Geometric Representations of Language Taxonomies

Abstract

A Markov chain analysis of a network generated by the matrix of lexical distances allows for representing complex relationships between different languages in a language family geometrically, in terms of distances and angles. The fully automated method for construction of language taxonomy is tested on a sample of fifty languages of the Indo-European language group and applied to a sample of fifty languages of the Austronesian language group. The Anatolian and Kurgan hypotheses of the Indo-European origin and the ‘express train’ model of the Polynesian origin are thoroughly discussed.

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