Foundations of the Age-Area Hypothesis

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5822826
AutoresM J Baker (0000-0003-2362-8581, The Graduate Center, CUNY, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen8
Número1
Fecha de publicación2021-12-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHumanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992
EditorialPalgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1057/s41599-021-00991-8
OpenAlexW4205857773
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas35

A useful tool in understanding the roots of the world geography of culture is the Age-Area-Hypothesis. The Age-Area Hypothesis (AAH) asserts that the point of geographical origin of a group of related cultures is most likely where the culture speaking the most divergent language is located. In spite of its widespread, multidisciplinary application, the hypothesis remains imprecisely stated, and has no theoretical underpinnings. This paper describes a model of the AAH based on an economic theory of mass migrations. The theory leads to a family of measures of cultural divergence, which can be referred to as Dyen divergence measures. One measure is used to develop an Age-Area Theorem, which links linguistic divergence and likelihood of geographical origin. The theory allows for computation of the likelihood different locations are origin points for a group of related cultures, and can be applied recursively to yield probabilities of different historical migratory paths. The theory yields an Occam's-razor-like result: migratory paths that are the simplest are also the most likely; a key principle of the AAH. The paper concludes with an application to the geographical origins of the peoples speaking Semitic languages

Divergence (linguistics · Great Divergence · occam · Semitic languages · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution