Geometric representations of language taxonomies

Authors:
Ph. Blanchard;F. Petroni;M. Serva;D. Volchenkov
Affiliations:
Bielefeld University, Postfach 100131, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany;DIMADEFAS, Facoltí di Economia, Universití di Roma "La Sapienza", Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161 Roma, Italy;Dipartimento di Matematica, Universití dell'Aquila, I-67010 L'Aquila, Italy;Center of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology, Universität Bielefeld, Postfach 10 01 31, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
Venue:
Computer Speech and Language
Year:
2011

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Abstract

A Markov chain analysis of a network generated by the matrix of lexical distances allows for representing complex relationships between different languages in a language family geometrically, in terms of distances and angles. The fully automated method for construction of language taxonomy is tested on a sample of fifty languages of the Indo-European language group and applied to a sample of fifty languages of the Austronesian language group. The Anatolian and Kurgan hypotheses of the Indo-European origin and the 'express train' model of the Polynesian origin are thoroughly discussed.