Language Evolution in Practice: The History of GMF

2010 ◽  
pp. 3-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Herrmannsdoerfer ◽  
Daniel Ratiu ◽  
Guido Wachsmuth
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
History Of

Communication as source and motivator of language evolution

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vilmos Benczik
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Human Thought ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

Language emerges and changes primarily through communication; therefore communication technologies play a key role in the history of language change. The most powerful communication technology from this point of view is phonetic writing, which has a double effect on language: on the one hand it impoverishes suprasegmental linguistic resources; on the other hand it evokes in language a profound and sophisticated semantic precision, and also syntactic complexity. The huge progress in abstract human thought that has taken place over the past three or four centuries has come about on the basis of these linguistic changes. Today, when writing seems to be losing its earlier hegemony over communication, the question arises as to whether this will lead to the erosion of human language, and also of human thought.

Incorporating American English into the History of English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Burkette
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistic ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
American English ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Natural Result

This chapter provides some suggestions for the inclusion of the history of American English into the larger context of the History of the English Language (HEL). By touching on themes found throughout within the external and internal history of English, for example, language contact and specific morphological and phonological processes, respectively, one can include lessons on American English and its varieties as an extension of the History of English, demonstrating to students that language “evolution” is an ongoing process and that variation within the language is a natural result of historical, linguistic, and social forces. This chapter begins with a (brief) general narrative of the development of American English and then offers a series of possible themes that could be incorporated into a HEL class for special focus, along with assignments and/or additional resources that encourage students to engage with the focus topics more deeply.

A Brief History of the Verb To Be

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Moro
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Bertrand Russell ◽  
Human Race ◽  
Classical Greece ◽  
Medieval Logic ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of

Beginning with the early works of Aristotle, the interpretation of the verb to be runs through Western linguistic thought like Ariadne's thread. As it unravels, it becomes intertwined with philosophy, metaphysics, logic, and even with mathematics—so much so that Bertrand Russell showed no hesitation in proclaiming that the verb to be was a disgrace to the human race. With the conviction that this verb penetrates modern linguistic thinking, creating scandal in its wake and, like a Trojan horse of linguistics, introducing disruptive elements that lead us to rethink radically the most basic structure of human language—the sentence—this book reconstructs this history. From classical Greece to the dueling masters of medieval logic through the revolutionary geniuses from the seventeenth century to the Enlightenment, and finally to the twentieth century—when linguistics became a driving force and model for neuroscience—the plot unfolds like a detective story, culminating in the discovery of a formula that solves the problem even as it raises new questions—about language, evolution, and the nature and structure of the human mind. The book isn't burdened with inaccessible formulas and always refers to the broader picture of mind and language. In this way it serves as an engaging introduction to a new field of cutting-edge research.

scholarly journals From Substance to Computation: Internalization and Hierarchical Structure in Evolutionary Phonology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shin-ichi Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Sound Structure ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Computational Systems

AbstractIn the history of phonological theory, the paradigm of computational systems has shifted in tandem with a better understanding of substantive issues such as typology, acquisition, social variation, and historical change in sound structure. The paradigm shift in the past 50 years can simply be characterized as the one from ‘serial derivation by rules’ to ‘parallel evaluation by constraints,’ and now Optimality Theory (OT) focusses on substantive issues by improving its phonetic groundings and has ceased groping for a better mode of computation. This is because OT is primarily a substantive theory of CON, and at least in its standard version, the computational systems of Eval and GEN are merely ‘given assumptions.’In this article, we will overview some arguments against OT in substantive respects. As an ultimate problem in substance, it cannot solve ‘the poverty paradox,’ which means the paradox of ‘the poverty of the stimulus’ in ontogeny and ‘the poverty of the inheritance’ in phylogeny. Moreover, as a proximate problem in substance, certain gaps to be missed in syllable typology would erroneously be predicted to exist by OT. Alternatively, we will rethink the mode of computation in phonology and propose a new paradigm for phonology from the viewpoint of language evolution under a minimalist lens. Our proposal is based on Fujita’s (2016a, 2017) Hypothesis on Motor Control Origin of Merge in Language Evolution, which solves ‘the poverty paradox’ and thus satisfies both explanatory and evolutionary adequacy. We will demonstrate that substantive findings in OT can successfully be carried over to this scenario, in which the empirical problem concerning the typological gap is offered a reasonable explanation. We will also show that phonology has a vital role in computation and is not merely a subsidiary issue at the interface of the Sensory-Motor systems in linearization or externalization. We will take up one case for this claim: the English syllable CCVC has structural ambiguity, which means that phonology involves internalization with some mechanisms in order to create different hierarchical structures.

scholarly journals Шошоолог: этноним и этническая история

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-289
Author(s):  
Bair Z. Nanzatov ◽  
◽  
Vladimir V. Tishin
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Settlement History ◽  
Inner Asia ◽  
Ethnic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Settlement Areas ◽  
Written Sources

Introduction. This article under takes a study of the clan name Shoshoolog (Šošōlog) in the context of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Mongolic and Turkic peoples of Inner Asia and Siberia. New historical and ethnographical data, including the evidence of ethnonymics as a part of the ethnic history of the Mongolic and Turkic peoples of the region will contribute to the knowledge of the migration and settlement history of the Shoshoolog people. The study aims at examining the etymology of the term šošōloγ, the area where it wasspread and theways of itsspread. Data and methods. The authors have taken into account written documents, ethnographical and folklore sources that contained references to the ethnonym in question. The written sources of the period between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, mainly in Russian, such as Cossacks’ otpiski (reports), and, more recent, travel and census reports, contain various forms of the ethnonym, often incorrectly spelled but still of interest as evidence pointing at the settlement areas of the ethnic group, as well as a source for linguistic speculation. The ethnographical sources include references to the ethnic group in question based on the legends and sagas shedding light on the people’s origin and settlement patterns both in the Baikal area and in Mongolia. The folklore texts written down by N. N. Poppe, S. P. Baldaev, etc. Include the stories of the Shoshoolog as a Buryat clan with a strong Shamanic background, as well as various forms of the ethnonym. Granted the available knowledge of the historical patterns in the language evolution, the orthographical forms of the ethnonym contained in different records were used as the data for further phonetical reconstructions and localizations of the ethnonym’s phonetic shape in terms of chronological and geographical dimensions. This data, alongside other material on the ethnonymics and onomastics of Mongolic and Turkic peoples, contributes to the linguistic part of the database in the field. Conclusions. A comparative analysis of ethnonymic evidence contained in a variety of sources examined resulted in phonetic reconstructions of the ethnonym under study to finally shed new light on its etymology, as well as to project further developments of its phonetic shape.

scholarly journals Dynamics in language

Diacronia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Dragoș Biro
Keyword(s):  
Language Evolution ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Community Members ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

Language is subjected to a double definition process: by the static reality characteristic of the system, due to inertia to change, and by its permanent character regarding the language acts producing, through speaking. Because it is under the pressure of concrete communicative needs, a language is subjected to a continuous dynamics assuring the language progress or regress, both aspects, together with neutral modifications, actually meaning, in the Darwinist perspective, the language evolution. The article, thus, comes with a necessary conceptual delimitation between the language evolution and progress, on the one hand, but also between causes which determine the evolution and the evolution in itself, as a process. Linguistics has faced radically different approaches on its topic of study, natural human language; the perspectives on language differ from the relationships network which make the elements creating one language or another to get the quality of systems, to a product of man’s will and freedom, because the language cannot be separated from the speakers’ freedom, or to the attention paid to meanings, these being always socially constituted, based on the interactions between a community members. In such a diversity where divergence dominates convergence, this article intends, in subsidiary, to fix, from an diachronic perspective, the definition of linguistics as being, in fact, the history of evolutions the language has met since its beginnings.

scholarly journals Middle english names of potters: the determinant analysis of the series of synonyms

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 124-130
Author(s):  
Oksana Dobrovolska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Functional Differentiation ◽  
Semantic Group ◽  
Semantic System ◽  
Chronological Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Determinant Analysis

Background: The article deals with the scientific problem of the reconstruction of language evolution in the aspect of historical dynamics of linguistic processes in the semantic system of the English language. The topicality of the research is determined by the need to study the issues of the theories of language development, language changes, modern systemic linguistics and language interference in the parameters of the complex dynamic adaptive system on the basis of the numerical empirical material within the long chronological period in different functions. Purpose: It is relevant to study the development of a particular series of synonyms as a sub-system within the lexical-semantic group in the aspect of determinant analysis. The research methodology is the combination of the traditional linguistic methods together with new systemic functional techniques of the reconstruction of the evolution of semantic system. The aim of the article is to reconstruct the development of the semantic subsystem of the names of potters in Middle English by establishing the specifics of the support of the internal determinant of the semantic group of occupational terms in Middle English at the level of the series of synonyms. The tasks of the research are the following: to make analyses of the etymological composition of the word-stems, functional differentiation and chronological stratification of the first written attestations of the Middle English names of potters. The subject of the study is the etymological composition, functional differentiation and chronological stratification of the Middle English occupational terms. The object of the study is the series of synonyms – the names of potters as a subsystem of the semantic group of Middle English occupational terms. Results: There 8 names of potters in Middle English, forming 0.33% of the total number of Middle English occupational terms. The formation of the series of synonyms under study predominantly belongs to the 12th – 15th centuries, only one word being neologism of the Modern English period. The ratio of English words, loan-blends and borrowings is 55 %:15.5 %:12.5 %. Discussion: The scientific novelty of the research lies in the new functional approach to the history of vocabulary study, as well as the usage of new techniques of linguistic investigation applied to the new object of the study, esp. a particular series of synonyms as a constituent part of the larger systems of language. The results indicate the strict subordination of functioning and development of the series of synonyms of the Middle English names of potters to the language determinant of the semantic group of occupational terms and the English language as a whole. The article draws the prospective of further studies in the field of language evolution of the semantic system in the aspect of determinant analysis of its subsystems.

scholarly journals Bayesian phylogenetic analysis supports an agricultural origin of Japonic languages

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1725) ◽  
pp. 3662-3669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Lee ◽  
Toshikazu Hasegawa
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Striking Similarity ◽  
Agricultural Expansion ◽  
Bayesian Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Linguistic Evolution ◽  
Lexical Data

Languages, like genes, evolve by a process of descent with modification. This striking similarity between biological and linguistic evolution allows us to apply phylogenetic methods to explore how languages, as well as the people who speak them, are related to one another through evolutionary history. Language phylogenies constructed with lexical data have so far revealed population expansions of Austronesian, Indo-European and Bantu speakers. However, how robustly a phylogenetic approach can chart the history of language evolution and what language phylogenies reveal about human prehistory must be investigated more thoroughly on a global scale. Here we report a phylogeny of 59 Japonic languages and dialects. We used this phylogeny to estimate time depth of its root and compared it with the time suggested by an agricultural expansion scenario for Japanese origin. In agreement with the scenario, our results indicate that Japonic languages descended from a common ancestor approximately 2182 years ago. Together with archaeological and biological evidence, our results suggest that the first farmers of Japan had a profound impact on the origins of both people and languages. On a broader level, our results are consistent with a theory that agricultural expansion is the principal factor for shaping global linguistic diversity.

scholarly journals Rate of language evolution is affected by population size

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 2097-2102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindell Bromham ◽  
Xia Hua ◽  
Thomas G. Fitzpatrick ◽  
Simon J. Greenhill
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovations ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Language Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Gain And Loss ◽  
Basic Vocabulary ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The effect of population size on patterns and rates of language evolution is controversial. Do languages with larger speaker populations change faster due to a greater capacity for innovation, or do smaller populations change faster due to more efficient diffusion of innovations? Do smaller populations suffer greater loss of language elements through founder effects or drift, or do languages with more speakers lose features due to a process of simplification? Revealing the influence of population size on the tempo and mode of language evolution not only will clarify underlying mechanisms of language change but also has practical implications for the way that language data are used to reconstruct the history of human cultures. Here, we provide, to our knowledge, the first empirical, statistically robust test of the influence of population size on rates of language evolution, controlling for the evolutionary history of the populations and formally comparing the fit of different models of language evolution. We compare rates of gain and loss of cognate words for basic vocabulary in Polynesian languages, an ideal test case with a well-defined history. We demonstrate that larger populations have higher rates of gain of new words whereas smaller populations have higher rates of word loss. These results show that demographic factors can influence rates of language evolution and that rates of gain and loss are affected differently. These findings are strikingly consistent with general predictions of evolutionary models.

Influence of the tree prior and sampling scale on Bayesian phylogenetic estimates of the origin times of language families

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew M Ritchie ◽  
Simon Y W Ho
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Phylogenetic Methods ◽  
History Of ◽  
Erroneous Estimate ◽  
Coalescent Tree ◽  
Lexical Data

Abstract Bayesian phylogenetic methods derived from evolutionary biology can be used to reconstruct the history of human languages using databases of cognate words. These analyses have produced exciting results regarding the origins and dispersal of linguistic and cultural groups through prehistory. Bayesian lexical dating requires the specification of priors on all model parameters. This includes the use of a prior on divergence times, often combined with a prior on tree topology and referred to as a tree prior. Violation of the underlying assumptions of the tree prior can lead to an erroneous estimate of the timescale of language evolution. To investigate these impacts, we tested the sensitivity of Bayesian dating to the tree prior in analyses of four lexical data sets. Our results show that estimates of the origin times of language families are robust to the choice of tree prior for lexical data, though less so than when Bayesian phylogenetic methods are used to analyse genetic data sets. We also used the relative fit of speciation and coalescent tree priors to determine the ability of speciation models to describe language diversification at four different taxonomic levels. We found that speciation priors were preferred over a constant-size coalescent prior regardless of taxonomic scale. However, data sets with narrower taxonomic and geographic sampling exhibited a poorer fit to ideal birth–death model expectations. Our results encourage further investigation into the nature of language diversification at different sampling scales.

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