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Analogies, Transfer, and Adaptation

Analogies, Transfer, and Adaptation

Talk held at the Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)

Johann-Mattis List

March 14, 2018
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  1. Analogies, Transfer, and Adaptation
    Interdisciplinary Research on Evolutionary Dynamics Linguistics and
    Biology
    Johann-Mattis List
    Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
    Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
    Jena
    2018/03/14
    1 / 52

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  2. Languages
    语言
    language
    язык
    språk
    Languages
    2 / 52

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  3. Languages What is a Language?
    What is a Language?
    Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish are different languages
    .
    .
    Běijīng-Chinese, Shànghǎi-Chinese und Hakka-Chinese are
    dialects of the same language
    3 / 52

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  4. Languages What is a Language?
    What is a Language?
    Běijīng Chinese 1 iou²¹ i⁵⁵ xuei³⁵ pei²¹fəŋ⁵⁵ kən⁵⁵ tʰai⁵¹iaŋ¹¹ t͡ʂəŋ⁵⁵ ʦai⁵³ naɚ⁵¹ t͡ʂəŋ⁵⁵luən⁵¹
    Hakka Chinese 1 iu³³ it⁵⁵ pai³³a¹¹ pet³³fuŋ³³ tʰuŋ¹¹ ɲit¹¹tʰeu¹¹ hɔk³³ e⁵³ au⁵⁵
    Shànghǎi Chinese 1 ɦi²² tʰɑ̃⁵⁵ ʦɿ²¹ poʔ³foŋ⁴⁴ taʔ⁵ tʰa³³ɦiã⁴⁴ ʦəŋ³³ hɔ⁴⁴ ləʔ¹lə²³ʦa⁵³
    Běijīng Chinese 2 ʂei³⁵ də⁵⁵ pən³⁵ liŋ²¹ ta⁵¹
    Hakka Chinese 2 man³³ ɲin¹¹ kʷɔ⁵⁵ vɔi⁵³
    Shànghǎi Chinese 2 sa³³ ɲiŋ⁵⁵ ɦəʔ²¹ pəŋ³³ zɿ⁴⁴ du¹³
    Norwegian 1 nuːɾɑʋinˑn̩ ɔ suːln̩ kɾɑŋlət ɔm
    Swedish 1 nuːɖanvɪndən ɔ suːlən tv̥ɪstadə ən gɔŋ ɔm
    Danish 1 noʌ̯ʌnvenˀn̩ ʌ soːl̩ˀn kʰʌm eŋg̊ɑŋ i sd̥ʁiðˀ ʌmˀ
    Norwegian 2 ʋem ɑ dem sɱ̩ ʋɑː ɖɳ̩ stæɾ̥kəstə
    Swedish 2 vɛm ɑv dɔm sɔm vɑ staɹkast
    Danish 2 vɛmˀ a b̥m̩ d̥ vɑ d̥n̩ sd̥æʌ̯g̊əsd̥ə
    4 / 52

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  5. Languages What is a Language?
    What is a Language?
    From the perspective of the lexicon and the sound system, the
    Chinese dialects are at least as diverse as the Scandinavian
    languages
    4 / 52

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  6. Languages Language as a Diasystem
    Language as a Diasystem
    Languages are complex aggregates of different linguistic
    systems which “coexist and mutually influence each other”
    (Coseriu 1973: 40, my translation).
    .
    .
    5 / 52

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  7. Languages Language as a Diasystem
    Language as a Diasystem
    Standard Language
    Diatopic Varieties
    Diastratic Varieties
    Diaphasic Varieties
    5 / 52

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  8. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Dimensions
    LANGUAGE
    6 / 52

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  9. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Dimensions
    LANGUAGE
    diatopic
    place
    6 / 52

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  10. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Dimensions
    LANGUAGE
    diastratic diatopic
    social layer place
    6 / 52

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  11. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Dimensions
    LANGUAGE
    diastratic diatopic
    diaphasic
    social layer place
    situation
    6 / 52

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  12. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Dimensions
    LANGUAGE
    diastratic diatopic
    diaphasic
    diam
    esic
    social layer place
    situation
    m
    edium
    6 / 52

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  13. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Dimensions
    LANGUAGE
    diachronic
    diastratic diatopic
    diaphasic
    diam
    esic
    time
    social layer place
    situation
    m
    edium
    6 / 52

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  14. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Dimensions
    LANGUAGE
    diachronic
    diastratic diatopic
    diaphasic
    diam
    esic
    6 / 52

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  15. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Complexity of Borrowing
    7 / 52

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  16. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Complexity of Borrowing
    expected Mandarin [ma₅₅po₂₁lou]
    7 / 52

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  17. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Complexity of Borrowing
    expected Mandarin [ma₅₅po₂₁lou]
    attested Mandarin [wan₅₁paw₂₁lu₅₁]
    7 / 52

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  18. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Complexity of Borrowing
    expected Mandarin [ma₅₅po₂₁lou]
    attested Mandarin [wan₅₁paw₂₁lu₅₁]
    explanation Cantonese [maːn₂₂pow₃₅low₃₂]
    7 / 52

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  19. Languages Language Variation
    Language Variation: Complexity of Borrowing
    English Cantonese Mandarin
    maːlboʁo maːn22
    pow35
    low32
    wan51
    paw21
    lu51
    Proper Name
    “Road of 1000 Tre-
    asures”
    “Road of 1000 Tre-
    asures”
    万宝路
    8 / 52

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  20. Language History
    Language History
    9 / 52

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  21. Language History Dendrophilia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophilia
    August Schleicher
    (1821-1868)
    10 / 52

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  22. Language History Dendrophilia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophilia
    August Schleicher
    (1821-1868)
    “These assumptions, which follow
    logically from the results of our re-
    search, can be best illustrated by the
    image of a branching tree.” (Schle-
    icher 1853: 787)
    10 / 52

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  23. Language History Dendrophilia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophilia
    Schleicher (1853)
    11 / 52

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  24. Language History Dendrophobia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophobia
    Johannes Schmidt
    (1843-1901)
    12 / 52

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  25. Language History Dendrophobia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophobia
    Johannes Schmidt
    (1843-1901)
    “You can turn it as you want, but as long
    as you stick to the idea that the his-
    torically attested languages have been
    developing by multiple furcations of an
    ancestral language, that is, as long as
    you assume that there is a Stammbaum
    [family tree] of the Indo-European lan-
    guages, you will never be able to explain
    all facts which have been assembled in
    a scientifically satisfying way.” (Schmidt
    1872: 17, my translation)
    12 / 52

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  26. Language History Dendrophobia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophobia
    Johannes Schmidt
    (1843-1901)
    “I want to replace [the tree] by the im-
    age of a wave that spreads out from
    the center in concentric circles be-
    coming weaker and weaker the far-
    ther they get away from the center.”
    (Schmidt 1872: 27, my translation)
    13 / 52

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  27. Language History Dendrophobia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophobia
    Schmidt (1875)
    14 / 52

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  28. Language History Dendrophobia
    Modeling Language History: Dendrophobia
    Meillet (1908)
    Hirt (1905)
    Bloomfield (1933)
    Bonfante (1931)
    14 / 52

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  29. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Trees are bad, because...
    15 / 52

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  30. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Trees are bad, because...
    they are difficult to
    reconstruct............
    15 / 52

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  31. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Trees are bad, because...
    they are difficult to
    reconstruct............
    languages do not always
    split............ .......... ............
    ............
    15 / 52

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  32. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Trees are bad, because...
    they are difficult to
    reconstruct............
    languages do not always
    split............ .......... ............
    ............
    they are boring, since they only
    model the vertical aspects of
    language history ............
    15 / 52

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  33. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Trees are bad, because...
    they are difficult to
    reconstruct............
    languages do not always
    split............ .......... ............
    ............
    they are boring, since they only
    model the vertical aspects of
    language history ............
    Waves are bad, because
    nobody knows how to
    reconstruct them
    15 / 52

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  34. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Trees are bad, because...
    they are difficult to
    reconstruct............
    languages do not always
    split............ .......... ............
    ............
    they are boring, since they only
    model the vertical aspects of
    language history ............
    Waves are bad, because
    nobody knows how to
    reconstruct them
    languages still diverge, even if
    not necessarily in split
    processes
    15 / 52

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  35. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Trees are bad, because...
    they are difficult to
    reconstruct............
    languages do not always
    split............ .......... ............
    ............
    they are boring, since they only
    model the vertical aspects of
    language history ............
    Waves are bad, because
    nobody knows how to
    reconstruct them
    languages still diverge, even if
    not necessarily in split
    processes
    they are boring, since they only
    model the horizontal aspects of
    language history
    15 / 52

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  36. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Hugo Schuchardt
    (1842-1927)
    16 / 52

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  37. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Modeling Language History: Phylogenetic Networks
    Hugo Schuchardt
    (1842-1927)
    “We connect the branches and twigs
    of the tree with countless horizon-
    tal lines and it ceases to be a tree.”
    (Schuchardt 1870 [1900]: 11)
    16 / 52

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  38. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Phylogenetic Networks
    17 / 52

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  39. Language History Phylogenetic Networks
    Phylogenetic Networks
    17 / 52

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  40. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics
    Biological Approaches
    in
    Historical Linguistics
    18 / 52

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  41. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past
    The Geological Evidences
    of
    The Antiquity of Man
    with Remarks on Theories of
    The Origin of Species by Variation
    By Sir Charles Lyell
    London
    John Murray, Albemarle Street
    1863
    19 / 52

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  42. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past
    If we new not-
    hing of the existence
    of Latin, - if all
    historical documents
    previous to the fin-
    teenth century had
    been lost, - if tra-
    dition even was si-
    lent as to the former
    existance of a Ro-
    man empire, a me-
    re comparison of the
    Italian, Spanish,
    Portuguese, French,
    Wallachian, and
    Rhaetian dialects
    would enable us to
    say that at some
    time there must ha-
    ve been a language,
    from which these
    six modern dialects
    derive their origin
    in common.
    19 / 52

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  43. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Uniformitarianism (C. Lyell)
    20 / 52

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  44. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Uniformitarianism (C. Lyell)
    Uniformity of Change: Laws of change are uniform. They have
    applied in the past as they apply now and will apply in the future, no
    matter at which place.
    20 / 52

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  45. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Uniformitarianism (C. Lyell)
    Uniformity of Change: Laws of change are uniform. They have
    applied in the past as they apply now and will apply in the future, no
    matter at which place.
    Graduality of Change: Change proceeds gradually, not abrupt.
    20 / 52

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  46. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Uniformitarianism (C. Lyell)
    Uniformity of Change: Laws of change are uniform. They have
    applied in the past as they apply now and will apply in the future, no
    matter at which place.
    Graduality of Change: Change proceeds gradually, not abrupt.
    Abductive Reasoning: We can infer past events and processes
    by investigating patterns observed in the present, which becomes
    the “key to the interpretation of some mystery in the archives of
    remote ages” (Lyell 1830: 165)
    20 / 52

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  47. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Uniformitarianism (A. Schleicher)
    Language Change
    is a gradual process (Schleicher 1848: 25).
    is a law-like process (Schleicher 1848: 25).
    is a natural process which occurs in all languages (Schleicher 1848:
    25).
    universal process which occurs in all times (Schleicher 1863[1873]:
    10f).
    allows us to infer past processes and extinct languages by
    investigating the languages of the present (see Schleicher 1848:
    25).
    21 / 52

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  48. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Summary
    It was not the direct exchange of ideas that lead to the devel-
    opment of similar approaches in biology and linguistics, but
    the astonishing fact that scholars in both fields would at about
    the same time detect striking parallels between both disci-
    plines, both regarding their theoretical foundations and the
    processes they were investigating.
    22 / 52

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  49. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Summary
    It was not the direct exchange of ideas that lead to the devel-
    opment of similar approaches in biology and linguistics, but
    the astonishing fact that scholars in both fields would at about
    the same time detect striking parallels between both disci-
    plines, both regarding their theoretical foundations and the
    processes they were investigating.
    And linguists were the first to draw trees!
    22 / 52

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  50. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Keys to the Past
    Keys to the Past: Summary
    1700 1800
    1750 1850
    List et al. (2016, Biology Direct)
    Stiernhielm's
    Lingua Nova
    1671
    Gallet's
    Arbre
    ca. 1800
    Darwin's
    Origins
    1859
    De Buffon's
    Table
    1755
    Schleicher's
    Stammbaum
    1853
    Darwin's
    Tree Sketch
    1837
    Lamarck's
    Tableaux
    1809
    Čelakovský's
    Rodový Kmen
    1853
    Rühling's
    Tabula
    1774
    Hicke's
    Affinitas
    1689
    Schottels's
    Tabelle
    1663
    23 / 52

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  51. 24 / 52

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  52. 24 / 52

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  53. 24 / 52

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  54. 24 / 52

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  55. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn
    2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
    25 / 52

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  56. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn
    2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
    25 / 52

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  57. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn
    2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
    25 / 52

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  58. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn
    2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
    25 / 52

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  59. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn: Words as Genes
    Basic Concept German ID English ID Italian ID French ID
    HAND Hand 1 hand 1 mano 2 main 2
    BLOOD Blut 3 blood 3 sangue 4 sang 4
    HEAD Kopf 5 head 6 testa 7 tête 7
    TOOTH Zahn 8 tooth 8 dente 8 dent 8
    TO SLEEP schlafen 9 sleep 9 dormir 10 dormir 10
    TO SAY sagen 11 say 11 dire 12 dire 12
    ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
    26 / 52

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  60. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn: Words as Genes
    Basic Concept German ID English ID Italian ID French ID
    HAND Hand 1 hand 1 mano 2 main 2
    BLOOD Blut 3 blood 3 sangue 4 sang 4
    HEAD Kopf 5 head 6 testa 7 tête 7
    TOOTH Zahn 8 tooth 8 dente 8 dent 8
    TO SLEEP schlafen 9 sleep 9 dormir 10 dormir 10
    TO SAY sagen 11 say 11 dire 12 dire 12
    ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
    26 / 52

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  61. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn: Words as Genes
    ID Proto-Form Basic Concept German English Italian French
    1 PGM *xanda- HAND 1 1 0 0
    2 LAT mānus HAND 0 0 1 1
    3 PGM *blođa- BLOOD 1 1 0 0
    4 LAT sanguis BLOOD 0 0 1 1
    5 PGM *kuppa- HEAD 1 0 0 0
    6 PGM *xawbda- HEAD 0 1 0 0
    7 LAT tēsta HEAD 0 0 1 1
    8 PIE *h3
    dont- TOOTH 1 1 1 1
    9 PGM *slēpan- TO SLEEP 1 1 0 0
    10 LAT dormīre TO SLEEP 0 0 1 1
    11 PGM *sagjan- TO SAY 1 1 0 0
    12 LAT dīcere TO SAY 0 0 1 1
    ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
    26 / 52

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  62. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn: Words as Genes
    English
    111
    German
    101
    French
    000
    Italian
    001
    101 001
    001
    + B
    − C
    +
    A
    Char. English German French Italian
    A 1 1 0 0
    B 1 0 0 0
    C 1 1 0 1
    26 / 52

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  63. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn: Sounds as Nuclein Bases
    Concept
    German
    English
    Italian
    French
    “HAND” G E I F
    Hand 0 1 2 3
    hand 1 0 2 3
    mano 2 2 0 2
    main 3 3 2 0
    “BLOOD” G E I F
    Blut 0 4 5 4
    blood 4 0 6 5
    sangue 5 6 0 2
    sang 4 5 2 0
    Edit Distances between Orthographic Entries
    27 / 52

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  64. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics The Quantitative Turn
    The Quantitative Turn: Sounds as Nuclein Bases
    German English Italian French
    German 0 30 60 55
    English 30 0 60 50
    Italian 60 60 0 20
    French 55 50 20 0
    27 / 52

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  65. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Analogies and Parallels
    Analogies and Parallels
    Parallels between Species and Languages (Pagel 2009)
    aspect species languages
    unit of replication gene word
    replication asexual und sexual
    reproduction
    learning
    speciation cladogenesis language split
    forces of change natural selection and
    genetic drift
    social selection and
    trends
    differentiation tree-like tree-like
    28 / 52

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  66. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Analogies and Parallels
    Analogies and Parallels
    29 / 52

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  67. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Analogies and Parallels
    Analogies and Parallels
    29 / 52

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  68. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Analogies and Parallels
    Analogies and Parallels
    Differences between Species and Languages (Geisler & List 2013)
    Aspect Species Languages
    domain Popper’s World I Popper’s World III
    relation between
    form and function
    mechanical arbitrary
    origin monogenesis unclear
    sequence similarity universal (indepen-
    dent of species)
    language-specific
    differentiation tree-like network-like
    30 / 52

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  69. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Alphabets
    31 / 52

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  70. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Alphabets
    • universal • language-specific
    31 / 52

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  71. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Alphabets
    • universal • language-specific
    • limited • widely varying
    31 / 52

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  72. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Alphabets
    • universal • language-specific
    • limited • widely varying
    • constant • mutable
    31 / 52

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  73. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes
    GENES <=> WORDS
    HOMOLOGS <=> COGNATES
    32 / 52

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  74. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    33 / 52

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  75. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    l > j
    33 / 52

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  76. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘TONGUE’ liŋgua liŋgwa
    ‘MOON’ lu:na luna
    ‘SLOW’ lentus lento
    l > j
    33 / 52

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  77. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘TONGUE’ liŋgua liŋgwa
    ‘MOON’ lu:na luna
    ‘SLOW’ lentus lento
    l > j l > l
    33 / 52

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  78. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘TONGUE’ liŋgua liŋgwa
    ‘MOON’ lu:na luna
    ‘SLOW’ lentus lento
    l > j l > l
    l > j / p _
    33 / 52

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  79. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘TONGUE’ liŋgua liŋgwa
    ‘MOON’ lu:na luna
    ‘SLOW’ lentus lento
    l > j l > l
    l > j / p _
    Not sounds change, sound systems change (Bloomfield 1933)!
    33 / 52

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  80. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘TONGUE’ liŋgua liŋgwa
    ‘MOON’ lu:na luna
    ‘SLOW’ lentus lento
    l > j l > l
    l > j / p _
    Not sounds change, sound systems change (Bloomfield 1933)!
    Sound change depends on the context in which the sounds occur!
    33 / 52

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  81. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘FEATHER’ pluːma pjuma
    ‘FLAT’ plaːnus pjano
    ‘SQUARE’ plateːa pjaʦːa
    Meaning Latin Italian
    ‘TONGUE’ liŋgua liŋgwa
    ‘MOON’ lu:na luna
    ‘SLOW’ lentus lento
    l > j l > l
    l > j / p _
    Not sounds change, sound systems change (Bloomfield 1933)!
    Sound change depends on the context in which the sounds occur!
    Sound change largely follows irreversible patterns!
    33 / 52

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  82. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    34 / 52

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  83. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Was ist das für
    ein Buchstabe?
    Das ist ein P.
    34 / 52

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  84. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Was ist das für
    ein Buchstabe?
    Das ist ein P.
    Ich püsse euch alle, ganz besonders Averell,
    meinen Pleinen.
    Das
    reicht!
    34 / 52

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  85. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Was ist das für
    ein Buchstabe?
    Das ist ein P.
    Ich püsse euch alle, ganz besonders Averell,
    meinen Pleinen.
    Das
    reicht!
    Aber wohin gehen wir, wenn
    man uns wieder einfängt?
    Plappe
    Pleiner!
    34 / 52

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  86. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Was ist das für
    ein Buchstabe?
    Das ist ein P.
    Ich püsse euch alle, ganz besonders Averell,
    meinen Pleinen.
    Das
    reicht!
    Aber wohin gehen wir, wenn
    man uns wieder einfängt?
    Plappe
    Pleiner!
    Liebe Kinder,
    heute habe ich
    Lucky Luke
    getroffen. Ich
    küsse euch,
    ganz besonders
    Averell, meinen
    Kleinen!
    Eure Ma Dalton
    34 / 52

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  87. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Was ist das für
    ein Buchstabe?
    Das ist ein P.
    Ich püsse euch alle, ganz besonders Averell,
    meinen Pleinen.
    Das
    reicht!
    Aber wohin gehen wir, wenn
    man uns wieder einfängt?
    Plappe
    Pleiner!
    Liebe Pinder,
    heute habe ich
    Lucpy Lupe
    getroffen. Ich
    püsse euch,
    ganz besonders
    Averell, meinen
    Pleinen!
    Eure Ma Dalton
    34 / 52

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  88. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Nase
    Nass
    Muse
    muss
    singen
    35 / 52

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  89. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Nase
    Nass
    Muse
    muss
    singen
    m → b
    n → d
    ng → g
    35 / 52

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  90. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Nase
    Nass
    Muse
    muss
    singen
    m → b
    n → d
    ng → g
    ss → f
    s → w
    35 / 52

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  91. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Nase
    Nass
    Muse
    muss
    singen
    Dase
    Dass
    Buse
    buss
    sigen
    35 / 52

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  92. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    Nase
    Nass
    Muse
    muss
    singen
    Dase
    Dass
    Buse
    buss
    sigen
    Nawe
    Naf
    Muwe
    muf
    wingen
    35 / 52

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  93. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Sound Change
    *Nase
    *Nass
    *Muse
    *muss
    *singen
    Dase
    Dass
    Buse
    buss
    sigen
    Nawe
    Naf
    Muwe
    muf
    wingen
    35 / 52

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  94. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    The term homology was coined by Richard Owen (1804–1892), who
    distinguished ‘homologues’, as ‘the same organ in different animals
    under every variety of form and function’ (Owen 1843: 379), from
    from ‘analogues’ as an ‘organ in one animal which has the same
    function as another part or organ in a different animal’ (ibid.: 374).
    36 / 52

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  95. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    The term homology was coined by Richard Owen (1804–1892), who
    distinguished ‘homologues’, as ‘the same organ in different animals
    under every variety of form and function’ (Owen 1843: 379), from
    from ‘analogues’ as an ‘organ in one animal which has the same
    function as another part or organ in a different animal’ (ibid.: 374).
    Nowadays, it commonly denotes a ‘relationship of common descent
    between any entities, without further specification of the
    evolutionary scenario’ (Koonin 2005: 311).
    36 / 52

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  96. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    The term homology was coined by Richard Owen (1804–1892), who
    distinguished ‘homologues’, as ‘the same organ in different animals
    under every variety of form and function’ (Owen 1843: 379), from
    from ‘analogues’ as an ‘organ in one animal which has the same
    function as another part or organ in a different animal’ (ibid.: 374).
    Nowadays, it commonly denotes a ‘relationship of common descent
    between any entities, without further specification of the
    evolutionary scenario’ (Koonin 2005: 311).
    With respect to specific scenarios of common descent, molecular
    biologists characterize relationships between homologous genes
    further by distinguishing between orthology, paralogy, and xenology.
    36 / 52

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  97. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    B
    A C D
    duplication
    speciation
    lateral
    transfer
    D
    D
    orthologs
    paralogs
    xenologs
    B
    C
    D
    B
    A
    A
    B
    A B
    List (2016)
    37 / 52

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  98. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    Historical Relations
    Terminology
    Biology Linguistics
    common descent
    direct
    homology
    orthology
    cognacy....
    ?
    oblique
    cognacy
    indirect paralogy
    involving lateral
    transfer
    xenology ?
    Linguistics
    indirect cognate
    relation
    (oblique cognacy)
    cognate relation
    (cognacy)
    ?
    ?
    ?
    37 / 52

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  99. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    Historical Relations
    Terminology
    Biology Linguistics
    common descent
    direct
    homology
    orthology
    cognacy....
    ?
    oblique
    cognacy
    indirect paralogy
    involving lateral
    transfer
    xenology ?
    Linguistics
    direct cognate relation
    etymological relation
    indirect cognate
    relation
    (oblique cognacy)
    indirect etymological
    relation
    cognate relation
    (cognacy)
    List (2014)
    37 / 52

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  100. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    Relation Biol. Term continuity
    traditional notion of cognacy - + +/- +/-
    cognacy à la Swadesh - + +/- +
    direct cognate relation orthology + + +
    oblique cognate relation paralogy (?) + - +
    etymological relation homology +/- +/- +/-
    oblique etymological relation xenology - +/- +/-
    ... ... ... ... ...
    Stratic
    Morpho-
    logical
    Seman-
    tic
    List (2016)
    37 / 52

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  101. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Homology
    Italian
    dare
    French
    donner
    Indo-European
    *deh₃-
    *deh₃-no-
    Latin
    dare
    dōnum
    dōnāre
    Italian
    sole
    French
    soleil
    Swedish
    sol
    German
    Sonne
    Germanic
    *sōwel-
    *sunnō-
    Latin
    sol
    soliculus
    Indo-European
    *sóh₂-wl̩ -
    *sh₂én-
    A B
    List (2016)
    37 / 52

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  102. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    hand
    arm
    foot
    day
    m
    eat
    animal
    day
    sand
    moon
    leg
    T₁
    38 / 52

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  103. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    hand
    arm
    foot
    day
    m
    eat
    animal
    day
    sand
    moon
    leg
    T₁
    hand
    arm
    foot
    day
    m
    eat
    animal
    day
    sand
    moon
    leg
    T₂
    38 / 52

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  104. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    hand
    arm
    foot
    day
    m
    eat
    animal
    day
    sand
    moon
    leg
    T₂
    ?
    ?
    ?
    38 / 52

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  105. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    hand
    arm
    foot
    day
    m
    eat
    animal
    day
    sand
    moon
    leg
    T₂
    hand
    arm
    foot
    day
    m
    eat
    animal
    sun
    sand
    moon
    leg
    38 / 52

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  106. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    Semantic change plays a crucial role in language change. Al-
    though most linguists assume that it proceeds according to
    certain general patterns, we currently lack the empirical basis
    to pursue the question in depth. Normally, semantic change
    proceeds by cumulation and reduction.
    39 / 52

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  107. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    German “head”
    Kopf .
    k ɔ p͡f
    Pre-German “head”
    *kop –
    k ɔ p “vessel”
    Proto-
    Germanic
    *kuppa-
    k u pː a “vessel”
    POLYSEMY
    PHASE
    FORM MEANING
    MONOSEMY
    PHASE
    MONOSEMY
    PHASE
    CUMULATION
    REDUCTION
    39 / 52

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  108. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    “cup”
    CONTEST
    TROPHY
    [kʌp] CUP
    English polysemy structure for cup
    39 / 52

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  109. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    “head, cup”
    CUP
    HEAD
    [kɔp] TOP
    Dutch polysemy structure for kop
    39 / 52

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  110. Biological Approaches in Historical Linguistics Differences
    Differences in the Processes: Semantic Change
    “head”
    HEAD
    TOP
    [kɔp͡f] CHIEF
    German polysemy structure for Kopf
    39 / 52

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  111. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics
    Shifting the Paradigm
    40 / 52

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  112. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Rethinking Parallels
    Rethinking Parallels
    Our crucial approach to interdisciplinary research is to adapt
    suitable methods from other disciplines to our needs instead
    of blindly taking them unmodified without testing whether they
    are suitable to be used in historical linguistics after all.
    41 / 52

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  113. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    WORDLIST
    DATA
    42 / 52

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  114. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    WORDLIST
    DATA
    PAIRWISE
    DISTANCES
    BETWEEN
    WORDS
    PAIRWISE
    COMPARISON
    42 / 52

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  115. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    WORDLIST
    DATA
    PAIRWISE
    DISTANCES
    BETWEEN
    WORDS
    COGNATE
    SETS
    COGNATE
    CLUSTERING
    PAIRWISE
    COMPARISON
    42 / 52

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  116. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    Analysis
    ID Taxa Word Gloss GlossID IPA
    ... ... ... ... ... ...
    21 German Frau woman 20 frau
    22 Dutch vrouw woman 20 vrɑu
    23 English woman woman 20 wʊmən
    24 Danish kvinde woman 20 kvenə
    25 Swedish kvinna woman 20 kviːna
    26 Norwegian kvine woman 20 kʋinə
    ... ... ... ... ... ...
    42 / 52

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  117. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    Swedish English Danish Norwegian Dutch German
    kvinna woman kvinde kvine vrouw Frau
    Swedish
    kvina
    0.00 0.69 0.07 0.12 0.71 0.78
    English
    wumin
    0.69 0.00 0.66 0.57 0.68 0.87
    Danish
    kveni
    0.07 0.66 0.00 0.08 0.67 0.71
    Norwegian
    kwini
    0.12 0.57 0.08 0.00 0.75 0.74
    Dutch
    frou
    0.71 0.68 0.67 0.75 0.00 0.17
    German
    frau
    0.78 0.87 0.71 0.74 0.17 0.00
    Analysis
    ID Taxa Word Gloss GlossID IPA
    ... ... ... ... ... ...
    21 German Frau woman 20 frau
    22 Dutch vrouw woman 20 vrɑu
    23 English woman woman 20 wʊmən
    24 Danish kvinde woman 20 kvenə
    25 Swedish kvinna woman 20 kviːna
    26 Norwegian kvine woman 20 kʋinə
    ... ... ... ... ... ...
    42 / 52

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  118. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    Swedish English Danish Norwegian Dutch German
    kvinna woman kvinde kvine vrouw Frau
    Swedish
    kvina
    0.00 0.69 0.07 0.12 0.71 0.78
    English
    wumin
    0.69 0.00 0.66 0.57 0.68 0.87
    Danish
    kveni
    0.07 0.66 0.00 0.08 0.67 0.71
    Norwegian
    kwini
    0.12 0.57 0.08 0.00 0.75 0.74
    Dutch
    frou
    0.71 0.68 0.67 0.75 0.00 0.17
    German
    frau
    0.78 0.87 0.71 0.74 0.17 0.00
    German Frau frau
    Dutch vrouw vrou
    English woman wumin
    Danish kvinde kveni
    Swedish kvinna kvina
    Norwegian kvine kwini
    42 / 52

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  119. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    Swedish English Danish Norwegian Dutch German
    kvinna woman kvinde kvine vrouw Frau
    Swedish
    kvina
    0.00 0.69 0.07 0.12 0.71 0.78
    English
    wumin
    0.69 0.00 0.66 0.57 0.68 0.87
    Danish
    kveni
    0.07 0.66 0.00 0.08 0.67 0.71
    Norwegian
    kwini
    0.12 0.57 0.08 0.00 0.75 0.74
    Dutch
    frou
    0.71 0.68 0.67 0.75 0.00 0.17
    German
    frau
    0.78 0.87 0.71 0.74 0.17 0.00
    German Frau frau
    Dutch vrouw vrou
    English woman wumin
    Danish kvinde kveni
    Swedish kvinna kvina
    Norwegian kvine kwini
    42 / 52

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  120. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Basic Workflow
    German Frau frau
    Dutch vrouw vrou
    English woman wumin
    Danish kvinde kveni
    Swedish kvinna kvina
    Norwegian kvine kwini
    Analysis
    ID Taxa Word Gloss GlossID IPA CogID
    ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
    21 German Frau woman 20 frau 1
    22 Dutch vrouw woman 20 vrɑu 1
    23 English woman woman 20 wʊmən 2
    24 Danish kvinde woman 20 kvenə 3
    25 Swedish kvinna woman 20 kviːna 3
    26 Norwegian kvine woman 20 kʋinə 3
    ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
    42 / 52

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  121. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Problems
    since linguistic alphabets change, linguistic alignments need to infer
    both the mappings between the different alphabets and the
    alignment itself!
    the only workaround for this is to preparse the data, using an initial
    guess for alignments to infer mappings between the different
    alphabets for each language pair, and compare these against a
    random distribution drawn from permutation tests
    this workflow requires more time than a simple alignment of
    sequences, but luckily, our sequences are small!
    43 / 52

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  122. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Workflow
    INPUT
    TOKENIZATION
    PREPROCESSING
    LOG-ODDS
    D ISTANCE
    COGNATE
    OUTPUT
    CORRESPONDENCE
    DETECTION USING
    PHONETIC
    ALIGNMENT
    LOOP
    DISTRIBUTION
    LexStat Algorithm (List 2014)
    EXPECTED
    ATTESTED
    DISTRIBUTION
    CALCULATION
    CLUSTERING
    44 / 52

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  123. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Automatic Word Comparison
    Automatic Word Comparison: Evaluation
    Edit-Dist.
    SCA Infomap
    Bahnaric
    Chinese
    Huon
    Romance
    Tujia
    Uralic
    Turchin
    LexStat
    TOTAL
    true positive
    true negative
    false negative
    false positive
    Accuracy of automatic word comparisons (List et al. 2017)
    45 / 52

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  124. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Background
    46 / 52

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  125. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Background
    One beer please! A beer for me!
    Beer? Please?
    You have beer?
    I'm thirsty, but I do
    not drink water, can
    you help me?
    I want the same as
    everybody else
    here.
    46 / 52

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  126. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Background
    Tokens Units Relations Levels
    sounds phonemes phonotactics phonemics
    words morphemes morpho-tactics morphemics
    sentences constructions grammatical syntax
    47 / 52

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  127. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Background
    English steam train
    German Dampfzug (steam + train)
    Chinese huǒ chē (fire + vehicle)
    Russian parovoz (steam + driver)
    French locomotive à vapeur (locomotive + with +
    steam)
    47 / 52

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  128. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Background
    We can think of many different ways of how to express a cer-
    tain meaning, but although the potential is virtually unlimited,
    the roads of denotation, that is, the mechanisms by which
    words are formed from morphemes, follow certain recurring
    patterns across all languages. Comparing these patterns can
    give us important insights into human cognition.
    47 / 52

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  129. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Background
    On the other hand, the fact that words are often formed from
    smaller parts, be it by compounding existing words, or using
    specific morphemes to derive new words, makes it very diffi-
    cult to identify homologous words automatically!
    What are the mechanisms by which the roads of
    denotation are created across the worlds languages?
    How can we distinguish direct homologues
    (orthologues) from indirect ones (partial homologues,
    etc.) in phylogenetic models or homologue detection?
    47 / 52

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  130. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Automatic Detection of Partial Cognates: Problem
    languages in which words are frequently created by
    compounding the identification of homologous words is
    extremely difficult
    current phylogenetic models cannot handle partial
    homology, and as a result, very important signal is lost
    current methods for automatic homologue detection in
    linguistics also cannot handle partial homologues and
    show a very low accuracy in languages where
    compounding is frequent (especially in the languages of
    South-East Asia)
    48 / 52

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  131. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    German m oː n t -
    English m uː n - -
    Danish m ɔː n - ə
    Swedish m oː n - e
    48 / 52

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  132. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    German m oː n t -
    English m uː n - -
    Danish m ɔː n - ə
    Swedish m oː n - e
    Fúzhōu ŋ u o ʔ ⁵ - - - - - - - - - -
    Měixiàn ŋ i a t ⁵ - - - - - k u o ŋ ⁴⁴
    Guǎngzhōu j - y t ² l - œ ŋ ²² - - - - -
    Běijīng - y ɛ - ⁵¹ l i ɑ ŋ - - - - - -
    48 / 52

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  133. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    German m oː n t -
    English m uː n - -
    Danish m ɔː n - ə
    Swedish m oː n - e
    Fúzhōu ŋ u o ʔ ⁵ - - - - - - - - - -
    Měixiàn ŋ i a t ⁵ - - - - - k u o ŋ ⁴⁴
    Guǎngzhōu j - y t ² l - œ ŋ ²² - - - - -
    Běijīng - y ɛ - ⁵¹ l i ɑ ŋ - - - - - -
    "MOON"
    "MOON"
    "SHINE" "LIGHT"
    48 / 52

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  134. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Automatic Detection of Partial Cognates: The Solution
    use sequence similarity networks to determine the
    similarity between the parts of the words in the data
    apply filters to reduce the edges in the similarity
    networks
    use a community detection algorithm to further partition
    the data into clusters
    48 / 52

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  135. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Fúzhōu ŋuoʔ⁵
    Měixiàn
    ŋiat⁵ 0.44
    kuoŋ⁴⁴ 0.78 0.78
    Wēnzhōu
    y²¹
    ȵ 0.30 0.35 0.67
    ku ³
    ɔ ⁵ 0.80 0.85 0.27 0.67
    vai¹³ 0.85 0.85 0.82 0.73 0.73
    Běijīng y ¹
    ɛ⁵ 0.77 0.84 0.73 0.56 0.56 0.66
    li ŋ¹
    ɑ 0.78 0.78 0.44 0.67 0.82 0.82 0.80
    ŋiat⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    ȵy²¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    vai¹³
    ŋiat⁵
    vai¹³
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ŋiat⁵
    yɛ⁵¹
    liɑŋ¹
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    vai¹³
    B C
    D
    A
    48 / 52

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  136. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Fúzhōu ŋuoʔ⁵
    Měixiàn
    ŋiat⁵ 0.44
    kuoŋ⁴⁴ 0.78 0.78
    Wēnzhōu
    y²¹
    ȵ 0.30 0.35 0.67
    ku ³
    ɔ ⁵ 0.80 0.85 0.27 0.67
    vai¹³ 0.85 0.85 0.82 0.73 0.73
    Běijīng y ¹
    ɛ⁵ 0.77 0.84 0.73 0.56 0.56 0.66
    li ŋ¹
    ɑ 0.78 0.78 0.44 0.67 0.82 0.82 0.80
    ŋiat⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    ȵy²¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    vai¹³
    ŋiat⁵
    vai¹³
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ŋiat⁵
    yɛ⁵¹
    liɑŋ¹
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    vai¹³
    B C
    D
    A
    48 / 52

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  137. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Fúzhōu ŋuoʔ⁵
    Měixiàn
    ŋiat⁵ 0.44
    kuoŋ⁴⁴ 0.78 0.78
    Wēnzhōu
    y²¹
    ȵ 0.30 0.35 0.67
    ku ³
    ɔ ⁵ 0.80 0.85 0.27 0.67
    vai¹³ 0.85 0.85 0.82 0.73 0.73
    Běijīng y ¹
    ɛ⁵ 0.77 0.84 0.73 0.56 0.56 0.66
    li ŋ¹
    ɑ 0.78 0.78 0.44 0.67 0.82 0.82 0.80
    ŋiat⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    ȵy²¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    vai¹³
    ŋiat⁵
    vai¹³
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ŋiat⁵
    yɛ⁵¹
    liɑŋ¹
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    vai¹³
    B C
    D
    A
    48 / 52

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  138. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Fúzhōu ŋuoʔ⁵
    Měixiàn
    ŋiat⁵ 0.44
    kuoŋ⁴⁴ 0.78 0.78
    Wēnzhōu
    y²¹
    ȵ 0.30 0.35 0.67
    ku ³
    ɔ ⁵ 0.80 0.85 0.27 0.67
    vai¹³ 0.85 0.85 0.82 0.73 0.73
    Běijīng y ¹
    ɛ⁵ 0.77 0.84 0.73 0.56 0.56 0.66
    li ŋ¹
    ɑ 0.78 0.78 0.44 0.67 0.82 0.82 0.80
    ŋiat⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    ȵy²¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    vai¹³
    ŋiat⁵
    vai¹³
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ŋiat⁵
    yɛ⁵¹
    liɑŋ¹
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    vai¹³
    B C
    D
    A
    48 / 52

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  139. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Fúzhōu ŋuoʔ⁵
    Měixiàn
    ŋiat⁵ 0.44
    kuoŋ⁴⁴ 0.78 0.78
    Wēnzhōu
    y²¹
    ȵ 0.30 0.35 0.67
    ku ³
    ɔ ⁵ 0.80 0.85 0.27 0.67
    vai¹³ 0.85 0.85 0.82 0.73 0.73
    Běijīng y ¹
    ɛ⁵ 0.77 0.84 0.73 0.56 0.56 0.66
    li ŋ¹
    ɑ 0.78 0.78 0.44 0.67 0.82 0.82 0.80
    ŋiat⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    ȵy²¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    vai¹³
    ŋiat⁵
    vai¹³
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    liɑŋ¹
    yɛ⁵¹
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ȵy²¹
    kuɔ³⁵
    ŋiat⁵
    yɛ⁵¹
    liɑŋ¹
    ŋuoʔ⁵
    kuoŋ⁴⁴
    vai¹³
    B C
    D
    A
    48 / 52

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  140. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Partial Cognacy
    Partial Cognacy: Investigation
    Automatic Detection of Partial Cognates: Solution
    with help of sequence similarity networks, we (List,
    Lopez, and Bapteste 2016) have created the first
    algorithm to detect partial cognates (homologues) in
    linguistic data
    our method outperforms traditional methods largely,
    reaching a plus of more than 5% in accuracy on our test
    sets
    the algorithms is also very fast and can be easily
    applied to considerably large datasets
    48 / 52

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  141. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Semantic Change
    Semantic Change: Investigation
    Key Concept Russian German ...
    1.1 world mir, svet Welt ...
    1.21 earth, land zemlja Erde, Land ...
    1.212 ground, soil počva Erde, Boden ...
    1.420 tree derevo Baum ...
    1.430 wood derevo Wald ...
    ... ... ... ... ...
    49 / 52

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  142. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Semantic Change
    Semantic Change: Investigation
    CLICS: Crosslinguistic Colexifications
    - 221 Languages
    - 64 language families
    - 1280 concepts
    - 301,498 words
    - 45,667 polysemies (colexifications)
    - 16,239 different links between concepts
    - http://clics.lingpy.org
    49 / 52

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  143. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Semantic Change
    Semantic Change: Investigation
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    49 / 52

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  144. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Semantic Change
    Semantic Change: Investigation
    Concept "money" is part of a cluster with the central concept "fishscale" with a total of 10 nodes. Hover over
    forms for each link. Click on the forms to check their sources. Click HERE to export the current network.
    ty: Line weights: Coloring: Family
    silver
    leather
    fishscale
    bark
    coin
    fur
    snail
    skin, hide
    money
    shell
    49 links for "silver" and "money":
    Language Family Form
    1. Ignaciano Arawakan ne
    2. Aymara, Central Aymaran ḳulʸḳi
    3. Tsafiki Barbacoan kaˈla
    4. Seselwa Creole French Creole larzan
    5. Miao, White Hmong-Mien nyiaj
    6. Breton Indo-European arhant
    7. French Indo-European argent
    8. Gaelic, Irish Indo-European airgead
    9. Welsh Indo-European arian
    10. Cofán Isolate koriΦĩʔdi
    49 / 52

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  145. New Approaches in Historical Linguistics Semantic Change
    Semantic Change: Investigation
    Concept "wheel" is part of a cluster with the central concept "leg" with a total of 11 nodes. Hover over the e
    each link. Click on the forms to check their sources. Click HERE to export the current network.
    ity: Line weights: Coloring: Geolocation
    sphere, ball
    round
    footprint
    foot
    calf of leg
    circle
    thigh
    wheel
    leg
    hip
    buttocks
    6 links for "foot" and "wheel":
    Language Family Form
    1. Cofán Isolate c̷ɨʔtʰe
    2. Puinave Isolate sim
    3. Yaminahua Panoan taɨ
    4. Wayampi Tupi pɨ
    5. Pumé Unclassified taɔ
    6. Ninam Yanomam mãhuk
    49 / 52

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  146. Outlook
    Outlook
    Outlook
    50 / 52

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  147. Outlook
    Outlook
    interdisciplinary work can be useful and rewarding
    but we need to be careful to not overstrain our analogies
    we can try and get inspiration from solutions proposed in other
    disciplines
    51 / 52

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  148. Outlook
    Outlook
    interdisciplinary work can be useful and rewarding
    but we need to be careful to not overstrain our analogies
    we can try and get inspiration from solutions proposed in other
    disciplines
    but we should never forget who we are: LINGUISTS AND PROUD!
    51 / 52

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  149. Danke fürs Zuhören!
    52 / 52

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