Automated reconstruction of ancient languages using probabilistic models of sound change.

ABSTRACT: One of the oldest problems in linguistics is reconstructing the words that appeared in the protolanguages from which modern languages evolved. Identifying the forms of these ancient languages makes it possible to evaluate proposals about the nature of language change and to draw inferences about human history. Protolanguages are typically reconstructed using a painstaking manual process known as the comparative method. We present a family of probabilistic models of sound change as well as algorithms for performing inference in these models. The resulting system automatically and accurately reconstructs protolanguages from modern languages. We apply this system to 637 Austronesian languages, providing an accurate, large-scale automatic reconstruction of a set of protolanguages. Over 85% of

SUBMITTER: Bouchard-Cote A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3600485 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature