Еще раз к вопросу об истории и степени обоснованности бинарной модели классификации сино-тибетских языков

Sino-Tibetan is the hypothesis that postulates a bifurcate genetic relationship between Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman. The history of the subgrouping of its components as well as its overall membership are briefly though exhaustively summarized. Special attention is given to the methodological shortcomings of a recent Bayesian approach that further professes to substantiate this bifurcate Sino-Tibetan model. Future directions and broader affinities of Trans- Himalayan are also discussed.Orlandi, Georg. "Once again on the history and validity of the Sino-Tibetan bifurcate model / Еще раз к вопросу об истории и степени обоснованности бинарной модели классификации сино-тибетских языков" Journal of Language Relationship, vol. 19, no. 3-4, 2021, pp. 263-292. https://doi.org/10.1515/jlr-2021-193-409(https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jlr-2021-193-409/html)

Detecting non-tree-like signal using multiple tree topologies

Recent applications of phylogenetic methods to historical linguistics have been criticized for assuming a tree structure in which ancestral languages differentiate and split up into daughter languages, while language evolution is inherently non-tree-like (François 2014; Blench 2015: 32–33). This article attempts to contribute to this debate by discussing the use of the multiple topologies method (Pagel & Meade 2006a) implemented in BayesPhyloge- nies (Pagel & Meade 2004). This method is applied to lexical datasets from four different language families: Austronesian (Gray, Drummond & Green- hill 2009), Sinitic (Ben Hamed & Wang 2006), Indo-European (Bouckaert et al. 2012), and Japonic (Lee & Hasegawa 2011). Evidence for multiple topologies is found in all families except, surprisingly, Austronesian. It is suggested that reticulation may arise from a number of processes, including dialect chain break-up, borrowing (both shortly after language splits and later on), incomplete lineage sorting, and characteristics of lexical datasets. It is shown that the multiple topologies method is a useful tool to study the dynamics of language evolution

Kielen muutos evolutiivisena prosessina

In the thesis it is discussed in what ways concepts and methodology developed in evolutionary biology can be applied to the explanation and research of language change. The parallel nature of the mechanisms of biological evolution and language change is explored along with the history of the exchange of ideas between these two disciplines. Against this background computational methods developed in evolutionary biology are taken into consideration in terms of their applicability to the study of historical relationships between languages. Different phylogenetic methods are explained in common terminology, avoiding the technical language of statistics. The thesis is on one hand a synthesis of earlier scientific discussion, and on the other an attempt to map out the problems of earlier approaches in addition to finding new guidelines in the study of language change on their basis. Primarily literature about the connections between evolutionary biology and language change, along with research articles describing applications of phylogenetic methods into language change have been used as source material. The thesis starts out by describing the initial development of the disciplines of evolutionary biology and historical linguistics, a process which right from the beginning can be seen to have involved an exchange of ideas concerning the mechanisms of language change and biological evolution. The historical discussion lays the foundation for the handling of the generalised account of selection developed during the recent few decades. This account is aimed for creating a theoretical framework capable of explaining both biological evolution and cultural change as selection processes acting on self-replicating entities. This thesis focusses on the capacity of the generalised account of selection to describe language change as a process of this kind. In biology, the mechanisms of evolution are seen to form populations of genetically related organisms through time. One of the central questions explored in this thesis is whether selection theory makes it possible to picture languages are forming populations of a similar kind, and what a perspective like this can offer to the understanding of language in general. In historical linguistics, the comparative method and other, complementing methods have been traditionally used to study the development of languages from a common ancestral language. Computational, quantitative methods have not become widely used as part of the central methodology of historical linguistics. After the fading of a limited popularity enjoyed by the lexicostatistical method since the 1950s, only in the recent years have also the computational methods of phylogenetic inference used in evolutionary biology been applied to the study of early language history. In this thesis the possibilities offered by the traditional methodology of historical linguistics and the new phylogenetic methods are compared. The methods are approached through the ways in which they have been applied to the Indo-European languages, which is the most thoroughly investigated language family using both the traditional and the phylogenetic methods. The problems of these applications along with the optimal form of the linguistic data used in these methods are explored in the thesis. The mechanisms of biological evolution are seen in the thesis as parallel in a limited sense to the mechanisms of language change, however sufficiently so that the development of a generalised account of selection is deemed as possibly fruiful for understanding language change. These similarities are also seen to support the validity of using phylogenetic methods in the study of language history, although the use of linguistic data and the models of language change employed by these models are seen to await further development.Tutkielma käsittelee evoluutiobiologiassa kehitetyn käsitteistön ja metodologian soveltamista kielenmuutoksen selittämiseen ja tutkimukseen. Tutkielmassa taustoitetaan biologisen evoluution ja kielenmuutoksen mekanismien rinnasteisuutta sekä näiden kahden eri alan teoreettisen tutkimuksen välisen vuoropuhelun historiaa. Tämän taustan pohjalta käsitellään evoluutiobiologiassa käytettyjen laskennallisten menetelmien soveltuvuutta kielihistorian selvittämiseen. Erilaiset menetelmät pyritään myös esittelemään yleistajuisesti jättäen tilastotieteen teknisen terminologian taustalle. Tutkielma on toisaalta synteesi aihepiirin aiemmasta tieteellisestä keskustelusta, ja toisaalta pyrkimys kartoittaa tähänastisten lähestymistapojen ongelmakohtia sekä löytää uusia suuntaviivoja kielen muutoksen tutkimuksessa niiden pohjalta. Lähdeaineistona on käytetty ensi sijassa evoluutiobiologian ja kielenmuutoksen välisiä yhteyksiä käsittelevää kirjallisuutta sekä fylogeneettisiä menetelmiä kielenmuutokseen soveltavia tutkimusartikkeleita. Tutkielma lähtee liikkeelle kuvaamalla evoluutiobiologian ja historiallisen kielitieteen tutkimusalojen kehitystä, johon nähdään kuuluneen alusta alkaen vuoropuhelu kielenmuutoksen ja biologisen evoluution mekanismeista. Historiallinen käsittely luo pohjaa viime vuosikymmeninä kehitetyn nk. yleisen valintateorian lähestymiselle. Yleinen valintateoria pyrkii muodostamaan viitekehyksen, joka pystyisi selittämään sekä biologista että kulttuurista evoluutiota replikaatioon perustuvana valintaprosessina. Tutkielmassa keskitytään tarkastelemaan yleisen valintateorian kykyä kuvata kielenmuutosta tällaisena prosessina. Biologiassa evoluution mekanismien nähdään muodostavan eliöiden populaatioita ajan kuluessa. Yksi keskeisistä tutkielmassa käsiteltävistä kysymyksistä on se, mahdollistaako valintateoria nähdä kielten muodostavan populaatioita, ja mitä tällaisesta näkökulmasta seuraa kielen ymmärtämiselle. Historiallisessa kielitieteessä kielten kehittymistä yhteisestä kantamuodosta on tutkittu perinteisesti vertailumenetelmällä ja muilla, sitä täydentävillä, menetelmillä joilla käsitellään suurta määrää kielellisiä muotoja koskevia muutoksia. Laskennalliset menetelmät eivät ole toistaiseksi tulleet osaksi historiallisen kielitieteen vakiometodologiaa. 1950-luvulta lähtien rajallisesti käytetyn leksikostatistisen merkityksen vähennyttyä entisestään kielihistorian tutkimukseen on aivan viime vuosina sovellettu myös evoluutiobiologiassa käytettyjä tilastollisia fylogeneettisen päättelyn laskennallisia malleja. Tutkielma vertaa historiallisen kielitieteen perinteistä metodologiaa ja uusien fylogeneettisten menetelmien tarjoamia mahdollisuuksia. Menetelmiä lähestytään sen kautta, miten niitä on sovellettu indoeurooppalaisiin kieliin, joka on eniten tutkittu kielikunta sekä perinteisillä että fylogeneettisillä menetelmillä. Tutkielmassa käydään läpi fylogeneettisten menetelmien sovellusten tähänastisia ongelmia sekä käytettävän kieliaineiston optimaalista muotoa. Biologisen evoluution mekanismit nähdään tutkielmassa rajallisessa määrin rinnasteisina kielenmuutoksen mekanismeihin, kuitenkin siinä määrin että yleisen valintateorian kehittäminen todetaan mahdollisesti hedelmälliseksi kielenmuutoksen ymmärtämiseksi. Yhtäläisyyksien ansiosta myös biologisesta tutkimuksesta peräisin olevien fylogeneettisten menetelmien nähdään olevan päteviä apuvälineitä kielenmuutoksen tutkimukseen, joskin kieliaineiston käytön ja menetelmien käyttämien kielenmuutoksen mallien todetaan odottavan lisäkehitystä

