Phylogenetic methods and the prehistory of languages
Evolutionary ('phylogenetic') trees were first used to infer lost histories nearly two centuries ago by manuscript scholars reconstructing original texts. Today, computer methods are enabling phylogenetic trees to transform genetics, historical linguistics and even the archaeological study of artefact shapes and styles. But which phylogenetic methods are best suited to retracing the evolution of languages? And which types of language data are most informative about deep prehistory? In this book, leading specialists engage with these key questions. Essential reading for linguists, geneticists and archaeologists, these studies demonstrate how phylogenetic tools are illuminating previously intractable questions about language prehistory. This innovative volume arose from a conference of linguists, geneticists and archaeologists held at Cambridge in 2004
Print Book,English, ©2006
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge ; Distributed by Oxbow Books ; USA [distributor], David Brown Book Co., Cambridge, UK, Oxford, UK, Oakville, CT, ©2006
Congresses (form)
x, 198, [1] folded leaf of plates : illustrations, maps ; 29 cm.
9781902937335, 1902937333
69733654
Malagasy language as a guide to understanding Malagasy history / Robert E. Dewar
Rapid radiation, borrowing and dialect continua in the Bantu languages / Clare J. Holden & Russell D. Gray
Multilateral comparison and significance testing of the Indo-Uralic question / Brett Kessler & Annukka Lehtonen
Bantu classification, Bantu trees and phylogenetic methods / Lutz Marten
Quasi-cognates and lexical type shifts : rigorous distance measures for long-range comparison / Johanna Nichols
Phylogenetic analysis of written traditions / Matthew Spencer [and others]
A stochastic model of language evolution that incorporates homoplasy and borrowing / Tandy Warnow [and others]
How old is the Indo-European language family? : illumintation or more moths to the flame? / Quentin D. Atkinson & Russell D. Gray
Radiation and network breaking in Polynesian linguistics / David Bryant
Inference of divergence times as a statistical inverse problem / Steven N. Evans, Donald Ringe & Tandy Warnow
Evolution of English basic vocabulary within the network of Germanic languages / Peter Forster, Tobias Polzin & Arne Röhl
Convergence in the formation of Indo-European subgroups : phylogeny and chronology / Andrew Garrett
Why linguists don't do dates : evidence from Indo-European and Australian languages / April McMahon & Robert McMahon
Quantifying uncertainty in a stochastic model of vocabulary evolution / Geoff K. Nicholls & Russell D. Gray
Estimating rates of lexical replacement on phylogenetic trees of languages / Mark Pagel & Andrew Meade
Interdisciplinary indiscipline? : can phylogenetic methods meaningfully be applied to language data, and to dating language? / Paul Heggarty