Phylogenetic Lexification: Patterns of meaning through time

In historical linguistics, scholars often grapple with limited data. Nearly half of the world's ~7,000 languages are endangered. Many of these languages are under-documented, often reduced to mere short wordlists. This is a pressing challenge, as the scarcity hampers our ability to understand linguistic evolution and diversity.

Traditional methods often rely on the form of linguistic units, such as phonemes or morphemes.

The PhLex project challenges this by emphasising that semantics, while less explored, is not intrinsically unyielding to analysis.

PhLex aims to innovate by incorporating semantic analysis into traditional methods, enhancing both our grasp of linguistic evolution, and thus better utilise under-documented language data.

To validate this methodology, the PhLex project will focus on the Oceanic language family, spoken across Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.

The first phase involves creating a comprehensive database that explores how these languages articulate concepts related to the semantic domain of perception, like seeing, hearing, and feeling—an area with notable cross-linguistic variation.

Subsequent analysis using advanced statistical models traces the historical evolution of the semantic structures, thus applying ‘phylogenetics’ to ‘lexification’, allowing for a comparative assessment against traditional cognate-only methods.

The PhLex project’s ultimate objective is to enhance historical linguistic methods by testing a hybrid model that integrates semantic and cognate-based approaches.

This model aims to optimise the use of limited linguistic data to provide a nuanced understanding of language origins and evolution.

The project thereby opens a new avenue for determining genetic relatedness between languages, an essential factor in understanding linguistic diversification and aiding language preservation efforts in the face of under-documentation.