Hypotheses
- The rule-based profile model efficiently discriminates between creole and non-creole language featuresBlasi, Damian E. - Grammars are robustly transmitted even during the emergence of creole languages, 2017 - 2 Variables
The authors statistically test existing theories and proposals regarding the existence and nature of the creole language profile. Results indicate that consistencies and variation between creole languages, as with non-creole languages, is a result of genealogical and contact processes. However, creole languages are unique from non-creole languages in that they have more than one language in their ancestry. Findings "call into question the existence of a pidgin stage in creole development and of creole-specific innovations." Support is found for the idea that language learning and transmission are strikingly resilient processes.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The features identified in the APiCS are associated with substrate or lexifier ancestry groups.Blasi, Damian E. - Grammars are robustly transmitted even during the emergence of creole languages, 2017 - 2 Variables
The authors statistically test existing theories and proposals regarding the existence and nature of the creole language profile. Results indicate that consistencies and variation between creole languages, as with non-creole languages, is a result of genealogical and contact processes. However, creole languages are unique from non-creole languages in that they have more than one language in their ancestry. Findings "call into question the existence of a pidgin stage in creole development and of creole-specific innovations." Support is found for the idea that language learning and transmission are strikingly resilient processes.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Many basic vocabulary items will be associated with specific sounds across world languages.Blasi, Damian E. - Sound–meaning association biases evidenced across thousands of languages, 2016 - 2 Variables
Scholars generally agree that, across languages, the relationship between particular sounds and the meaning of words is arbitrary. In this article the authors test this assumption, seeking patterned associations between sound and meaning in the basic vocabulary lists of a large, worldwide sample of languages.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Grammatical features of language tend to change at a slower rate than basic vocabulary.Greenhill, Simon J. - Evolutionary dynamics of language systems, 2017 - 2 Variables
How do subsystems of language evolve over time? It is commonly assumed that grammatical changes of language are slower than vocabulary changes. Using a Dirichlet process mixture model to analyze rates of language evolution in 81 Austronesian languages, the authors find that to the contrary, the grammatical features of language tend to change at a faster rate than basic vocabulary. Furthermore, their results show that grammatical features have higher rates of homoplasy, more frequent contact-induced change, and less deliberate differentiation than basic vocabulary.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Grammatical features have higher rates of homoplasy than basic vocabulary.Greenhill, Simon J. - Evolutionary dynamics of language systems, 2017 - 2 Variables
How do subsystems of language evolve over time? It is commonly assumed that grammatical changes of language are slower than vocabulary changes. Using a Dirichlet process mixture model to analyze rates of language evolution in 81 Austronesian languages, the authors find that to the contrary, the grammatical features of language tend to change at a faster rate than basic vocabulary. Furthermore, their results show that grammatical features have higher rates of homoplasy, more frequent contact-induced change, and less deliberate differentiation than basic vocabulary.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Grammatical features exhibit less schismogenesis than basic vocabulary.Greenhill, Simon J. - Evolutionary dynamics of language systems, 2017 - 2 Variables
How do subsystems of language evolve over time? It is commonly assumed that grammatical changes of language are slower than vocabulary changes. Using a Dirichlet process mixture model to analyze rates of language evolution in 81 Austronesian languages, the authors find that to the contrary, the grammatical features of language tend to change at a faster rate than basic vocabulary. Furthermore, their results show that grammatical features have higher rates of homoplasy, more frequent contact-induced change, and less deliberate differentiation than basic vocabulary.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Languages with larger speaker populations, greater geographical coverage, and greater contact with other languages (i.e. exoteric rather than esoteric languages) will have overall simpler morphological systems (1, 3, 6).Lupyan, Gary - Language structure is partly determined by social structure, 2010 - 2 Variables
This article explores the relationship between language structure and social environment, positing that linguistic factors such as morphological complexity are associated with demographic/socio-historical factors such as number of speakers, geographic spread, and degree of language contact. Data support such an association. The authors further propose a Linguistic Niche Hypothesis suggesting that “the level of morphological specialization is a product of languages adapting to the learning constraints and the unique communicative needs of the speaker population” (7).
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - In societies providing a greater degree of personal protection to its members, the associated language will have a greater emphasis on self (i.e. pre-posing subject pronouns more than post-posing them) (531)Witucki, Jeannette - A language pattern co-occurring with violence-permisiveness, 1971 - 2 Variables
This paper discusses a cross-cultural study comparing features of grammatical structure and features of social structure. The author hypothesizes that the language will emphasize "self" with more personal protection within a society.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - In the Indo-European language family, the expansion of agricultural and food processing technology over time is related to an increase in labiodental articulations.Blasi, D.E. - Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration, 2019 - 2 Variables
Using ethnography, historical linguistics, paleoanthropology, and speech biomechanics, the present study examines the relationship between labiodentals and the post-Neolithic period with the introduction of agriculture and softer diets. The results offer support for the linguist, Charles Hockett's, hypothesis that the shift in bite configuration in the post-Neolithic period, as well as the persistence of overbite and overjet, facilitates and makes the articulation of labiodentals more prevalent. Using cross-cultural comparison, findings also reveal that societies that produce their food are more likely to evolve and keep labiodentals than those that are not food-producing. Contact with other societies is also a mode by which societies gain labiodentals. Lastly, the expansion of agricultural and food processing technology over time has been imperative to labiodental articulations.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Languages relying upon deictic grammatical distinctions (portions of an utterance which are dependent on the spatio-temporal coordinates of the utterance for the determination of the intended referents) will be negatively associated with cultural complexityPerkins, Revere Dale - The evolution of culture and grammar, 1980 - 2 Variables
This dissertation is a cross-cultural study of the relationship between cultural complexity and linguistic variables. The hypothesis is supported using a sample of fifty languages. Cultural complexity is theorized to instigate change in linguistic devices that are better tailored to express new areas of discourse.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author