Quantitative approaches to linguistic diversity : commemorating the centenary of the birth of Morris Swadesh / edited by Søren Wichmann, Anthony P. Grant.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Quantitative methods in linguistics, which the protean American structuralist linguist Morris Swadesh introduced in the 1950s, have become increasingly popular and have opened the world of languages to interdisciplinary approaches. The papers collected here are the work not only of descriptive and historical linguists, but also statisticians, physicists and computer scientists. They demonstrate the application of quantitative methods to the elucidation of linguistic prehistory on an unprecedented world-wide scale, providing cutting-edge insights into issues of the linguistic correlates of subs.

Quantitative Approaches to Linguistic Diversity; Editorial page; Title page; LCC data; Table of contents; Preface; Swadesh's life and place in linguistics; References; A full-scale test of the language farming dispersal hypothesis; 1. Introduction; 2. Language families and data; 2.1. Language families; 2.2 Cardinal size; 2.3 Geospatial size; 2.4 Subsistence type; 3. Explananda on language family sizes; 4. The language farming dispersal hypothesis; 4.1 Previous investigations of farming expansions; 4.2 Definition of language farming dispersal hypothesis; 5. Farming and cardinal size.

6. Farming and east-west spreads7. Discussion and conclusions; References; Appendix. The Language Families of the World: A Critical Synopsis; Do languages originate and become extinct at constant rates?; 1. Introduction; 2. Theoretical prediction; 3. Tests in published language trees; 4. Tests in ASJP language trees; 5. Properties of languages; 6. Different regions and families; 7. Discussion; References; Appendix 1. Description of LDND; Appendix 2. Imbalance score (Iw) and number of bifurcating nodes (N) for trees constructed by each method for individual families.

Borrowability and the notion of basic vocabulary1. Assessing degrees of lexical borrowability; 2. The notion of basic vocabulary and the Swadesh 100 list; 3. The Loanword Typology project; 4. Differences among semantic word classes and semantic fields; 4.1 Nouns vs. verbs (and adjectives); 4.2 Content words vs. function words; 4.3 Differences among semantic fields; 5. The most borrowing-resistant meanings; 5.1 Meanings with the fewest (probable or clear) loanword counterparts; 6. Representation; 7. Analyzability; 8. Age; 9. The Leipzig-Jakarta list of basic vocabulary.

10. The Leipzig-Jakarta list vs. the Swadesh 100 list and three other stability lists11. Conclusions; References; Homelands of the world's language families; 0. Introduction; 1. The tool; 2. The linguistic distance measure; 3. The sample; 4. Producing maps for homelands; 5. Results; 6. Discussion; 6.1 Africa; 6.2 Eurasia; 6.3 New Guinea; 6.4 North America; 6.5 Middle and Northern South America; 6.6 Central South America; 7. Some generalizations; 8. Conclusion; References; Appendix A. Maps for all language families sampled; Appendix B. Languages and dialects represented in the study.

On using qualitative lexicostatistics to illuminate language history1. Introduction; 2. Constructing a cognacy grid; 3. Vertical and horizontal lexicostatistics; 4. A case study: The Caddoan languages; 5. Further case studies; 5.1 Cognacy, lexical diversity and uniqueness in two Uto-Aztecan cases; 5.2 Subgrouping, borrowing and backmutation: the case of Latin and Romance; 5.3 Borrowing, shared innovations and shared borrowings: lexicostatistics in Chamic and Malayic; 6. Conclusions: Where qualitative lexicostatistics can take us; References; Beyond lexicostatistics.

English.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide