Evolution of Human Languages

The Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) project is a historical-comparative linguistics research project hosted by the Santa Fe Institute.[1][2] It aims to provide a detailed genealogical classification of the world's languages.[3]

The project was founded in 2001 by Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann when he decided to partner with Sergei Starostin and Merritt Ruhlen to map out the evolutionary tree of human languages. Initial funding was provided by the Santa Fe Institute and the MacArthur Foundation.[4] It is currently led by Russian linguist Georgiy Starostin, the son of Sergei Starostin.[5]

Many of the project's members belong to the Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics, including Georgiy Starostin and Ilia Peiros.[6] Other project members include Vaclav Blazek, John D. Bengtson, Edward Vajda, and other linguists.

Overview

The Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) is an international project – of which Georgiy Starostin inherited his father's membership – on "the linguistic prehistory of humanity" coordinated by the Santa Fe Institute. The project distinguishes about 6,000 languages currently spoken around the world, and aims to provide a detailed classification similar to the accepted classification of biological species.

Their idea is that "all representatives of the species Homo sapiens presumably share a common origin, [so] it would be natural to suppose – although this is a goal yet to be achieved – that all human languages also go back to some common source. Most existing classifications, however, do not go beyond some 300-400 language families that are relatively easy to discern. This restriction has natural reasons: languages must have been spoken and constantly evolving for at least 40,000 years (and quite probably more), while any two languages separated from a common source inevitably lose almost all superficially common features after some 6,000-7,000 years".[7]

The Tower of Babel is an international etymological database project that is part of the Evolution of Human Languages project. It is coordinated by the Center of Comparative Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities.[8]

Global Lexicostatistical Database

In 2011, the Global Lexicostatistical Database (GLD) was launched as part of the EHL project. The database makes use of the Unified Transcription System (UTS), designed specifically for the database.[9]

110-word list

The Global Lexicostatistical Database includes basic word lists of 110 items each for many of the world's languages.[10] The 110-word list is a modified 100-item Swadesh list consisting of the original 100 Swadesh list items, in addition to the following 10 additional words from the Swadesh–Yakhontov list:

  1. far
  2. heavy
  3. near
  4. salt
  5. short
  6. snake
  7. thin
  8. wind
  9. worm
  10. year

The 110-word expanded Swadesh list by Kassian et al. (2010) is as follows.[11]

no.EnglishRussian
1allвсе
2ashesзола
3barkкора
4bellyживот
5big, largeбольшой
6birdптица
7to biteкусать
8blackчерный
9bloodкровь
10boneкость
11breastгрудь
12to burn (trans.)жечь, сжечь
13cloudоблако
14coldхолодный
15to comeприходить
16to dieумирать
17dogсобака
18to drinkпить
19dryсухой
20earухо
21earthземля
22to eatесть
23eggяйцо
24eyeглаз
25fatжир
26featherперо
27fireогонь
28fishрыба
29to flyлететь, летать
30footнога
31fullполный
32to giveдавать
33to goидти
34goodхороший
35greenзеленый
36hairволосы
37handрука
38headголова
39to hearслышать
40heartсердце
41hornрог
42aIя
42bmeменя
43to killубивать
44kneeколено
45to knowзнать
46leafлист
47to lieлежать
48liverпечень
49longдлинный
50louseвошь
51man (male)мужчина
52man (person)человек
53many, a lot ofмного
54meatмясо
55moonлуна
56mountainгора
57mouthрот
58nailноготь
59nameимя
61newновый
62nightночь
63noseнос
64notне
65oneодин
66rainдождь
67redкрасный
68roadдорога
69rootкорень
70around (3D)круглый
70bround (2D)круглый
71sandпесок
72to sayсказать
73to seeвидеть
74seedсемя
75to sitсидеть
76skinкожа
77to sleepспать
78small, littleмаленький
79smokeдым
80to standстоять
81starзвезда
82stoneкамень
83sunсолнце
84to swimплыть, плавать
85tailхвост
86thatтот
87thisэтот
88tongueязык
89toothзуб
90treeдерево
91twoдва
92warmтеплый
93waterвода
94awe (incl.)мы (incl.)
94bwe (incl.)мы (incl.)
94c–dwe (excl.)мы (excl.)
95whatчто
96whiteбелый
97whoкто
98womanженщина
99yellowжелтый
100ayou (thou)ты
100byou (thou)тебя
101farдалеко
102heavyтяжелый
103nearблизко
104saltсоль
105shortкороткий
106snakeзмея
107athin (2D)тонкий
107bthin (1D)тонкий
108windветер
109wormчервь
110yearгод

50-word list

A 50-word list of "ultra-stable" items for lexicostatiscal use with the database was also proposed in 2010. The 50-word list is an abridged version of the 110-word list.[12]

no.EnglishRussian
1weмы
2twoдва
3Iя
4eyeглаз
5thouты
6whoкто
7fireогонь
8tongueязык
9stoneкамень
10nameимя
11handрука
12whatчто
13dieумирать
14heartсердце
15drinkпить
16dogсобака
17louse (head)вошь
18moonлуна
19fingernailноготь
20bloodкровь
21oneодин
22toothзуб
23newновый
24dry (e.g. of clothes)сухой
25eatесть
26tailхвост
27hair (of head)волосы
28waterвода
29noseнос
30notне
31mouthрот
32earухо
33birdптица
34boneкость
35sunсолнце
36smokeдым
37treeдерево
38ashesзола
39rainдождь
40starзвезда
41leafлист
42killубивать
43footнога
44hornрог
45hearслышать
46meat (as food)мясо
47eggяйцо
48blackчерный
49headголова
50nightночь

See also

References

  1. "Evolution of Human Languages: An international project on the linguistic prehistory of humanity". ehl.santafe.edu. Santa Fe Institute. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  2. Velasquez-Manoff, Moises (July 20, 2007). "Linguists seek a time when we spoke as one". USA Today. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  3. Mark Pagel, Quentin D. Atkinson, Andreea S. Calude, Andrew Meade. Ultraconserved words point to deep language ancestry across Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences May 2013, 110 (21) 8471-8476; doi:10.1073/pnas.1218726110
  4. "Evolution of Human Languages": current state of affairs (March 2014).
  5. Woodward, Richard B. "The Man Who Loved Languages: A Scholar with the Ability and Audacity to Rebuild the Tower of Babel Died a Year Ago, but His Controversial Project Lives on." The American Scholar 75, no. 4 (2006): 44-57. Accessed December 27, 2020.
  6. Evolution of Human Languages - The Participants.
  7. "Evolution of Human Languages - An Introduction" at Santafe.edu, retrieved 25 October 2007. New link, see here. Accessed Oct 27, 2009.
  8. The Tower of Babel project. at Starling.rinet.ru, retrieved 25 October 2007.
  9. Unified Transcription System (UTS) for the Global Lexicostatical Database.
  10. Starostin, George (ed.) 2011-2019. The Global Lexicostatistical Database. Moscow: Higher School of Economics, & Santa Fe: Santa Fe Institute. Accessed on 2020-12-26.
  11. Kassian, Alexei, George Starostin, Anna Dybo, Vasiliy Chernov. 2010. The Swadesh wordlist. An attempt at semantic specification. Journal of Language Relationship 4: 46–89. (PDF)
  12. Starostin, George. Preliminary lexicostatistics as a basis for language classification: A new approach. Journal of Language Relationship, No. 3 (2010). P. 79–116.

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