Space-temporal analysis of radiocarbon evidence and associated archaeological record: from Danube to Ebro rivers and from Bronze to Iron Ages

In this thesis we have approached the historical problem of cultural standardization at the end of Bronze Age. In particular, we have analyzed phenomena of expansion and adoption of innovation which took place in the 2nd millennium BC in Europe. To tackle this issue, we have decided to follow a quantitative approach. From a methodological point of view, the starting point has been the development of the EUBAR database which collects more than 1700 14C dates of georeferenced archaeological contexts, defined by a set of variables of presence/absence of some functional types. The analyzed region embraces an area from the Ebro to the Danube River (namely, NE Iberian Peninsula, Southern France, Northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Southern Germany); the time-span is 1750-750 BC. The critical analysis of each dating, concerning the taphonomic and stratigraphic information of each sample, represents the backbone of the database. The first goal has been to propose a new chronological model based on Bayesian statistical analysis of 14C dates from reliable archaeological contexts in northern Italy and southern France. Although the number of reliable dates for macroscale research remains low, it has been possible to develop four different models with the software OxCal, two contiguous ones and two sequential ones. Focusing on descriptive statistics, the 14C chronology of northern Italy seemed to be slightly higher than the conventional one, while that of southern France is confirmed by the Bayesian models. In both cases, the results claim the absolute necessity of an increase in the amount of 14C dates from selected archaeological contexts. The second goal has been to model demographic continuities and discontinuities between 1800 and 800 BC; the last term is due to the “Hallstatt disaster”. Through the analysis of frecuency of radiocarbon dates collected in the EUBAR database we have infered population stationarity on a macro-scale from the Danube to the Ebro. On the contrary, summed probability calibrated distributions (SCPDs) and histograms of medians show that episodes of change express locally. The third goal has been to detect three phenomena of adoption of innovation which took place in the 2nd millennium BC, i.e. cremation burials, vases with handles with vertical expansion and metal knives. In particular we have been able to observe that the adoption of cremation rite within the Urnfield culture followed a positive exponential trend on a macro-scale with different beginnings in different regions. Such an assumption allowed modeling the spatio-temporal diffusion of cremation burials which has shown to be characterized by a clear east to west gradient from the North-Western Alpine region to the NE of Iberian Peninsula. The same east to west directivity has been recognized for vases with handles with vertical expansion. Eventually, the thesis proposes the architecture of an Agent Based Model for explaining phenomena of diffusion and adoption of innovation in early complex societies