Cladistic analysis of languages

Indo-European classification based on lexicostatistical data

Bibliographic Data

ID23235280
AuthorsK REXOVA (Charles University, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume19
Issue2
Pages120-127
Publication date2003-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCladistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0748-3007 • E-ISSN: 1096-0031
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1016/s0748-3007(02)00147-0
OpenAlexW4238870697
LanguageEN
Citations received4

The phylogeny of the Indo-European (IE) language family is reconstructed by application of the cladistic methodology to the lexicostatistical dataset collected by Dyen (about 200 meanings, 84 speech varieties, the Hittite language used as a functional outgroup). Three different methods of character coding provide trees that show: (a) the presence of four groups, viz., Balto-Slavonic clade, Romano-Germano-Celtic clade, Armenian-Greek group, and Indo-Iranian group (the two last groups possibly paraphyletic); (b) the unstable position of the Albanian language; (c) the unstable pattern of the basalmost IE differentiation; but (d) the probable existence of the Balto-Slavonic–Indo-Iranian (“satem”) and the Romano-Germano-Celtic (+Albanian?) superclades. The results are compared with the phenetic approach to lexicostatistical data, the results of which are significantly less informative concerning the basal pattern. The results suggest a predominantly branching pattern of the basic vocabulary phylogeny and little borrowing of individual words. Different scenarios of IE differentiation based on archaeological and genetic information are discussed.

Armenian · Biology · Celtic languages · Clade · Cladistics · Linguistics · Paraphyly · Phylogenetics · Zoology · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Philosophy

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