Geometric Representations of Language Taxonomies

Ph. Blanchard (1) , F. Petroni , M. Serva (2) , D. Volchenkov (1)

1 Universität Bielefeld = Bielefeld University
2 Dipartimento di Matematica

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 IndoEuropean 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.

Mots clés: Language taxonomy; lexicostatistic data analysis; Indo-European and Polynesian origins

Domaines: Linguistique

Ph. Blanchard, F. Petroni, M. Serva, D. Volchenkov. Geometric Representations of Language Taxonomies. Computer Speech and Language, 2011, 25 (3), pp.679. ⟨10.1016/j.csl.2010.05.003⟩. ⟨hal-00730284⟩