Geospatial distributions reflect temperatures of linguistic features

Kauhanen, Henri; Gopal, Deepthi; Galla, Tobias; Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo

Geospatial distributions reflect temperatures of linguistic features

Files

Kauhanen_2-kbovj7ei157w6.pdf(759.32 KB)

Date

2021

Authors

Kauhanen, Henri

Gopal, Deepthi

Galla, Tobias

Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo

Publication type

Journal article

Publication status

Published

Published in

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.

Subject (DDC)

800 Literature, Rhetoric, Literary Science

Cite This

ISO 690

KAUHANEN, 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

BibTex

@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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Bibliography of Konstanz

Yes

Refereed

Yes