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Phonotactic Diversity Predicts the Time Depth of the World’s Language Families

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  • Taraka Rama

Abstract

The ASJP (Automated Similarity Judgment Program) described an automated, lexical similarity-based method for dating the world’s language groups using 52 archaeological, epigraphic and historical calibration date points. The present paper describes a new automated dating method, based on phonotactic diversity. Unlike ASJP, our method does not require any information on the internal classification of a language group. Also, the method can use all the available word lists for a language and its dialects eschewing the debate on ‘language’ vs. ‘dialect’. We further combine these dates and provide a new baseline which, to our knowledge, is the best one. We make a systematic comparison of our method, ASJP’s dating procedure, and combined dates. We predict time depths for world’s language families and sub-families using this new baseline. Finally, we explain our results in the model of language change given by Nettle.

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  • Taraka Rama, 2013. "Phonotactic Diversity Predicts the Time Depth of the World’s Language Families," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-9, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0063238
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063238
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    1. Russell D. Gray & Quentin D. Atkinson, 2003. "Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin," Nature, Nature, vol. 426(6965), pages 435-439, November.
    2. Wichmann, Søren & Holman, Eric W. & Bakker, Dik & Brown, Cecil H., 2010. "Evaluating linguistic distance measures," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(17), pages 3632-3639.
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    1. Fraenkel, Jon & Filer, Colin, 2022. "Prisoners of a distant past? Linguistic diversity and the time-depth of human settlement in Papua New Guinea," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

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