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Language trees support the express-train sequence of Austronesian expansion

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  • Russell D. Gray

    (University of Auckland)

  • Fiona M. Jordan

    (University of Auckland)

Abstract

Languages, like molecules, document evolutionary history. Darwin1 observed that evolutionary change in languages greatly resembled the processes of biological evolution: inheritance from a common ancestor and convergent evolution operate in both. Despite many suggestions2,3,4, few attempts have been made to apply the phylogenetic methods used in biology to linguistic data. Here we report a parsimony analysis of a large language data set. We use this analysis to test competing hypotheses—the “express-train”5 and the “entangled-bank”6,7 models—for the colonization of the Pacific by Austronesian-speaking peoples. The parsimony analysis of a matrix of 77 Austronesian languages with 5,185 lexical items produced a single most-parsimonious tree. The express-train model was converted into an ordered geographical character and mapped onto the language tree. We found that the topology of the language tree was highly compatible with the express-train model.

Suggested Citation

  • Russell D. Gray & Fiona M. Jordan, 2000. "Language trees support the express-train sequence of Austronesian expansion," Nature, Nature, vol. 405(6790), pages 1052-1055, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:405:y:2000:i:6790:d:10.1038_35016575
    DOI: 10.1038/35016575
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    Cited by:

    1. Seán Roberts & James Winters, 2013. "Linguistic Diversity and Traffic Accidents: Lessons from Statistical Studies of Cultural Traits," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Matthew J. Baker, 2021. "Foundations of the Age-Area Hypothesis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Petroni, Filippo & Serva, Maurizio, 2010. "Measures of lexical distance between languages," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(11), pages 2280-2283.
    4. Kandler, Anne & Laland, Kevin N., 2009. "An investigation of the relationship between innovation and cultural diversity," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 59-67.
    5. Gamallo, Pablo & Pichel, José Ramom & Alegria, Iñaki, 2017. "From language identification to language distance," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 484(C), pages 152-162.
    6. Marc Allassonnière-Tang & Olof Lundgren & Maja Robbers & Sandra Cronhamn & Filip Larsson & One-Soon Her & Harald Hammarström & Gerd Carling, 2021. "Expansion by migration and diffusion by contact is a source to the global diversity of linguistic nominal categorization systems," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-6, December.

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