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 probabilistic creole profile 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 - Grammatical complexity is predicted by language phylogeny and spatial contiguity.Shcherbakova, Olena - Societies of strangers do not speak less complex languages, 2023 - 3 Variables
Is grammatical complexity shaped by sociodemographic and sociolinguistic factors? The previously accepted "linguistic niche hypothesis" claims that with an increased number of nonnative speakers in a social group (high exotericity), grammatic complexity decreases; on the other hand, grammatical complexity increases amongst isolated linguistic communities (low exotericity). Through the use of spatiophylogenetic modelling of 1314 languages, the authors of this study do not find adequate evidence to support the linguistic niche hypothesis. Instead, they suggest that linguistic complexity is better predicted by phylogeny and geographic contiguity.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - There is a trade-off of complexity between nominal and verbal domains across languages in a global scale.Shcherbakova, Olena - A quantitative global test of the complexity trade-off hypothesis: the case ..., 2023 - 2 Variables
The "equi-complexity hypothesis" suggests that there is an equal complexity across languages, meaning that there are constant trade-offs between different domains. Using phylogenetic modelling in a sample of 244 languages, this study follows a diachronic perspective to explore if there is an inversed coevolution within the grammatical coding of nominal and verbal domains. The results show that while there appears to be a coevolutionary relationship between some features of these two domains, there is no evidence to support the idea that all languages maintain an overall equilibrium of grammatical complexity. Rather, the correlation nominal and verbal domains vary between lineages. Austronesian languages do not show a coevolution between the domains. Sino-Tibetan languages seem to have a positive correlation while Indo-European languages appear to have a negative correlation, meaning that this inverse coevolution can be lineage specific.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Grammatical complexity of a language is predicted by the proportion of nonnative speakers.Shcherbakova, Olena - Societies of strangers do not speak less complex languages, 2023 - 5 Variables
Is grammatical complexity shaped by sociodemographic and sociolinguistic factors? The previously accepted "linguistic niche hypothesis" claims that with an increased number of nonnative speakers in a social group (high exotericity), grammatic complexity decreases; on the other hand, grammatical complexity increases amongst isolated linguistic communities (low exotericity). Through the use of spatiophylogenetic modelling of 1314 languages, the authors of this study do not find adequate evidence to support the linguistic niche hypothesis. Instead, they suggest that linguistic complexity is better predicted by phylogeny and geographic contiguity.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Aridity and/or frigidity of environment will be negatively predictive of rates of complex tonality in language areas.Everett, Caleb - Climate, vocal folds, and tonal languages: connecting the physiological and ..., 2015 - 4 Variables
Utilizing two independently-coded databases representing 3700+ languages, authors investigate whether cold ecologies or otherwise-desiccated ecologies are less amenable to complex tonality in language. Languages with complex tonality are primarily found to be located in tropical regions and generally absent in desiccated environments, regardless of latitude.
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 - 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 - Cultural complexity will be positively associated with syntactic devicesPerkins, 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 - 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