Evolutionary dynamics of language systems
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences • Vol/Iss. 114(42) • National Academy of Sciences • • Published In • Pages: E8822-E8829 •
By Greenhill, Simon J. , Wu, Chieh-Hsi, Hua, Xia, Gray, Russell D.
Hypothesis
Grammatical features of language tend to change at a slower rate than basic vocabulary.
Note
"On average, the grammatical features changed faster (n = 157, median rate = 7.93e-05, SD = 5.74e-05 changes per feature per year) than the basic vocabulary cognates (n = 1195, median rate = 1.48e-05, SD = 4.00e-05)."
| Test Name | Support | Significance | Coefficient | Tail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dirichlet process mixture model | Not Supported | UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN |
| Variable Name | Variable Type | OCM Term(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Rate of change - grammatical features | Dependent | Grammar |
| Rate of change - basic vocabulary | Dependent | Vocabulary |