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Re: Asian languages have roots in Europe
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RichTravsky
May 12, 2013, 10:44:20 PM5/12/13
to
M Winther wrote:
>
> "European and Asian languages traced back to single mother
> tongue"
>
> Eurasiatic languages from Portugal to Siberia form 'superfamily'
> with root in southern Europe 15,000 years ago, scientists claim.
> http://tinyurl.com/cxb25lc
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/06/european-asian-language-tongue-superfamily
>
> M. Winther
The actual paper is here:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/01/1218726110
Abstract
The search for ever deeper relationships among the World's
languages is bedeviled by the fact that most words evolve
too rapidly to preserve evidence of their ancestry beyond
5,000 to 9,000 y. On the other hand, quantitative modeling
indicates that some "ultraconserved" words exist that might
be used to find evidence for deep linguistic relationships
beyond that time barrier. Here we use a statistical model,
which takes into account the frequency with which words are
used in common everyday speech, to predict the existence of
a set of such highly conserved words among seven language
families of Eurasia postulated to form a linguistic
superfamily that evolved from a common ancestor around
15,000 y ago. We derive a dated phylogenetic tree of this
proposed superfamily with a time-depth of ~14,450 y, implying
that some frequently used words have been retained in related
forms since the end of the last ice age. Words used more than
once per 1,000 in everyday speech were 7- to 10-times more
likely to show deep ancestry on this tree. Our results suggest
a remarkable fidelity in the transmission of some words and
give theoretical justification to the search for features of
language that might be preserved across wide spans of time and
geography.
It's PNAS so the PDF is free, tho I'm getting timed out at the
moment.
>
> "European and Asian languages traced back to single mother
> tongue"
>
> Eurasiatic languages from Portugal to Siberia form 'superfamily'
> with root in southern Europe 15,000 years ago, scientists claim.
> http://tinyurl.com/cxb25lc
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/06/european-asian-language-tongue-superfamily
>
> M. Winther
The actual paper is here:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/01/1218726110
Abstract
The search for ever deeper relationships among the World's
languages is bedeviled by the fact that most words evolve
too rapidly to preserve evidence of their ancestry beyond
5,000 to 9,000 y. On the other hand, quantitative modeling
indicates that some "ultraconserved" words exist that might
be used to find evidence for deep linguistic relationships
beyond that time barrier. Here we use a statistical model,
which takes into account the frequency with which words are
used in common everyday speech, to predict the existence of
a set of such highly conserved words among seven language
families of Eurasia postulated to form a linguistic
superfamily that evolved from a common ancestor around
15,000 y ago. We derive a dated phylogenetic tree of this
proposed superfamily with a time-depth of ~14,450 y, implying
that some frequently used words have been retained in related
forms since the end of the last ice age. Words used more than
once per 1,000 in everyday speech were 7- to 10-times more
likely to show deep ancestry on this tree. Our results suggest
a remarkable fidelity in the transmission of some words and
give theoretical justification to the search for features of
language that might be preserved across wide spans of time and
geography.
It's PNAS so the PDF is free, tho I'm getting timed out at the
moment.
John Briggs
May 12, 2013, 10:55:16 PM5/12/13
to
On 13/05/2013 03:44, RichTravsky wrote:
> M Winther wrote:
>>
>> "European and Asian languages traced back to single mother
>> tongue"
>>
>> Eurasiatic languages from Portugal to Siberia form 'superfamily'
>> with root in southern Europe 15,000 years ago, scientists claim.
>> http://tinyurl.com/cxb25lc
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/06/european-asian-language-tongue-superfamily
>>
>> M. Winther
>
> The actual paper is here:
>
> http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/01/1218726110
Note that it is published in PNAS rather than in a linguistics journal.
> M Winther wrote:
>>
>> "European and Asian languages traced back to single mother
>> tongue"
>>
>> Eurasiatic languages from Portugal to Siberia form 'superfamily'
>> with root in southern Europe 15,000 years ago, scientists claim.
>> http://tinyurl.com/cxb25lc
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/06/european-asian-language-tongue-superfamily
>>
>> M. Winther
>
> The actual paper is here:
>
> http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/01/1218726110
--
John Briggs
RichTravsky
May 12, 2013, 11:01:34 PM5/12/13
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