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van der Gulik PTS, Hoff WD, Speijer D. The contours of evolution: In defence of Darwin's tree of life paradigm. Bioessays 2024; 46:e2400012. [PMID: 38436469 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202400012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Both the concept of a Darwinian tree of life (TOL) and the possibility of its accurate reconstruction have been much criticized. Criticisms mostly revolve around the extensive occurrence of lateral gene transfer (LGT), instances of uptake of complete organisms to become organelles (with the associated subsequent gene transfer to the nucleus), as well as the implications of more subtle aspects of the biological species concept. Here we argue that none of these criticisms are sufficient to abandon the valuable TOL concept and the biological realities it captures. Especially important is the need to conceptually distinguish between organismal trees and gene trees, which necessitates incorporating insights of widely occurring LGT into modern evolutionary theory. We demonstrate that all criticisms, while based on important new findings, do not invalidate the TOL. After considering the implications of these new insights, we find that the contours of evolution are best represented by a TOL.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Wouter D Hoff
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
| | - Dave Speijer
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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2
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List JM, Forkel R. Automated identification of borrowings in multilingual wordlists. OPEN RESEARCH EUROPE 2022; 1:79. [PMID: 37645101 PMCID: PMC10445856 DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.13843.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Although lexical borrowing is an important aspect of language evolution, there have been few attempts to automate the identification of borrowings in lexical datasets. Moreover, none of the solutions which have been proposed so far identify borrowings across multiple languages. This study proposes a new method for the task and tests it on a newly compiled large comparative dataset of 48 South-East Asian languages from Southern China. The method yields very promising results, while it is conceptually straightforward and easy to apply. This makes the approach a perfect candidate for computer-assisted exploratory studies on lexical borrowing in contact areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Thüringen, 04103, Germany
| | - Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Thüringen, 04103, Germany
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Miller JE, Tresoldi T, Zariquiey R, Beltrán Castañón CA, Morozova N, List JM. Using lexical language models to detect borrowings in monolingual wordlists. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0242709. [PMID: 33296372 PMCID: PMC7725347 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Accepted: 11/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Lexical borrowing, the transfer of words from one language to another, is one of the most frequent processes in language evolution. In order to detect borrowings, linguists make use of various strategies, combining evidence from various sources. Despite the increasing popularity of computational approaches in comparative linguistics, automated approaches to lexical borrowing detection are still in their infancy, disregarding many aspects of the evidence that is routinely considered by human experts. One example for this kind of evidence are phonological and phonotactic clues that are especially useful for the detection of recent borrowings that have not yet been adapted to the structure of their recipient languages. In this study, we test how these clues can be exploited in automated frameworks for borrowing detection. By modeling phonology and phonotactics with the support of Support Vector Machines, Markov models, and recurrent neural networks, we propose a framework for the supervised detection of borrowings in mono-lingual wordlists. Based on a substantially revised dataset in which lexical borrowings have been thoroughly annotated for 41 different languages from different families, featuring a large typological diversity, we use these models to conduct a series of experiments to investigate their performance in mono-lingual borrowing detection. While the general results appear largely unsatisfying at a first glance, further tests show that the performance of our models improves with increasing amounts of attested borrowings and in those cases where most borrowings were introduced by one donor language alone. Our results show that phonological and phonotactic clues derived from monolingual language data alone are often not sufficient to detect borrowings when using them in isolation. Based on our detailed findings, however, we express hope that they could prove to be useful in integrated approaches that take multi-lingual information into account.
