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A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

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Published on: February 5, 2014

Tracing the roots of syntax with Bayesian phylogenetics.

Luke Maurits¹, Thomas L Griffiths²

¹Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94704 luke@maurits.id.au.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|September 7, 2014

Summary

Bayesian phylogenetics reveals that Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order is more likely to evolve into Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) than vice versa. Historical analysis suggests SOV was likely the dominant ancestral word order in languages.

Keywords:

computational historical linguistics language evolution psycholinguistics

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Area of Science:

Linguistics
Computational Phylogenetics
Evolutionary Biology

Background:

Word order, specifically Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) and Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), is a core feature of natural language syntax.
The current global distribution of word orders is uneven, with SOV and SVO being the most prevalent.
Understanding the historical evolution of word orders is crucial for explaining current linguistic patterns and informing theories of language acquisition and processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantitatively investigate the historical changes and dominant patterns of word order evolution using phylogenetic methods.
To determine the likelihood of different word order transitions (e.g., SOV to SVO).
To infer the ancestral word order of languages and assess the reliability of such inferences.

Main Methods:

Application of Bayesian phylogenetic methods to analyze word order changes across language families.
Statistical modeling to estimate rates of change between different word orders.
Reconstruction of ancestral word orders based on observed distributions and change rates.

Main Results:

The transition from SOV to SVO word order is statistically more frequent than the reverse.
Transitions from Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) to SVO are more common than VSO to SOV.
Analysis suggests that a common ancestor of the studied language families likely exhibited SOV word order, though with limitations on confidence.

Conclusions:

Word order change is directional, with SOV to SVO being a prevalent evolutionary pathway.
Bayesian phylogenetics provides robust tools for reconstructing historical linguistic patterns.
Inferences about ancestral syntax from modern language data are possible but require careful consideration of evolutionary dynamics and potential biases.