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

Language family and population size both predict phoneme inventory size.

Note

The correlation remained significant after bootstrap validation model was used (adjusted r^2= .22) and when the mean population of each language family was tested against the mean number of phonemes (p<.003, rho = .46).

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Ordinary least squares regressionSupportedp< .01Adjusted r^2= .24UNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Language FamilyIndependentLinguistic Identification
PhonemesDependentPhonology