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García AM, de Leon J, Tee BL, Blasi DE, Gorno-Tempini ML. Speech and language markers of neurodegeneration: a call for global equity. Brain 2023; 146:4870-4879. [PMID: 37497623 PMCID: PMC10690018 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2023] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023] Open
Abstract
In the field of neurodegeneration, speech and language assessments are useful for diagnosing aphasic syndromes and for characterizing other disorders. As a complement to classic tests, scalable and low-cost digital tools can capture relevant anomalies automatically, potentially supporting the quest for globally equitable markers of brain health. However, this promise remains unfulfilled due to limited linguistic diversity in scientific works and clinical instruments. Here we argue for cross-linguistic research as a core strategy to counter this problem. First, we survey the contributions of linguistic assessments in the study of primary progressive aphasia and the three most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders worldwide-Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. Second, we address two forms of linguistic unfairness in the literature: the neglect of most of the world's 7000 languages and the preponderance of English-speaking cohorts. Third, we review studies showing that linguistic dysfunctions in a given disorder may vary depending on the patient's language and that English speakers offer a suboptimal benchmark for other language groups. Finally, we highlight different approaches, tools and initiatives for cross-linguistic research, identifying core challenges for their deployment. Overall, we seek to inspire timely actions to counter a looming source of inequity in behavioural neurology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adolfo M García
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires B1644BID, Argentina
- Departamento de Lingüística y Literatura, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago 9160000, Chile
- Latin American Brain Health (BrainLat) Institute, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Avenida Diagonal Las Torres 2640 (7941169), Santiago, Peñalolén, Región Metropolitana, Chile
| | - Jessica de Leon
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Boon Lead Tee
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Data Science Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
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2
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Blum F, Barrientos C, Ingunza A, Blasi DE, Zariquiey R. Grammars Across Time Analyzed (GATA): a dataset of 52 languages. Sci Data 2023; 10:835. [PMID: 38017079 PMCID: PMC10684564 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02659-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Grammars Across Time Analyzed (GATA) is a resource capturing two snapshots of the grammatical structure of a diverse range of languages separated in time, aimed at furthering research on historical linguistics, language evolution, and cultural change. GATA comprises grammatical information on 52 diverse languages across all continents, featuring morphological, syntactic, and phonological information based on published grammars of the same language at two different time points. Here we introduce the coding scheme and design features of GATA, and we describe some salient patterns related to language change and the coverage of grammatical descriptions over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic Blum
- Department for Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Carlos Barrientos
- Department for Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institut für Linguistik, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Damián E Blasi
- Department for Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.
- Harvard Data Science Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.
- Center for Brain and Cognition, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain.
- Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
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3
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Shcherbakova O, Michaelis SM, Haynie HJ, Passmore S, Gast V, Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Blasi DE, Skirgård H. Societies of strangers do not speak less complex languages. Sci Adv 2023; 9:eadf7704. [PMID: 37585533 PMCID: PMC10431698 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf7704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Many recent proposals claim that languages adapt to their environments. The linguistic niche hypothesis claims that languages with numerous native speakers and substantial proportions of nonnative speakers (societies of strangers) tend to lose grammatical distinctions. In contrast, languages in small, isolated communities should maintain or expand their grammatical markers. Here, we test these claims using a global dataset of grammatical structures, Grambank. We model the impact of the number of native speakers, the proportion of nonnative speakers, the number of linguistic neighbors, and the status of a language on grammatical complexity while controlling for spatial and phylogenetic autocorrelation. We deconstruct "grammatical complexity" into two separate dimensions: how much morphology a language has ("fusion") and the amount of information obligatorily encoded in the grammar ("informativity"). We find several instances of weak positive associations but no inverse correlations between grammatical complexity and sociodemographic factors. Our findings cast doubt on the widespread claim that grammatical complexity is shaped by the sociolinguistic environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olena Shcherbakova
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Susanne Maria Michaelis
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Sam Passmore
- Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Volker Gast
- Department of English and American Studies, Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, 1010 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Damián E. Blasi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Hedvig Skirgård
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
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4
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Abstract
New methods promise transformative insights and conservation benefits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Rutz
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | - Michael Bronstein
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | - Aza Raskin
