TY - JOUR
T1 - Geospatial distributions reflect temperatures of linguistic features
AU - Kauhanen, Henri
AU - Gopal, Deepthi
AU - Galla, Tobias
AU - Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo
N1 - The expected publication date is 1 January 2021, but this schedule could be brought forward or put back by one or two weeks.
The journal imposes a strict news embargo until the publication date. Information about the article must accordingly remain confidential until the actual publication date.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - Quantifying the speed of linguistic change is challenging because of the fact that 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, leaves a measurable geospatial signature. This signature licenses inferences about the historical evolution of languages even in the absence of longitudinal data.
AB - Quantifying the speed of linguistic change is challenging because of the fact that 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, leaves a measurable geospatial signature. This signature licenses inferences about the historical evolution of languages even in the absence of longitudinal data.
U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.abe6540
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.abe6540
M3 - Article
VL - 7
JO - Science Advances
JF - Science Advances
SN - 2375-2548
IS - 1
M1 - eabe6540
ER -