Linguistic evolution in time and space: addressing the methodological challenges

2024 · doi:10.32942/x28p7n
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Abstract

One of the most specific features of the human language faculty is its intrinsic spatio-temporal dynamic, as reflected in languages' characteristic mode of extra-genomic evolution. Understanding what has emerged in the hominin lineage therefore requires capturing this dynamic and the diversity of languages and structures that it generates. In this chapter, we review the state of the art in probabilistic models designed for this task. Current approaches tend to excel either in capturing temporal or spatial processes. We summarize these and describe avenues for integrating them, illustrated by a case study on the evolution of sound inventories over time and space.
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This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint. You must log in to post a comment. There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint. Add a Comment You must log in to post a comment. Comments There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. One of the most specific features of the human language faculty is its intrinsic spatio-temporal dynamic, as reflected in languages' characteristic mode of extra-genomic evolution. Understanding what has emerged in the hominin lineage therefore requires capturing this dynamic and the diversity of languages and structures that it generates. In this chapter, we review the state of the art in probabilistic models designed for this task. Current approaches tend to excel either in capturing temporal or spatial processes. We summarize these and describe avenues for integrating them, illustrated by a case study on the evolution of sound inventories over time and space. https://doi.org/10.32942/X28P7N Social and Behavioral Sciences Published: 2024-07-04 17:00 CC BY Attribution 4.0 International Data and Code Availability Statement: https://github.com/chundrac/disp-phon Language: English

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License: CC-BY-4.0