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | - Sonja C Vernes
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | | | - Damián E Blasi
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
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5
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Skirgård H, Haynie HJ, Blasi DE, Hammarström H, Collins J, Latarche JJ, Lesage J, Weber T, Witzlack-Makarevich A, Passmore S, Chira A, Maurits L, Dinnage R, Dunn M, Reesink G, Singer R, Bowern C, Epps P, Hill J, Vesakoski O, Robbeets M, Abbas NK, Auer D, Bakker NA, Barbos G, Borges RD, Danielsen S, Dorenbusch L, Dorn E, Elliott J, Falcone G, Fischer J, Ghanggo Ate Y, Gibson H, Göbel HP, Goodall JA, Gruner V, Harvey A, Hayes R, Heer L, Herrera Miranda RE, Hübler N, Huntington-Rainey B, Ivani JK, Johns M, Just E, Kashima E, Kipf C, Klingenberg JV, König N, Koti A, Kowalik RG, Krasnoukhova O, Lindvall NL, Lorenzen M, Lutzenberger H, Martins TR, Mata German C, van der Meer S, Montoya Samamé J, Müller M, Muradoglu S, Neely K, Nickel J, Norvik M, Oluoch CA, Peacock J, Pearey IO, Peck N, Petit S, Pieper S, Poblete M, Prestipino D, Raabe L, Raja A, Reimringer J, Rey SC, Rizaew J, Ruppert E, Salmon KK, Sammet J, Schembri R, Schlabbach L, Schmidt FW, Skilton A, Smith WD, de Sousa H, Sverredal K, Valle D, Vera J, Voß J, Witte T, Wu H, Yam S, Ye J, Yong M, Yuditha T, Zariquiey R, Forkel R, Evans N, Levinson SC, Haspelmath M, Greenhill SJ, Atkinson QD, Gray RD. Grambank reveals the importance of genealogical constraints on linguistic diversity and highlights the impact of language loss. Sci Adv 2023; 9:eadg6175. [PMID: 37075104 PMCID: PMC10115409 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg6175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
While global patterns of human genetic diversity are increasingly well characterized, the diversity of human languages remains less systematically described. Here, we outline the Grambank database. With over 400,000 data points and 2400 languages, Grambank is the largest comparative grammatical database available. The comprehensiveness of Grambank allows us to quantify the relative effects of genealogical inheritance and geographic proximity on the structural diversity of the world's languages, evaluate constraints on linguistic diversity, and identify the world's most unusual languages. An analysis of the consequences of language loss reveals that the reduction in diversity will be strikingly uneven across the major linguistic regions of the world. Without sustained efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages, our linguistic window into human history, cognition, and culture will be seriously fragmented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hedvig Skirgård
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Corresponding author. (H.S.); (R.D.G.)
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Damián E. Blasi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Human Relation Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Harald Hammarström
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jeremy Collins
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jay J. Latarche
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Jakob Lesage
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique (LLACAN), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Villejuif, France
- Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, France
- Department of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tobias Weber
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Alena Witzlack-Makarevich
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Sam Passmore
- Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University SFC (Shonan Fujisawa Campus), Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Angela Chira
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Luke Maurits
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Russell Dinnage
- Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Michael Dunn
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Ger Reesink
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Ruth Singer
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Research Unit for Indigenous Language, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Patience Epps
- Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Jane Hill
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Outi Vesakoski
- Department of Biology, Turku University, Turku, Finland
- Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric languages, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Martine Robbeets
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Noor Karolin Abbas
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Daniel Auer
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nancy A. Bakker
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Giulia Barbos
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Robert D. Borges
- Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Swintha Danielsen
- Zentrum für Kleine und Regionale Sprachen, Friesisches Seminar, Europa-Universität Flensburg, Flensburg, Germany
- Centro de Investigaciones Históricas y Antropológicas (CIHA), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
- Europa-Universität Flensburg (EUF), Flensburg, Germany
| | - Luise Dorenbusch
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Linguistics, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ella Dorn
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - John Elliott
- Department of Linguistics, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Giada Falcone
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jana Fischer
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Yustinus Ghanggo Ate
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Universitas Katolik Weetebula, Sumba Island, Indonesia
| | - Hannah Gibson
- Department of Languages and Linguistics, University of Essex, Essex, UK
| | - Hans-Philipp Göbel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jemima A. Goodall
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Victoria Gruner
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Andrew Harvey
- Faculty of Languages and Literatures, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Rebekah Hayes
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Leonard Heer
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Roberto E. Herrera Miranda
- Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, France
- Institute of Linguistics, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Structure et Dynamique des Langues (SeDyl), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Villejuif, France
- Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nataliia Hübler
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Biu Huntington-Rainey
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London (UCL), University of London, London, UK
- Institutt for Filosofi, ide- og Kunsthistorie og Klassiske Språk (IFIKK), Det Humanistisk Fakultet, Universitet i Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jessica K. Ivani
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Marilen Johns
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Erika Just
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Eri Kashima
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Carolina Kipf
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Janina V. Klingenberg
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Nikita König
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, European University Viadrina, Frankfur an der Oder, Germany
| | - Aikaterina Koti
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Olga Krasnoukhova
- Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics, University of Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Nora L. M. Lindvall
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Mandy Lorenzen
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Hannah Lutzenberger
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Tânia R. A. Martins
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Celia Mata German
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Suzanne van der Meer
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jaime Montoya Samamé
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
| | - Michael Müller
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Saliha Muradoglu
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Kelsey Neely
- Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Johanna Nickel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Miina Norvik
- Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Department of Modern Languages, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Cheryl Akinyi Oluoch
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Jesse Peacock
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - India O. C. Pearey
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Naomi Peck
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Stephanie Petit
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Sören Pieper
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Mariana Poblete
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
- Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Daniel Prestipino
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Linda Raabe
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Amna Raja
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Janis Reimringer
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sydney C. Rey
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
- The Language Conservancy, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Julia Rizaew
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Eloisa Ruppert
- Department of Linguistics, Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Kim K. Salmon
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jill Sammet
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Rhiannon Schembri
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Lars Schlabbach
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | | | - Amalia Skilton
- Department of Linguistics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | | | - Hilário de Sousa
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale (CRLAO), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Aubervilliers, France
| | - Kristin Sverredal
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Daniel Valle
- Department of Modern Languages, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA
| | - Javier Vera
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
| | - Judith Voß
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Tim Witte
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Frisian and General Linguistics, Department of General Linguistics, Institute for Scandinavian Studies, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Henry Wu
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Stephanie Yam
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Institute for General Linguistics, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Jingting Ye
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Maisie Yong
- Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK
| | - Tessa Yuditha
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Roberto Zariquiey
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
| | - Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nicholas Evans
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Department of Linguistics, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Stephen C. Levinson
- Department of Language and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Martin Haspelmath
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | | | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Corresponding author. (H.S.); (R.D.G.)
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6
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Blasi DE, Henrich J, Adamou E, Kemmerer D, Majid A. Over-reliance on English hinders cognitive science. Trends Cogn Sci 2022; 26:1153-1170. [PMID: 36253221 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Revised: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
English is the dominant language in the study of human cognition and behavior: the individuals studied by cognitive scientists, as well as most of the scientists themselves, are frequently English speakers. However, English differs from other languages in ways that have consequences for the whole of the cognitive sciences, reaching far beyond the study of language itself. Here, we review an emerging body of evidence that highlights how the particular characteristics of English and the linguistic habits of English speakers bias the field by both warping research programs (e.g., overemphasizing features and mechanisms present in English over others) and overgeneralizing observations from English speakers' behaviors, brains, and cognition to our entire species. We propose mitigating strategies that could help avoid some of these pitfalls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damián E Blasi
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Street, 02138 Cambridge, MA, USA; Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Human Relations Area Files, 755 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511-1225, USA.
| | - Joseph Henrich
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Street, 02138 Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Evangelia Adamou
- Languages and Cultures of Oral Tradition lab, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), 7 Rue Guy Môquet, 94801 Villejuif, France
| | - David Kemmerer
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, 715 Clinic Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA; Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, 703 3rd Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Asifa Majid
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
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7
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Barbieri C, Blasi DE, Arango-Isaza E, Sotiropoulos AG, Hammarström H, Wichmann S, Greenhill SJ, Gray RD, Forkel R, Bickel B, Shimizu KK. A global analysis of matches and mismatches between human genetic and linguistic histories. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2122084119. [PMID: 36399547 PMCID: PMC9704691 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2122084119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Human history is written in both our genes and our languages. The extent to which our biological and linguistic histories are congruent has been the subject of considerable debate, with clear examples of both matches and mismatches. To disentangle the patterns of demographic and cultural transmission, we need a global systematic assessment of matches and mismatches. Here, we assemble a genomic database (GeLaTo, or Genes and Languages Together) specifically curated to investigate genetic and linguistic diversity worldwide. We find that most populations in GeLaTo that speak languages of the same language family (i.e., that descend from the same ancestor language) are also genetically highly similar. However, we also identify nearly 20% mismatches in populations genetically close to linguistically unrelated groups. These mismatches, which occur within the time depth of known linguistic relatedness up to about 10,000 y, are scattered around the world, suggesting that they are a regular outcome in human history. Most mismatches result from populations shifting to the language of a neighboring population that is genetically different because of independent demographic histories. In line with the regularity of such shifts, we find that only half of the language families in GeLaTo are genetically more cohesive than expected under spatial autocorrelations. Moreover, the genetic and linguistic divergence times of population pairs match only rarely, with Indo-European standing out as the family with most matches in our sample. Together, our database and findings pave the way for systematically disentangling demographic and cultural history and for quantifying processes of shifts in language and social identities on a global scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Barbieri
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Damián E. Blasi
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02134
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511-1225
| | - Epifanía Arango-Isaza
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
| | | | - Harald Hammarström
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala 75126, Sweden
| | - Søren Wichmann
- Cluster of Excellence ROOTS, Kiel University, Kiel 24118, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Robert Forkel
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
| | - Kentaro K. Shimizu
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 244-0813, Yokohama, Japan
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8
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Egurtzegi A, Blasi DE, Bornkessel-Schlesewsky I, Laka I, Meyer M, Bickel B, Sauppe S. Cross-linguistic differences in case marking shape neural power dynamics and gaze behavior during sentence planning. Brain Lang 2022; 230:105127. [PMID: 35605312 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Languages differ in how they mark the dependencies between verbs and arguments, e.g., by case. An eye tracking and EEG picture description study examined the influence of case marking on the time course of sentence planning in Basque and Swiss German. While German assigns an unmarked (nominative) case to subjects, Basque specifically marks agent arguments through ergative case. Fixations to agents and event-related synchronization (ERS) in the theta and alpha frequency bands, as well as desynchronization (ERD) in the alpha and beta bands revealed multiple effects of case marking on the time course of early sentence planning. Speakers decided on case marking under planning early when preparing sentences with ergative-marked agents in Basque, whereas sentences with unmarked agents allowed delaying structural commitment across languages. These findings support hierarchically incremental accounts of sentence planning and highlight how cross-linguistic differences shape the neural dynamics underpinning language use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aitor Egurtzegi
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Switzerland; English Department, University of Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, United States; Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
| | - Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
- School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Australia; Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Research Hub, University of South Australia, Australia
| | - Itziar Laka
- Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain
| | - Martin Meyer
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Cognitive Psychology Unit, Psychological Institute, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sebastian Sauppe
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
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9
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Matsumae H, Ranacher P, Savage PE, Blasi DE, Currie TE, Koganebuchi K, Nishida N, Sato T, Tanabe H, Tajima A, Brown S, Stoneking M, Shimizu KK, Oota H, Bickel B. Exploring correlations in genetic and cultural variation across language families in northeast Asia. Sci Adv 2021; 7:eabd9223. [PMID: 34407936 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd9223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2020] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Culture evolves in ways that are analogous to, but distinct from, genomes. Previous studies examined similarities between cultural variation and genetic variation (population history) at small scales within language families, but few studies have empirically investigated these parallels across language families using diverse cultural data. We report an analysis comparing culture and genomes from in and around northeast Asia spanning 11 language families. We extract and summarize the variation in language (grammar, phonology, lexicon), music (song structure, performance style), and genomes (genome-wide SNPs) and test for correlations. We find that grammatical structure correlates with population history (genetic history). Recent contact and shared descent fail to explain the signal, suggesting relationships that arose before the formation of current families. Our results suggest that grammar might be a cultural indicator of population history while also demonstrating differences among cultural and genetic relationships that highlight the complex nature of human history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiromi Matsumae
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 641-12 Maioka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 244-0813, Japan
| | - Peter Ranacher
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
- URPP Language and Space, University of Zurich, Freiestrasse 16, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Patrick E Savage
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus, 5322 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0882, Japan.
