Historical glottometry

Last updated December 07, 2024

Historical glottometry is a method used in historical linguistics. It is a quantitative, non-cladistic approach to language subgrouping.

The aim of historical glottometry (HG) is to address the limitations of the tree model when applied to dialect continua and linkages. It acknowledges that the genealogical structure of a linkage typically consists of entangled subgroups, and provides ways to reconstruct that internal structure by measuring the relative strength of these subgroups.

This approach was developed by Alexandre François (CNRS) and Siva Kalyan (ANU).^[1]^[2]^[3] While the method was initially applied to Oceanic languages, in recent years it has been applied to a much broader range of language families.

Rationale

Historical Glottometry grew out of the observation that a large number of language families in the world form linkages (a term coined by Malcolm Ross), i.e. they evolved out of former dialect continua in which historical innovations tend to overlap. Such linkages do not conform with the Tree model often used in historical linguistics, which presupposes that innovations should be nested. This common situation is better approached using the Wave model.^[1]

Inspired by dialectometry,^[1]^: 173 the aim of Historical Glottometry is to provide an alternative, non-cladistic approach to language genealogy, while remaining true to the principles of the Comparative method developed by Neogrammarians in the 19th century.

Principles of the method

The fundamental principles of Historical Glottometry include the following:^[4]

each subgroup is defined by exclusively shared innovations (a principle first expressed by Leskien [1876]), i.e. linguistic synapomorphies;
subgroups are allowed to intersect (as expected under the Wave model);
the “strength” of each subgroup is measured on a continuous scale (rather than subgroups simply being absent or present). That strength is assessed using two ratings, named cohesiveness and subgroupiness.^[3]^: 68–72

Glottometric diagrams

One of the outputs of Historical Glottometry takes the form of a “glottometric diagram”. Such diagrams are analogous to the isogloss maps used in dialectology, except that each isogloss refers not to a single innovation but to a set of languages defined by one or more exclusively-shared innovations — that is, a genealogical subgroup.

The glottometric diagram represents graphically the strength of each subgroup. Thus, the contour's thickness can be made proportional to the rate of “cohesiveness” or “subgroupiness” calculated for that subgroup. The homepage of Historical Glottometry includes an example of a glottometric diagram, based on a study of the Torres–Banks linkage in Vanuatu.

Glottometric results can also be displayed in the form of Neighbornets,^[1]^: 179 or of glottometric maps.^[2]^: 72

Applications to particular language families

Several studies have been conducted, partly or entirely within the framework of Historical glottometry – including the following:

on the Torres–Banks linkage, a group of Oceanic languages from Vanuatu (François 2014, 2017; Kalyan & François 2018);
on Sogeram languages, a subgroup of the Madang family from Papua New Guinea (Daniels et al. 2019);
on the dialects of Boni, a subgroup of Cushitic languages from Kenya and Somalia (Elias 2019);
on Arabic dialects of Egypt and Sudan (Leddy-Cecere 2021);
on Numic languages, a subgroup of Uto-Aztecan languages from North America (Rannap 2017);
on Enlhet–Enenlhet languages, a group of languages spoken in Paraguay (van Gysel 2017);
on early Germanic languages (Agee 2018);
on the dialects of Old English (Den Hertog 2024).

Historical glottometry and incomplete lineage sorting

Jacques & List (2019)^[5] show that the concept of incomplete lineage sorting can be applied to account for non-treelike phenomena in language evolution. Kalyan and François (2019) concur that "Historical Glottometry does not challenge the family tree model once incomplete lineage sorting has been taken into account"^[6]^: 174 – provided the internal variation discussed in the analysis includes the geographical (dialectal) dimension.^[6]^: 169

External links

Homepage of Historical glottometry, including a tutorial and a bibliography.
Historical glottometry online analyzer, a free tool allowing users to upload their own historical data, perform glottometric calculations, and generate a glottometric map.

Notes

1 2 3 4 François (2014).
1 2 François (2017).
1 2 Kalyan & François (2018).
↑ Source: A tutorial on Historical Glottometry, by Kalyan & François.
↑ Jacques, Guillaume; List, Johann-Mattis (2019). "Why we need tree models in linguistic reconstruction (and when we should apply them)". Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9 (1): 128–167. doi:10.1075/jhl.17008.mat. hdl: 21.11116/0000-0004-4D2E-4 . ISSN 1875-6719. S2CID 52220491.
1 2 Kalyan & François (2019).

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Lakon is an Oceanic language, spoken on the west coast of Gaua island in Vanuatu.

Koro is an Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in Vanuatu. Its 280 speakers live in the village of Koro, on the south coast of Gaua.

Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken by about 580 people on the islands of Lo and Toga, in the Torres group of northern Vanuatu. The language has sometimes been called Loh [sic] or Toga, after either of its two dialects.

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Vurës is an Oceanic language spoken in the southern area of Vanua Lava Island, in the Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu, by about 2000 speakers.

Löyöp is an Oceanic language spoken by about 240 people, on the east coast of Ureparapara Island in the Banks Islands of Vanuatu. It is distinct from Lehali, the language spoken on the west coast of the same island.

Volow is an Oceanic language variety that used to be spoken in the area of Aplow, in the eastern part of the island of Motalava, Vanuatu.

The Malakula languages are a group of Central Vanuatu languages spoken on Malakula Island in central Vanuatu. Unlike some earlier classifications, linguist and Oceanic languages specialist John Lynch (2016) considered the Malakula languages to form a coherent group.

The Torres–Banks languages form a linkage of Southern Oceanic languages spoken in the Torres Islands and Banks Islands of northern Vanuatu.

References

Main references

François, Alexandre (2014), "Trees, Waves and Linkages: Models of Language Diversification", in Bowern, Claire; Evans, Bethwyn (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Historical Linguistics, London: Routledge, pp. 161–189, ISBN 978-0-41552-789-7 .
Kalyan, Siva; François, Alexandre (2018), "Freeing the Comparative Method from the tree model: A framework for Historical Glottometry" (PDF), in Kikusawa, Ritsuko; Reid, Laurie (eds.), Let's talk about trees: Tackling Problems in Representing Phylogenic Relationships among Languages, Senri Ethnological Studies, 98, Ōsaka: National Museum of Ethnology, pp. 59–89.

Other references

Agee, Joshua (2018). "A Glottometric Subgrouping of the Early Germanic Languages". Master's Theses. San Jose, CA, USA: San Jose State University. doi: 10.31979/etd.69cp-8xz2 .
Daniels, Don; Barth, Danielle; Barth, Wolfgang (2019). "Subgrouping the Sogeram languages: A critical appraisal of Historical Glottometry". Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9 (1): 92–127. doi:10.1075/jhl.17011.dan. S2CID 198356030.
Den Hertog, Simon (2024). "Subgrouping the Old English dialects using Historical Glottometry". Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik. 84 (4): 470–495. doi:10.1163/18756719-12340332. ISSN 1875-6719 . Retrieved 2024-12-06.
Elias, Alexander (2019). "Visualizing the Boni dialects with Historical Glottometry". Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9 (1): 70–91. doi:10.1075/jhl.18009.eli. S2CID 198404036.
François, Alexandre (2017). "Méthode comparative et chaînages linguistiques: Pour un modèle diffusionniste en généalogie des langues" (PDF). In Jean-Léo Léonard (ed.). Diffusion : implantation, affinités, convergence. Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris. Louvain: Peeters. pp. 43–82.

Kalyan, Siva; François, Alexandre (2019). "When the waves meet the trees: A response to Jacques and List" (PDF). Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9 (1): 167–176. doi:10.1075/jhl.18019.kal. ISSN 2210-2116. S2CID 198707375.
Kalyan, Siva; François, Alexandre; Hammarström, Harald (2019). Understanding language genealogy: Alternatives to the tree model (PDF). Journal of Historical Linguistics. doi:10.1075/jhl.00005.kal. ISSN 2210-2116. S2CID 86459460.
Leddy-Cecere, Thomas A. (2021-07-23). "Interrogating the Egypto-Sudanic Arabic Connection". Languages. 6 (3): 123. doi: 10.3390/languages6030123 . ISSN 2226-471X.
Rannap, Jürgen (2017). "Mathematical analysis of Numic languages" (Document). Estonia: Univ. of Tartu.
Van Gysel, Jens E.L. (2017). "Temporal Predicative Particles in Sanapaná and the Enlhet-Enenlhet Language Family (Paraguay). A Descriptive and Comparative Study" (Document). Netherlands: Leiden University.

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[F14-1] 1 2 3 4 François (2014).

[F17-2] 1 2 François (2017).

[KF18-3] 1 2 Kalyan & François (2018).

[4] Source: A tutorial on Historical Glottometry, by Kalyan & François.

[5] Jacques, Guillaume; List, Johann-Mattis (2019). "Why we need tree models in linguistic reconstruction (and when we should apply them)". Journal of Historical Linguistics. 9 (1): 128–167. doi:10.1075/jhl.17008.mat. hdl: 21.11116/0000-0004-4D2E-4 . ISSN 1875-6719. S2CID 52220491.

[KFwaves-6] 1 2 Kalyan & François (2019).

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