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Affiliation(s)
- John E. Miller
- Artificial Intelligence/Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, San Miguel, Lima, Peru
- * E-mail: (JEM); (TT)
| | - Tiago Tresoldi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- * E-mail: (JEM); (TT)
| | - Roberto Zariquiey
- Humanities Department, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, San Miguel, Lima, Peru
| | - César A. Beltrán Castañón
- Artificial Intelligence/Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, San Miguel, Lima, Peru
| | - Natalia Morozova
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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Greenhill SJ, Hua X, Welsh CF, Schneemann H, Bromham L. Population Size and the Rate of Language Evolution: A Test Across Indo-European, Austronesian, and Bantu Languages. Front Psychol 2018; 9:576. [PMID: 29755387 PMCID: PMC5934942 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2017] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
What role does speaker population size play in shaping rates of language evolution? There has been little consensus on the expected relationship between rates and patterns of language change and speaker population size, with some predicting faster rates of change in smaller populations, and others expecting greater change in larger populations. The growth of comparative databases has allowed population size effects to be investigated across a wide range of language groups, with mixed results. One recent study of a group of Polynesian languages revealed greater rates of word gain in larger populations and greater rates of word loss in smaller populations. However, that test was restricted to 20 closely related languages from small Oceanic islands. Here, we test if this pattern is a general feature of language evolution across a larger and more diverse sample of languages from both continental and island populations. We analyzed comparative language data for 153 pairs of closely-related sister languages from three of the world's largest language families: Austronesian, Indo-European, and Niger-Congo. We find some evidence that rates of word loss are significantly greater in smaller languages for the Indo-European comparisons, but we find no significant patterns in the other two language families. These results suggest either that the influence of population size on rates and patterns of language evolution is not universal, or that it is sufficiently weak that it may be overwhelmed by other influences in some cases. Further investigation, for a greater number of language comparisons and a wider range of language features, may determine which of these explanations holds true.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon J Greenhill
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPG), Jena, Germany
| | - Xia Hua
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Research School of Biology, Macroevolution and Macroecology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Caela F Welsh
- Research School of Biology, Macroevolution and Macroecology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Hilde Schneemann
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Research School of Biology, Macroevolution and Macroecology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Lindell Bromham
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.,Research School of Biology, Macroevolution and Macroecology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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Willems M, Lord E, Laforest L, Labelle G, Lapointe FJ, Di Sciullo AM, Makarenkov V. Using hybridization networks to retrace the evolution of Indo-European languages. BMC Evol Biol 2016; 16:180. [PMID: 27600442 PMCID: PMC5012036 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-016-0745-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2016] [Accepted: 08/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Curious parallels between the processes of species and language evolution have been observed by many researchers. Retracing the evolution of Indo-European (IE) languages remains one of the most intriguing intellectual challenges in historical linguistics. Most of the IE language studies use the traditional phylogenetic tree model to represent the evolution of natural languages, thus not taking into account reticulate evolutionary events, such as language hybridization and word borrowing which can be associated with species hybridization and horizontal gene transfer, respectively. More recently, implicit evolutionary networks, such as split graphs and minimal lateral networks, have been used to account for reticulate evolution in linguistics. Results Striking parallels existing between the evolution of species and natural languages allowed us to apply three computational biology methods for reconstruction of phylogenetic networks to model the evolution of IE languages. We show how the transfer of methods between the two disciplines can be achieved, making necessary methodological adaptations. Considering basic vocabulary data from the well-known Dyen’s lexical database, which contains word forms in 84 IE languages for the meanings of a 200-meaning Swadesh list, we adapt a recently developed computational biology algorithm for building explicit hybridization networks to study the evolution of IE languages and compare our findings to the results provided by the split graph and galled network methods. Conclusion We conclude that explicit phylogenetic networks can be successfully used to identify donors and recipients of lexical material as well as the degree of influence of each donor language on the corresponding recipient languages. We show that our algorithm is well suited to detect reticulate relationships among languages, and present some historical and linguistic justification for the results obtained. Our findings could be further refined if relevant syntactic, phonological and morphological data could be analyzed along with the available lexical data. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0745-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthieu Willems
- Department of Computer Science, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Etienne Lord
- Department of Computer Science, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada.,Department of Biological Sciences, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128 succ. Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Louise Laforest
- Department of Computer Science, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Gilbert Labelle
- Department of Mathematics, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - François-Joseph Lapointe
- Department of Biological Sciences, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128 succ. Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Anna Maria Di Sciullo
- Department of Linguistics, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada
| | - Vladimir Makarenkov
- Department of Computer Science, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8, Canada.
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List JM, Pathmanathan JS, Lopez P, Bapteste E. Unity and disunity in evolutionary sciences: process-based analogies open common research avenues for biology and linguistics. Biol Direct 2016; 11:39. [PMID: 27544206 PMCID: PMC4992195 DOI: 10.1186/s13062-016-0145-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2016] [Accepted: 08/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background For a long time biologists and linguists have been noticing surprising similarities between the evolution of life forms and languages. Most of the proposed analogies have been rejected. Some, however, have persisted, and some even turned out to be fruitful, inspiring the transfer of methods and models between biology and linguistics up to today. Most proposed analogies were based on a comparison of the research objects rather than the processes that shaped their evolution. Focusing on process-based analogies, however, has the advantage of minimizing the risk of overstating similarities, while at the same time reflecting the common strategy to use processes to explain the evolution of complexity in both fields. Results We compared important evolutionary processes in biology and linguistics and identified processes specific to only one of the two disciplines as well as processes which seem to be analogous, potentially reflecting core evolutionary processes. These new process-based analogies support novel methodological transfer, expanding the application range of biological methods to the field of historical linguistics. We illustrate this by showing (i) how methods dealing with incomplete lineage sorting offer an introgression-free framework to analyze highly mosaic word distributions across languages; (ii) how sequence similarity networks can be used to identify composite and borrowed words across different languages; (iii) how research on partial homology can inspire new methods and models in both fields; and (iv) how constructive neutral evolution provides an original framework for analyzing convergent evolution in languages resulting from common descent (Sapir’s drift). Conclusions Apart from new analogies between evolutionary processes, we also identified processes which are specific to either biology or linguistics. This shows that general evolution cannot be studied from within one discipline alone. In order to get a full picture of evolution, biologists and linguists need to complement their studies, trying to identify cross-disciplinary and discipline-specific evolutionary processes. The fact that we found many process-based analogies favoring transfer from biology to linguistics further shows that certain biological methods and models have a broader scope than previously recognized. This opens fruitful paths for collaboration between the two disciplines. Reviewers This article was reviewed by W. Ford Doolittle and Eugene V. Koonin. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13062-016-0145-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johann-Mattis List
- CRLAO/EHESS, 2 rue de Lille, Paris, 75007, France. .,Equipe AIRE, UMR 7138, Laboratoire Evolution Paris-Seine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai St Bernard, Paris, 75005, France.
| | - Jananan Sylvestre Pathmanathan
- Equipe AIRE, UMR 7138, Laboratoire Evolution Paris-Seine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai St Bernard, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Philippe Lopez
- Equipe AIRE, UMR 7138, Laboratoire Evolution Paris-Seine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai St Bernard, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Eric Bapteste
- Equipe AIRE, UMR 7138, Laboratoire Evolution Paris-Seine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai St Bernard, Paris, 75005, France
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7
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Morrison DA. Genealogies: Pedigrees and Phylogenies are Reticulating Networks Not Just Divergent Trees. Evol Biol 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s11692-016-9376-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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8
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Alva V, Söding J, Lupas AN. A vocabulary of ancient peptides at the origin of folded proteins. eLife 2015; 4:e09410. [PMID: 26653858 PMCID: PMC4739770 DOI: 10.7554/elife.09410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 150] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2015] [Accepted: 12/13/2015] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The seemingly limitless diversity of proteins in nature arose from only a few thousand domain prototypes, but the origin of these themselves has remained unclear. We are pursuing the hypothesis that they arose by fusion and accretion from an ancestral set of peptides active as co-factors in RNA-dependent replication and catalysis. Should this be true, contemporary domains may still contain vestiges of such peptides, which could be reconstructed by a comparative approach in the same way in which ancient vocabularies have been reconstructed by the comparative study of modern languages. To test this, we compared domains representative of known folds and identified 40 fragments whose similarity is indicative of common descent, yet which occur in domains currently not thought to be homologous. These fragments are widespread in the most ancient folds and enriched for iron-sulfur- and nucleic acid-binding. We propose that they represent the observable remnants of a primordial RNA-peptide world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikram Alva
- Department of Protein Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Johannes Söding
- Department of Protein Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andrei N Lupas
- Department of Protein Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany
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Abstract
Computational phylogenetics is in the process of revolutionizing historical linguistics. Recent applications have shed new light on controversial issues, such as the location and time depth of language families and the dynamics of their spread. So far, these approaches have been limited to single-language families because they rely on a large body of expert cognacy judgments or grammatical classifications, which is currently unavailable for most language families. The present study pursues a different approach. Starting from raw phonetic transcription of core vocabulary items from very diverse languages, it applies weighted string alignment to track both phonetic and lexical change. Applied to a collection of ∼1,000 Eurasian languages and dialects, this method, combined with phylogenetic inference, leads to a classification in excellent agreement with established findings of historical linguistics. Furthermore, it provides strong statistical support for several putative macrofamilies contested in current historical linguistics. In particular, there is a solid signal for the Nostratic/Eurasiatic macrofamily.
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10
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Winter B. Spoken language achieves robustness and evolvability by exploiting degeneracy and neutrality. Bioessays 2014; 36:960-7. [DOI: 10.1002/bies.201400028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bodo Winter
- Cognitive and Information Sciences; University of California; Merced CA USA
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