Population Size and the Rate of Language Evolution: A Test Across Indo-European, Austronesian, and Bantu Languages
Frontiers in Psychology • Vol/Iss. 9 • Frontiers media • • Published In • Pages: ??•
By Greenhill, Simon J. , Hua, Xia, Welsh, Caela F., Schneemann, Hilde, Bromham, Lindell
Hypothesis
The number of language speakers will predict the rate of word change in a language.
Note
Only significant for the Indo-European language family where smaller-sized languages had significantly more word loss. No significant relationship observed in Austronesian or Bantu languages.
| Test Name | Support | Significance | Coefficient | Tail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poisson regression | Partially Supported | p < 0.001 for Indo-European | R squared = 0.22 for Indo-European | one-tail |
| Variable Name | Variable Type | OCM Term(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Population Size | Independent | Population, Linguistic Identification |
| Rates of word gain and loss | Dependent | Vocabulary, Grammar |