- Department of Musicology, Tokyo University of the Arts, 110-8714 Tokyo, Japan
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Plattenstrasse 54, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, 5th Floor, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Linguistic Convergence Laboratory, School of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Higher School of Economics University, 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Ulitsa, Building 5, Moscow, Russian Federation
- Human Relations Area Files, 755 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Thomas E Currie
- Human Behaviour & Cultural Evolution Group, Centre for Ecology & Conservation, Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Kae Koganebuchi
- Kitasato University Graduate School of Medical Science, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan
| | - Nao Nishida
- Genome Medical Science Project, Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Chiba 272-8516, Japan
| | - Takehiro Sato
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Graduate School of Advanced Preventive Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-8640, Japan
| | - Hideyuki Tanabe
- Department of Evolutionary Studies of Biosystems, School of Advanced Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Shonan Village, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan
| | - Atsushi Tajima
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Graduate School of Advanced Preventive Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-8640, Japan
| | - Steven Brown
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - Mark Stoneking
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kentaro K Shimizu
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, 641-12 Maioka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 244-0813, Japan
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), Plattenstrasse 54, 8032 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Hiroki Oota
- Kitasato University Graduate School of Medical Science, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan.
- Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Plattenstrasse 54, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), Plattenstrasse 54, 8032 Zürich, Switzerland
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10
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Abstract
The panpipe is a musical instrument composed of end-blown tubes of different lengths tied together. They can be traced back to the Neolithic, and they have been found at prehistoric sites in China, Europe and South America. Panpipes display substantial variation in space and time across functional and aesthetic dimensions. Finding similarities in panpipes that belong to distant human groups poses a challenge to cultural evolution: while some have claimed that their relative simplicity speaks for independent inventions, others argue that strong similarities of specific features in panpipes from Asia, Oceania and South America suggest long-distance diffusion events. We examined 20 features of a worldwide sample of 401 panpipes and analysed statistically whether instrument features can successfully be used to determine provenance. The model predictions suggest that panpipes are reliable provenance markers, but we found an unusual classification error in which Melanesian panpipes are predicted as originating in South America. Although this pattern may be signalling a diffusion event, other factors such as convergence and preservation biases may play a role. Our analyses show the potential of cultural evolution research on music that incorporates material evidence, which in this study includes both archaeological and ethnographic samples preserved in museum collections.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Damián E. Blasi
- Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
- Quantitative Linguistics Laboratory, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan
- Institute for the Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, CT, USA
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11
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Blasi DE, Moran S, Moisik SR, Widmer P, Dediu D, Bickel B. Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration. Science 2019; 363:363/6432/eaav3218. [PMID: 30872490 DOI: 10.1126/science.aav3218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Accepted: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Linguistic diversity, now and in the past, is widely regarded to be independent of biological changes that took place after the emergence of Homo sapiens We show converging evidence from paleoanthropology, speech biomechanics, ethnography, and historical linguistics that labiodental sounds (such as "f" and "v") were innovated after the Neolithic. Changes in diet attributable to food-processing technologies modified the human bite from an edge-to-edge configuration to one that preserves adolescent overbite and overjet into adulthood. This change favored the emergence and maintenance of labiodentals. Our findings suggest that language is shaped not only by the contingencies of its history, but also by culturally induced changes in human biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- D E Blasi
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland. .,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745 Jena, Germany.,Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.,Laboratory of Quantitative Linguistics, Kazan Federal University, 420000 Kazan, Russia
| | - S Moran
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - S R Moisik
- Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, Nanyang Technological University, 637332 Singapore
| | - P Widmer
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - D Dediu
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage UMR 5596, Université Lumière Lyon 2, 69363 Lyon Cedex 07, France.,Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - B Bickel
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
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12
