Evolutionary network analysis of word lists: Visualising the relationships between alpine romance languages

1998/12/01 by Peter Forster, Alfréd Tóth, Hans‐Jürgen Bandelt · 4 citations
Computer Science · Social Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Natural Language Processing Techniques #Language and cultural evolution #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies

paper · doi:10.1080/09296179808590125

openalex publication_date 1998/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

The tree model and the wave model of language evolution are united into one geometric network model. A related approach has previously been used for reconstructing DNA evolution, and we now present a network approach for diagnostic word lists of closely related languages. When applied to 17 Alpine Romance languages, the resulting evolutionary network reproduces known linguistic relationships and also fairly accurately reflects the geographic location of each language.

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