Geospatial distributions reflect temperatures of linguistic features

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2021
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Gopal, Deepthi
Galla, Tobias
Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo
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Science advances ; 7 (2021), 1. - eabe6540. - American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - eISSN 2375-2548
Abstract
Quantifying the speed of linguistic change is challenging because the historical evolution of languages is sparsely documented. Consequently, traditional methods rely on phylogenetic reconstruction. Here, we propose a model-based approach to the problem through the analysis of language change as a stochastic process combining vertical descent, spatial interactions, and mutations in both dimensions. A notion of linguistic temperature emerges naturally from this analysis as a dimensionless measure of the propensity of a linguistic feature to undergo change. We demonstrate how temperatures of linguistic features can be inferred from their present-day geospatial distributions, without recourse to information about their phylogenies. Thus, the evolutionary dynamics of language, operating across thousands of years, leave a measurable geospatial signature. This signature licenses inferences about the historical evolution of languages even in the absence of longitudinal data.
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800 Literature, Rhetoric, Literary Science
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Cite This
ISO 690KAUHANEN, Henri, Deepthi GOPAL, Tobias GALLA, Ricardo BERMÚDEZ-OTERO, 2021. Geospatial distributions reflect temperatures of linguistic features. In: Science advances. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 7(1), eabe6540. eISSN 2375-2548. Available under: doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe6540
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@article{Kauhanen2021-01Geosp-52715,
  year={2021},
  doi={10.1126/sciadv.abe6540},
  title={Geospatial distributions reflect temperatures of linguistic features},
  number={1},
  volume={7},
  journal={Science advances},
  author={Kauhanen, Henri and Gopal, Deepthi and Galla, Tobias and Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo},
  note={Article Number: eabe6540}
}
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