th Street, Manhattan). Building in New York, United StatesThe Church of St. MichaelLooking south across 34th Street (2019)General informationTown or cityNew York City, New YorkCountryUnited StatesCompleted1907ClientRoman Catholic Archdiocese of New YorkDesign and constructionArchitect(s)Napoleon LeBrun & SonsWebsiteChurch of St. Michael the Archangel The Church of St. Michael is a parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, ...

 

Salmaneser I

King Shalmaneser I, pouring out Dust of a Conquered City in front of an Assyrian Temple after returning victorious. Salmaneser I (Shulmanu-asharedu;[1] Inggris: Shalmaneser I; 1274 SM – 1245 SM atau 1265 SM – 1235 SM) adalah raja Asyur dalam masa Kekaisaran Asyur Pertengahan (1365 - 1050 SM). Ia adalah putra raja Adad-nirari I; meneruskan tahta ayahnya sebagai raja pada tahun 1265 SM. Menurut catatan annal-annalnya, yang diketemukan di kota kuno Assur, dalam tahun pertama peme...

Kaunissaari

Island in Pyhtää, Finland Pohjaspää beach in Kaunissaari Kaunissaari (Finnish: [ˈkɑu̯nisˌsɑːri]; Swedish: Fagerö), lit. Beautiful Island, is an island in the Gulf of Finland. It is part of the municipality of Pyhtää in the Kymenlaakso region, Finland, and is 17 kilometres (11 mi) southwest of the city of Kotka.[1] The fishing village of Kaunissaari Kaunissaari forms part of an esker that juts out into the Gulf of Finland. The soil also has a glacial till on t...

 

Swapraja

Wilayah-wilayah swapraja di bawah Hindia Belanda tahun 1930. Swapraja (kata serapan dari bahasa Jawa: ꦱ꧀ꦮꦥꦿꦗ, translit. swapraja) adalah wilayah atau daerah yang memiliki hak pemerintahan sendiri. Istilah ini dipakai sebagai padanan bagi istilah pada masa kolonial Belanda, zelfbestuur (jamak zelfbesturen). Sistem administrasi daerah Indonesia pada masa Hindia Belanda dikenal rumit dan mengakui bentuk-bentuk pemerintahan daerah yang berbeda-beda. Daerah swapraja adalah sal...

 

Хип-хоп

Хип-хоп Направление популярная музыка Истоки фанкдискоэлектронная музыкадабритм-энд-блюзреггидэнсхоллджаз[1]чтение нараспев[англ.]исполнение поэзииустная поэзияозначиваниедюжины[англ.]гриотыскэтразговорный блюз Время и место возникновения Начало 1970-х, Бронкс, Н...

Universitas Paris Cité

Université Paris Cité Universitas Paris Cité (bahasa Prancis: Université Paris Cité) adalah universitas riset publik di Prancis, dan merupakan hasil penggabungan dari Universitas Paris Descartes dan Diderot.[1] Universitas Paris memiliki tiga fakultas: Fakultas Ilmu Kesehatan (a Faculté de Santé) Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora (la Faculté des Sociétés et Humanités) Fakultas Sains (la Faculté des Sciences) Referensi ^ Décret n° 2019-209 du 20 mars 2019 portant cr...

 

Johannes Winkler

Johannes WinklerPortret Johann Winkler Hakim Mahkamah Agung Federal SwissMasa jabatan1893–1903 Informasi pribadiKebangsaanSwissProfesiHakimSunting kotak info • L • B Johannes Winkler (13 Desember 1845 – 5 Januari 1918) adalah hakim Mahkamah Agung Federal Swiss. Ia mulai menjabat sebagai hakim di mahkamah tersebut pada tahun 1893. Masa baktinya sebagai hakim berakhir pada tahun 1903.[1] Referensi ^ Liste der ehemaligen Bundesrichter. Mahkamah Agung Feder...

 

Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos

Vegetation type in Western Cape, South Africa Protea flower in Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos. Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos is a vegetation type that naturally occurs in the Cape Winelands (or Boland) of the Western Cape, South Africa. This vegetation type is found on lower mountain slopes and high, rolling plains in the Western Cape Boland of South Africa. The loamy soils are naturally poor, moist and slightly acidic but the biodiversity is rich. The vegetation consists of a diverse array of Pro...

