words that change often across languages seem to · pdf filewords that change often across...
TRANSCRIPT
Words that change often across languages seem to change a lot within a language too
Arne Mooers Panayiotis Pappas
Irish_A Irish_B Welsh_N Welsh_C Breton_List Breton_SE Breton_ST Rumanian_List Vlach Italian Ladin Provencal French Walloon French_Creole_C French_Creole_D Sardinian_N Sardinian_L Sardinian_C Spanish Portuguese_ST Brazilian Catalan German_ST Penn._Dutch Dutch_List Afrikaans Flemish Frisian Swedish_Up Swedish_VL Swedish_List Danish Riksmal Icelandic_ST Faroese English_ST Takitaki Lithuanian_O Lithuanian_ST Latvian Slovenian Lusatian_L Lusatian_U Czech Slovak Czech_E Ukrainian Byelorussian Polish Russian Macedonian Bulgarian Serbocroatian Gyps_Gk Singhalese Kashmiri Marathi Gujarati Panjabi_ST Lahnda Hindi Bengali Nepali_List Khaskura Greek_ML Greek_MD Greek_Mod Greek_D Greek_K Armenian_Mod Armenian_List Ossetic Afghan Waziri Persian_List Tadzik Baluchi Wakhi Albanian_T Albanian_Top Albanian_G Albanian_K Albanian_C Russian_P Ukrainian_P Byelorussian_P Polish_P Slovak_P Czech_P Slovenian_P Serbocroatian_P Macedonian_P Bulgarian_P Albanian
wikipedia
Pagel et al., 2007
Tree of 87 Indo-European languages
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT.)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO_CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
Start of Swadesh list of words, words that often undergo descent with modification
CHILD: has 36 different forms among 87 I-E languages
form 1: CHILD - English ! ! !DJALE - Albanian
! SHURU - Kashmiri
form 2. BERNS - Latvian ! BARN - Norwegian
form 3. ENFANT - French ! FANCIULLO - Italian
…
form 36. PEHDI - Greek
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT.)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO_CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT.)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO_CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
TO_DIE: has 7 different forms among 87 languages
form 1. DIE - English ! DO - Norwegian
form 2. MOURIR - French ! MORIR - Spanish ! MORIRE - Italian!! UMYRATY - Ukranian ! DA UMRE - Bulgarian
...
form 6. STERVEN - German
form 7. PETHENO - Greek
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT.)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO_CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
FIVE: has only 1 form among all 87 languages
form 1. FIVE - English !!! FEM - Norwegian ! CINQ - French!! P’JAT’ – Ukranian ! PET - Bulgarian
FUNF - German PENDE - Greek CUIG – Irish
! PINDZE - Afghan ! PAE – Gujarati
...etc. etc.
Pagel et al. also estimated an instantaneous replacement rate (or “macro_rate”) for each of 200 core words.
R = 0.95
macro_rate estimated on the tree is (pretty much) the number of forms across the 87 languages
macro_rate
number of forms
macro_rate
number of forms
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele
And lead you us not in temptation, but loose us of evil.
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele
And lead you us not in temptation, but loose us of evil.
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele
And lead you us not in temptation, but loose us of evil.
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele
And lead you us not in temptation, but loose us of evil.
~1000 years of within-lineage, “micro_change”
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
1. Do words that are replaced at a high rate across lineages (“macro_rate”) also change a lot within lineages (“micro_change”)?
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
Old English Modern English amount of “micro” change ban bone 0 (sound change) cild child 0 (sound change) scrat+cratch scratch 1 (contamination) thes this 1 (analogical extension) baeli = bag belly 2 (lexical substitution) blostma flower 2 (borrowed from OFr.)
