Shedding more light on language classification using basic vocabularies and phylogenetic methods

A case study of Uralic

Bibliographic Data

ID20345433
AuthorsKaj Syrjänen (0000-0002-9795-7284, University of Tampere), Terhi Honkola (0000-0002-3330-0857, University of Turku), Kalle Korhonen (University of Helsinki), Jyri Lehtinen (0000-0001-7332-1911), Outi Vesakoski (0000-0002-7220-3347), Niklas Wahlberg (0000-0002-1259-3363)
Year2013
Volume30
Issue3
Pages323-352
Publication date2013-10-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiachronica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0176-4225 • E-ISSN: 1569-9714
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/dia.30.3.02syr
OpenAlexW1971642633
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited9

Encouraged by ongoing discussion of the classification of the Uralic languages, we investigate the family quantitatively using Bayesian phylogenetics and basic vocabulary from seventeen languages. To estimate the heterogeneity within this family and the robustness of its subgroupings, we analyse ten divergent sets of basic vocabulary, including basic vocabulary lists from the literature, lists that exclude borrowing-susceptible meanings, lists with varying degrees of borrowing-susceptible meanings and a list combining all of the examined items. The results show that the Uralic phylogeny has a fairly robust shape from the perspective of basic vocabulary, and is not dramatically altered by borrowing-susceptible meanings. The results differ to some extent from the ‘standard paradigm’ classification of these languages, such as the lack of firm evidence for Finno-Permian

Bayesian probability · Biology · Evolutionary biology · Genealogy · Linguistics · Phylogenetic tree · Phylogenetics · Vocabulary · Computer Science · History · Language and cultural evolution · Linguistics and language evolution · Artificial Intelligence · Genetics