Chapter 3. Phylogenetic signal in the lexicon
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Claire Bowern
Abstract
It has long been known that parental terms are poor indicators of shared genetic relationship because of their tendency to be influenced by features of “baby-talk”. However, change and stability of parental terms within language families has not been closely studied. Here I evaluate the stability of ‘mother’ and ‘father’ across three large language families. While terms which show features of child-directed speech do appear to show fewer signs of phylogenetic signal, very few of the results reach statistical significance. Though there is probably some influence of acquisition, it is not enough to swamp regular transmission and other processes of change. Therefore, while parental terms are inappropriate evidence for detecting remote relationships, such terms can be safely used in reconstruction.
Abstract
It has long been known that parental terms are poor indicators of shared genetic relationship because of their tendency to be influenced by features of “baby-talk”. However, change and stability of parental terms within language families has not been closely studied. Here I evaluate the stability of ‘mother’ and ‘father’ across three large language families. While terms which show features of child-directed speech do appear to show fewer signs of phylogenetic signal, very few of the results reach statistical significance. Though there is probably some influence of acquisition, it is not enough to swamp regular transmission and other processes of change. Therefore, while parental terms are inappropriate evidence for detecting remote relationships, such terms can be safely used in reconstruction.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Signs of prehistoric language shifts involving Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) 8
- Chapter 2. Early compound accent in Japanese Tōkyō -type dialects 36
- Chapter 3. Phylogenetic signal in the lexicon 59
- Chapter 4. Solving Galton’s problem 74
- Chapter 5. Re-examining initial geminates 109
- Chapter 6. Recurrent change in pronouns 146
- Chapter 7. The role of geography and migration in the branching and spread of the Japonic language family 172
- Chapter 8. Iconicity principles from an evolutionary perspective 194
- Chapter 9. Modality across semantic spaces 216
- Chapter 10. Something out of nothing 240
- Chapter 11. The diachronic development of postverbal dé 得 in Chinese 260
- Chapter 12. Food, contact phenomena and reconstruction in Oriental Berber 283
- Chapter 13. A cognitive-typological perspective on the origins of causative‑applicative polysemy 330
- Index 367
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Signs of prehistoric language shifts involving Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) 8
- Chapter 2. Early compound accent in Japanese Tōkyō -type dialects 36
- Chapter 3. Phylogenetic signal in the lexicon 59
- Chapter 4. Solving Galton’s problem 74
- Chapter 5. Re-examining initial geminates 109
- Chapter 6. Recurrent change in pronouns 146
- Chapter 7. The role of geography and migration in the branching and spread of the Japonic language family 172
- Chapter 8. Iconicity principles from an evolutionary perspective 194
- Chapter 9. Modality across semantic spaces 216
- Chapter 10. Something out of nothing 240
- Chapter 11. The diachronic development of postverbal dé 得 in Chinese 260
- Chapter 12. Food, contact phenomena and reconstruction in Oriental Berber 283
- Chapter 13. A cognitive-typological perspective on the origins of causative‑applicative polysemy 330
- Index 367