McFarlane Toys
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
0 10 20 30 40 50
a lot
some
none
prob
(am
ount
of c
hang
e)
75
50
25
0
number of forms in Indo-European
Ordinal Logistic Regression, χ12 = 9.38, p = 0.002! include part of speech, χ12 = 5.80, p = 0.015!
words that change often (macro), also change a lot (micro)
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
(ordinal logistic regression) AIC notes
micro_change ~ macro_rate 299.7 t = 4.11***
Within English vs. Across Indo-European 185 items (200 - 3 conj. and 3 preps. and 9 unscoreable items)
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
conj. prep. adjective verb noun adverb pronoun number
Most of the Swadesh words are adjectives, verbs or nouns
Does variation in “part of speech” explain the correlation? (analogy: morphology vs. behaviour, base position?)
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
(ordinal logistic regression) AIC notes
micro_change ~ macro_rate 299.7 tmacro = 4.11***
micro_change ~ macro_rate + tmacro = 4.06*** part_of_speech 297.6
Repeated micro vs. macro comparison for:
Ancient – Modern Greek tmacro > 2.4* Old – Modern Russian tmacro > 2.8** Latin – Spanish tmacro > 2.6*
Within English vs. Across Indo-European
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
1. Do words that are replaced at a high rate across lineages (“macro_rate”) also change a lot within lineages (“micro_change”)?
2. Is there a mechanism to predict these changes?
02
46
8
Frequency of Word Use Today (ppM)
Repla
cem
ent R
ate
5 50 500 5000
potential mechanism:
Pagel et al., 2007
r = - 0.37***
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
Words that are used often are under stronger stabilizing selection, and so change less often
If within-language forces shape the rate of change of words across languages, then we should be able to see this pattern within a single language through time
leads to the hypothesis:
Pagel et al.’s proposed explanation:
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
(ordinal logistic regression) AIC notes
micro_change ~ macro_rate 299.7 tmacro = 4.11***
micro_change ~ macro_rate + tmacro = 4.06*** part_of_speech 297.6
Within English vs. Across Indo-European
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
(ordinal logistic regression) AIC notes
micro_change ~ macro_rate 299.7 tmacro = 4.11***
micro_change ~ macro_rate + tmacro = 4.06*** part_of_speech 297.6
micro_change ~ word_use 316.9 tword_use = -1.19
Within English vs. Across Indo-European
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
(ordinal logistic regression) AIC notes
micro_change ~ macro_rate 299.7 tmacro = 4.11***
micro_change ~ macro_rate + tmacro = 4.06*** part_of_speech 297.6
micro_change ~ word_use 316.9 tword_use = -1.19
micro_change ~ macro_rate + tmacro = 3.98*** word_use 301.5 tword_use = 0.4
Within English vs. Across Indo-European
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
micro_change vs. word_use comparison for:
Ancient – Modern Greek tmicro = -1.69 Old – Modern Russian tmicro = -1.68 Latin – Spanish tmicro = -2.98***
The trend is weak…except for Latin to Spanish
We have now repeated this for three other lineages
Old Russian – Modern Russian association with number of forms: p = 0.0001 association with word use: p = 0.13
Ancient Greek– Modern Greek association with number of forms: p=0.0001 association with word use: p = 0.07
Latin – Spanish association with number of forms: p = 0.001 association with word use: p = 0.004
ALL!AND!ANIMAL!ASHES!AT!BACK!BAD!BARK(OFATREE)!BECAUSE!BELLY!BIG!BIRD!TO_BITE!BLACK!BLOOD!TO_BLOW(WIND)!BONE!TO_BREATHE!TO_BURN(INT)!CHILD(YOUNG)!CLOUD!COLD(WEATHER)!TO_COME!TO_COUNT!TO CUT!
DAY(NOT NIGHT)!TO_DIE!TO_DIG!DIRTY!DOG!TO_DRINK!DRY(SUBST.)!DULL(KNIFE)!DUST!EAR!EARTH!TO_EAT!EGG!EYE!TO_FALL!FAR!FAT(SUBST.)!FATHER!TO_FEAR!FEATHER!FEW!TO_FIGHT!FIRE FISH!FIVE!
“Micro” evolutionary change within four languages is correlated with “macro” evolutionary replacement rate across languages.
Frequency of word use (today) is only a weak predictor of within-language change across four languages.
κοιλια! γαστηρ!