Chapter 1. The influence of social, cultural, and natural factors on language structure

Busser, Rik De

doi:10.1075/clscc.6.01bus

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 72 publications

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“…It has also become increasingly clear that non-linguistic factors may shape language structure in ways that influence cross-linguistic distributions. Some proposed factors include different aspects of the social structure of linguistic communities [24–27], such as population size and complexity [28–36]; genes and aspects of anatomy [37–40], geography and other environmental factors [41–44]; technology, in particular food production [45]; and, purportedly, sexual mores [46]. Since these factors themselves may be subject to change, it cannot be ruled out that their influence on cross-linguistic distributions is dynamic.…”

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

Moran

Lester

Grossman

2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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In this paper, we investigate evolutionarily recent changes in the distributions of speech sounds in the world's languages. In particular, we explore the impact of language contact in the past two millennia on today's distributions. Based on three extensive databases of phonological inventories, we analyse the discrepancies between the distribution of speech sounds of ancient and reconstructed languages, on the one hand, and those in present-day languages, on the other. Furthermore, we analyse the degree to which the diffusion of speech sounds via language contact played a role in these discrepancies. We find evidence for substantive differences between ancient and present-day distributions, as well as for the important role of language contact in shaping these distributions over time. Moreover, our findings suggest that the distributions of speech sounds across geographic macro-areas were homogenized to an observable extent in recent millennia. Our findings suggest that what we call the Implicit Uniformitarian Hypothesis, at least with respect to the composition of phonological inventories, cannot be held uncritically. Linguists who would like to draw inferences about human language based on present-day cross-linguistic distributions must consider their theories in light of even short-term language evolution. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages’.

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Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

Moran

Lester

Grossman

2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Reflection of Social and Cultural Features in the Names of Stones and Minerals in Bazhov’s Tales

Stepanova

Shchukina

2021

E3S Web Conf.

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The aim of the articleis to study peculiarities of nominations of minerals in Russian and in its regional version, in the socio-lexicon of the Ural mining workers. For this purpose, a methodological procedure was developed based on the methods of corpus linguistics and an exemplary analysis of the semantic field mineral (minerals) in Russian was performed. The theoretical and methodological procedure is based on the semantic field theory,theory of divergence andthelexical approachproposed by Kevechs. As the material of the study were used the tales (skazy) of Pavel Bazhov .The tales (narrations) of Bazhov are a bright representation of the Ural folklore, regional perception of natural objects, their metaphorical reinterpretation , enrichment of semantic fields associated with the occupation of the inhabitants of the region, with additional semantic meanings. The results of the study reflect the presence of significant differences in the semantic structure of lexemes-nominations of minerals in the Russian language and its regional variant.

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Grammatical category versus comparative concept in missionary grammars of Tamil (16th-18th centuries): the description of the relative clause

Muru

2023

Language & History

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Chapter 1. The influence of social, cultural, and natural factors on language structure

Cited by 6 publications

References 72 publications

Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

Reflection of Social and Cultural Features in the Names of Stones and Minerals in Bazhov’s Tales

Grammatical category versus comparative concept in missionary grammars of Tamil (16th-18th centuries): the description of the relative clause

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