Phoneme inventory size and population size

Language Vol/Iss. 83(2) Linguistic Society of America Published In Pages: 388-400
By Hay, Jennifer, Bauer, Laurie

Hypothesis

Population size will be positively correlated with the number of obstruents, the number of sonorants, overall consonants, and overall phoneme inventory sizes.

Note

Obstruent inventory (p<.0001, rho = 31); sonorant inventory (p<.02, rho = .17); consonant inventory (p<.0001, rho = .29; phoneme inventory (p< .0001, rho = .37).

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Spearman's rhoSupportedp< .05See noteUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
PhonemesDependentPhonology
Population of speakersIndependentComposition Of Population