Cultural phylogenetics of the Tupi language family in lowland South America.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Recent advances in automated assessment of basic vocabulary lists allow the construction of linguistic phylogenies useful for tracing dynamics of human population expansions, reconstructing ancestral cultures, and modeling transition rates of cultural traits over time.

Methods

Here we investigate the Tupi expansion, a widely-dispersed language family in lowland South America, with a distance-based phylogeny based on 40-word vocabulary lists from 48 languages. We coded 11 cultural traits across the diverse Tupi family including traditional warfare patterns, post-marital residence, corporate structure, community size, paternity beliefs, sibling terminology, presence of canoes, tattooing, shamanism, men's houses, and lip plugs.

Results/discussion

The linguisti

SUBMITTER: Walker RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3323632 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature