From words to dates: water into wine, mathemagic or phylogenetic inference?
2005; Wiley; Volume: 103; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/j.1467-968x.2005.00151.x
ISSN1467-968X
AutoresQuentin D. Atkinson, Geoff K. Nicholls, David Welch, Russell D. Gray,
Tópico(s)Linguistics and language evolution
ResumoGray & Atkinson's (2003) application of quantitative phylogenetic methods to Dyen, Kruskal & Black's (1992) Indo-European database produced controversial divergence time estimates. Here we test the robustness of these results using an alternative data set of ancient Indo-European languages. We employ two very different stochastic models of lexical evolution – Gray & Atkinson's (2003) finite-sites model and a stochastic-Dollo model of word evolution introduced by Nicholls & Gray (in press). Results of this analysis support the findings of Gray & Atkinson (2003). We also tested the ability of both methods to reconstruct phylogeny and divergence times accurately from synthetic data. The methods performed well under a range of scenarios, including widespread and localized borrowing.
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