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Blasi DE, Moran S, Moisik SR, Widmer P, Dediu D, Bickel B. Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration. Science 2019. [PMID: 30872490 DOI: 10.1126/science:aav3218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Linguistic diversity, now and in the past, is widely regarded to be independent of biological changes that took place after the emergence of Homo sapiens We show converging evidence from paleoanthropology, speech biomechanics, ethnography, and historical linguistics that labiodental sounds (such as "f" and "v") were innovated after the Neolithic. Changes in diet attributable to food-processing technologies modified the human bite from an edge-to-edge configuration to one that preserves adolescent overbite and overjet into adulthood. This change favored the emergence and maintenance of labiodentals. Our findings suggest that language is shaped not only by the contingencies of its history, but also by culturally induced changes in human biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- D E Blasi
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Laboratory of Quantitative Linguistics, Kazan Federal University, 420000 Kazan, Russia
| | - S Moran
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - S R Moisik
- Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, Nanyang Technological University, 637332 Singapore
| | - P Widmer
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - D Dediu
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage UMR 5596, Université Lumière Lyon 2, 69363 Lyon Cedex 07, France
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - B Bickel
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
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13
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Abstract
Data from typologically diverse languages shows common distributional patterns. Discontinuous repetitive patterns in the input provide cues for category assignment. Morphological frames accurately predict nouns and verbs in the input to children.
How does a child map words to grammatical categories when words are not overtly marked either lexically or prosodically? Recent language acquisition theories have proposed that distributional information encoded in sequences of words or morphemes might play a central role in forming grammatical classes. To test this proposal, we analyze child-directed speech from seven typologically diverse languages to simulate maximum variation in the structures of the world’s languages. We ask whether the input to children contains cues for assigning syntactic categories in frequent frames, which are frequently occurring nonadjacent sequences of words or morphemes. In accord with aggregated results from previous studies on individual languages, we find that frequent word frames do not provide a robust distributional pattern for accurately predicting grammatical categories. However, our results show that frames are extremely accurate cues cross-linguistically at the morpheme level. We theorize that the nonadjacent dependency pattern captured by frequent frames is a universal anchor point for learners on the morphological level to detect and categorize grammatical categories. Whether frames also play a role on higher linguistic levels such as words is determined by grammatical features of the individual language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Moran
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany
| | - Robert Schikowski
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Shanley Allen
- Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Sabine Stoll
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, Switzerland
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14
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Blasi DE, Michaelis SM, Haspelmath M. Grammars are robustly transmitted even during the emergence of creole languages. Nat Hum Behav 2017; 1:723-729. [PMID: 31024095 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0192-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2016] [Accepted: 07/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Most languages of the world are taken to result from a combination of a vertical transmission process from older to younger generations of speakers or signers and (mostly) gradual changes that accumulate over time. In contrast, creole languages emerge within a few generations out of highly multilingual societies in situations where no common first language is available for communication (as, for instance, in plantations related to the Atlantic slave trade). Strikingly, creoles share a number of linguistic features (the 'creole profile'), which is at odds with the striking linguistic diversity displayed by non-creole languages 1-4 . These common features have been explained as reflecting a hardwired default state of the possible grammars that can be learned by humans 1 , as straightforward solutions to cope with the pressure for efficient and successful communication 5 or as the byproduct of an impoverished transmission process 6 . Despite their differences, these proposals agree that creoles emerge from a very limited and basic communication system (a pidgin) that only later in time develops the characteristics of a natural language, potentially by innovating linguistic structure. Here we analyse 48 creole languages and 111 non-creole languages from all continents and conclude that the similarities (and differences) between creoles can be explained by genealogical and contact processes 7,8 , as with non-creole languages, with the difference that creoles have more than one language in their ancestry. While a creole profile can be detected statistically, this stems from an over-representation of Western European and West African languages in their context of emergence. Our findings call into question the existence of a pidgin stage in creole development and of creole-specific innovations. In general, given their extreme conditions of emergence, they lend support to the idea that language learning and transmission are remarkably resilient processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damián E Blasi
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Plattenstrasse 54, 8032, Zürich, Switzerland. .,Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.
| | - Susanne Maria Michaelis
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,Department of English Studies, Leipzig University, Nikolaistrasse 8-10, 04109, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Martin Haspelmath
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,Department of English Studies, Leipzig University, Nikolaistrasse 8-10, 04109, Leipzig, Germany
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15
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Kirby KR, Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Jordan FM, Gomes-Ng S, Bibiko HJ, Blasi DE, Botero CA, Bowern C, Ember CR, Leehr D, Low BS, McCarter J, Divale W, Gavin MC. D-PLACE: A Global Database of Cultural, Linguistic and Environmental Diversity. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0158391. [PMID: 27391016 PMCID: PMC4938595 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 05/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
From the foods we eat and the houses we construct, to our religious practices and political organization, to who we can marry and the types of games we teach our children, the diversity of cultural practices in the world is astounding. Yet, our ability to visualize and understand this diversity is limited by the ways it has been documented and shared: on a culture-by-culture basis, in locally-told stories or difficult-to-access repositories. In this paper we introduce D-PLACE, the Database of Places, Language, Culture, and Environment. This expandable and open-access database (accessible at https://d-place.org) brings together a dispersed corpus of information on the geography, language, culture, and environment of over 1400 human societies. We aim to enable researchers to investigate the extent to which patterns in cultural diversity are shaped by different forces, including shared history, demographics, migration/diffusion, cultural innovations, and environmental and ecological conditions. We detail how D-PLACE helps to overcome four common barriers to understanding these forces: i) location of relevant cultural data, (ii) linking data from distinct sources using diverse ethnonyms, (iii) variable time and place foci for data, and (iv) spatial and historical dependencies among cultural groups that present challenges for analysis. D-PLACE facilitates the visualisation of relationships among cultural groups and between people and their environments, with results downloadable as tables, on a map, or on a linguistic tree. We also describe how D-PLACE can be used for exploratory, predictive, and evolutionary analyses of cultural diversity by a range of users, from members of the worldwide public interested in contrasting their own cultural practices with those of other societies, to researchers using large-scale computational phylogenetic analyses to study cultural evolution. In summary, we hope that D-PLACE will enable new lines of investigation into the major drivers of cultural change and global patterns of cultural diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn R Kirby
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.,Department of Geography & Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Russell D Gray
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Simon J Greenhill
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Fiona M Jordan
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - Hans-Jörg Bibiko
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.,Psycholinguistics Laboratory, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Carlos A Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States of America
| | - Claire Bowern
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.,Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Carol R Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Dan Leehr
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States of America
| | - Bobbi S Low
- University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America.,University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America
| | - Joe McCarter
- Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, United States of America
| | - William Divale
- York College, City University of New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Michael C Gavin
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States of America
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Dingemanse M, Blasi DE, Lupyan G, Christiansen MH, Monaghan P. Arbitrariness, Iconicity, and Systematicity in Language. Trends Cogn Sci 2016; 19:603-615. [PMID: 26412098 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 156] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2015] [Revised: 07/20/2015] [Accepted: 07/30/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The notion that the form of a word bears an arbitrary relation to its meaning accounts only partly for the attested relations between form and meaning in the languages of the world. Recent research suggests a more textured view of vocabulary structure, in which arbitrariness is complemented by iconicity (aspects of form resemble aspects of meaning) and systematicity (statistical regularities in forms predict function). Experimental evidence suggests these form-to-meaning correspondences serve different functions in language processing, development, and communication: systematicity facilitates category learning by means of phonological cues, iconicity facilitates word learning and communication by means of perceptuomotor analogies, and arbitrariness facilitates meaning individuation through distinctive forms. Processes of cultural evolution help to explain how these competing motivations shape vocabulary structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Dingemanse
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Gary Lupyan
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Morten H Christiansen
- Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
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