Big Hidatsa Village Site

Archaeological site in North Dakota, United States United States historic placeBig Hidatsa Village SiteU.S. National Register of Historic PlacesU.S. National Historic Landmark Big Hidatsa VillageShow map of North DakotaShow map of the United StatesNearest cityStanton, North DakotaCoordinates47°20′22″N 101°22′56″W / 47.33946°N 101.38214°W / 47.33946; -101.38214Area15 acres (6.1 ha)NRHP reference No.66000600[1]Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1...

 

Fall of Saigon

End of the Vietnam War, 30 April 1975 You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Vietnamese. (November 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not tr...

 

Dan Boneh

Dan BonehDan BonehBiographieNaissance 1969IsraëlNationalité israélienneFormation Université de PrincetonTechnionActivités Cryptographe, professeur d'université, informaticien, mathématicien, universitaireAutres informationsA travaillé pour Université StanfordMembre de Association for Computing Machinery (2016)American Mathematical Society (2020)Directeur de thèse Richard J. LiptonSite web (en) profiles.stanford.edu/dan-bonehDistinctions Liste détailléePackard Fellowship for S...

Louis-Jean-Nicolas Lejoille

Chef de DivisionLouis Jean Nicolas LejoilleCommodore Louis-Jean-Nicolas Lejoille, portrait by Antoine Maurin.Born11 November 1759Saint-Valery-sur-SommeDied9 April 1799(1799-04-09) (aged 39)Brindisi, ItalyAllegianceFrench First RepublicService/branchFrench NavyYears of service1793–1799RankChef de DivisionCommandsCéleste Alceste GénéreuxBattles/wars American Revolutionary War Battle of Porto Praya French Revolutionary Wars Action of 8 June 1794 Action of 8 March 1795 (WIA) ...

 

Ɲ

Буква латиницы N с крюком слева Ɲɲ Изображения ◄ ƙ ƚ ƛ Ɯ Ɲ ƞ Ɵ Ơ ơ ► ◄ ɮ ɯ ɰ ɱ ɲ ɳ ɴ ɵ ɶ ► Характеристики Название Ɲ: latin capital letter n with left hookɲ: latin small letter n with left hook Юникод Ɲ: U+019Dɲ: U+0272 HTML-код Ɲ‎: Ɲ или Ɲɲ‎: ɲ или...

 

Imset

Questa voce sull'argomento mitologia egizia è solo un abbozzo. Contribuisci a migliorarla secondo le convenzioni di Wikipedia. Segui i suggerimenti del progetto di riferimento. Rappresentazione di Imset Imset è una divinità egizia appartenente alla religione dell'antico Egitto. Era uno dei quattro figli di Horo dalla testa umana. Era un dio funerario, rappresentato sul vaso canopo contenente il fegato. Era posto sotto la protezione di Iside. Altri nomi Imseti Sety Mesti Mesta Amset A...

Segunda División B de España 1979-80

III Segunda División B de España 1979/80Datos generalesFecha 1 de septiembre de 19791 de junio de 1980PalmarésPrimero G-I. Baracaldo CFG-II. Linares CFSegundo G-I. Atlético MadrileñoG-II. AD CeutaDatos estadísticosParticipantes 40 equipos Intercambio de plazas Ascenso(s): Atlético MadrileñoBaracaldo CFAD CeutaLinares CF Descenso(s): Arenas ClubGerona CFCD GuechoOnteniente CFCD OrenseUD San AndrésSevilla AtléticoSporting AtléticoCronología Segunda B1978-79 1979-80 Segunda B1980-81 ...

 

指名手配

この項目では、被疑者を逮捕するための手段について説明しています。 テレビ朝日の番組については「指名手配 (テレビ番組)」をご覧ください。 テレビドラマについては「指名手配 (テレビドラマ)」をご覧ください。 指名手配（しめいてはい）とは、警察が逮捕状の出ている被疑者を逮捕するための手段。 派出所などの掲示板などに氏名や似顔絵などの情報が掲載さ...