Language evolution and families

Origins of language

• “‘Language gene’ speeds learning” by Ewen Callaway (Nature; 2011.11.18) – http://www.nature.com/news/language-gene-speeds-learning-1.9395
  Mouse study suggests that mutation to FOXP2 gene may have helped humans learn the muscle movements for speech.

Language evolution

• “The Mother of All Languages” by Gautam Naik (Wall Street Journal; 2011.04.15) – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704547604576262572791243528.html
  The world’s 6,000 or so modern languages may have all descended from a single ancestral tongue spoken by early African humans between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago, a new study suggests.

  

• Bart de Boer – http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/b.g.deboer/ | http://uvafon.hum.uva.nl/bart/
  • “Bart de Boer – 1999 – Self-Organisation in Vowel Systems” (PhD Thesis) – http://uvafon.hum.uva.nl/bart/papers/deBoerThesis.pdf | http://www.ai.rug.nl/~bart/deBoerThesis.pdf
  • “Chapter 3 – Evolving Sound Systems” – http://uvafon.hum.uva.nl/bart/papers/deBoerSimEvoLang2002.pdf | http://arti.vub.ac.be/cursus/2003-2004/technAI1/Les7a.pdf
  • “Self-organization in vowel systems.” Bart De Boer (2000) – http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/W/W97/W97-1103.pdf | http://www.ai.rug.nl/~bart/Bart_JOP.pdf
  • review of the book “The Origins of vowel systems: Studies in the evolution of language I” by Bart de Boer – http://www.sil.org:8090/silebr/2009/silebr2009-006
  • “Computer modeling as a tool for understanding language evolution” (2006) – http://uvafon.hum.uva.nl/bart/papers/deBoerEELC2004.pdf
  • “Emergence of vowel systems through self-organisation” – http://uvafon.hum.uva.nl/bart/papers/deBoerAIComm2000.pdf
• “Language Networks: their structure, function and evolution” by Ricard V. Sole, Bernat Corominas Murtra, Sergi Valverde and Luc Steels – http://www.santafe.edu/media/workingpapers/05-12-042.pdf

Famiies: Semitic

• “Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East” (Mathilda’s Anthropology Blog; 2010.05.16) – http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/bayesian-phylogenetic-analysis-of-semitic-languages-identifies-an-early-bronze-age-origin-of-semitic-in-the-near-east/
  • “Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of Semitic languages identifies an Early Bronze Age origin of Semitic in the Near East” – http://mathildasanthropologyblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/rspb20090408.pdf
    Our statistical tests of alternative Semitic histories support an initial divergence of Akkadian from ancestral Semitic over competing hypotheses (e.g. an African origin of Semitic). We estimate an Early Bronze Age origin for Semitic approximately 5750 years ago in the Levant, and further propose that contemporary Ethiosemitic languages of Africa reflect a single introduction of early Ethiosemitic from southern Arabia approximately 2800 years ago.
• “Proto Semitic; dating and locating it” (Mathilda’s Anthropology Blog; 2009.02.08) – http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/proto-semitic-dating-and-locating-it/
• “Reclaiming Semitism” by Afif Tabsh – http://atabsh.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/reclaiming-semitism/
  • Tree of semitic languages:

    

• The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary Project – http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/cad/
  The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, initiated in 1921 by James Henry Breasted, is compiling a comprehensive dictionary of the various dialects of Akkadian, the earliest known Semitic language that was recorded on cuneiform texts that date from c. 2400 B.C. to A.D. 100 which were recovered from archaeological excavations of ancient Near Eastern sites. The Assyrian Dictionary is in every sense a joint undertaking of resident and non-resident scholars from around the world who have contributed their time and labor over a period of seventy years to the collection of the source materials and to the publication of the Dictionary.

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Related here: Linguistics links – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/linguistics-links/ | Learning languages / Language acquisition – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/learning-languages-language-acquisition/ | Bilingualism – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/bilingualism-multilingualism/.

Accent, intonation and identity

• “Teaching English intonation and stress patterns” by Ted Power – http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/esl0108.html
• Are you a Yankee or a Rebel? – http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html – an online quiz diagnosing the variant of US English you are using.

Bilingualism, Multilingualism

• “Hearing Bilingual: How Babies Sort Out Language” by PERRI KLASS, M.D. (New York Times; 2011.10.10) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html
• “The Bilingual Advantage” by Claudia Dreifus (The New York Times; 2011.05.30) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html
• “Bilingualism Good for the Brain” by Jessica Marshall (Discovery News; 2010.10.14) – http://news.discovery.com/human/bilingualism-language-brain-function.html – The longer a person has spoken two or more languages, the greater the cognitive effects.
• “Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power” by Gretchen Cuda-Kroen (NPR; 2011.04.40) – http://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135043787/being-bilingual-may-boost-your-brain-power
• “Why Mother-Tongue Instruction Improves Achievement” (Multilingual Philippines blog; 2010.11.01) – http://mlephil.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/why-mother-tongue-instruction-improves-achievement/
• Benefits of bilingualism (Accent Mod Blog – http://accentmodblog.wordpress.com/; 2010.10.21) – http://accentmodblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/benefits-of-bilingualism/
• “Mum and dad made me multi-task better” by Neil Bowdler (BBC News; 2010.10.15) – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11534481
• “Use of Spoken and Written Japanese Did Not Protect Japanese-American Men From Cognitive Decline in Late Life” by Callier Library (COMD News; 2010.10.14) – http://callierlibrary.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/use-of-spoken-and-written-japanese-did-not-protect-japanese-american-men-from-cognitive-decline-in-late-life/

  • From the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
  • Results. Rates of cognitive decline were not related to use of spoken or written Japanese. This finding was consistent across numerous sensitivity analyses.

• Second Language Learners Recall Native Language When Reading, Brain Research Suggests (ScienceDaily; 2010.06.03) – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100601171848.htm
• Resources for Bilingual Parents – http://advanceddenglish.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/resources-for-bilingual-parents/.
• Multilingual Mania – http://multilingualmania.com/
  • Top Ten Tips for Raising Bilingual Children (Multilingual Mania blog; 2010.07.08) – http://multilingualmania.com/top-ten-tips-for-raising-bilingual-children/
• The Omniglow (web site) has a 6-part series of articles on bilingualism by Christina Bosemark:
  • 1 – Raising Bilingual Children: The First Five Steps to Success – http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids1.htm
  • 2 – Raising Bilingual Children: Fact or Fiction? – http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids2.htm
  • 3 – Raising Bilingual Children: The Snags – http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids3.htm
  • 4 – Raising Bilingual Children: The Different Methods to Success – http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids4.htm
  • 5 – Raising Bilingual Children: 10 Tips for Boosting the Minority Language – http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids5.htm
  • 6 – Raising Bilingual Children: Is It Too Late? – http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids6.htm
  • links to many more articles on raising bilingual kids – http://www.omniglot.com/links/bilingual.htm#kids
• Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns and Current Research – http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/raisebilingchild.html
• Babies Raised In Bilingual Homes Learn New Words Differently Than Infants Learning One Language (ScienceDaily; 2007.09.30) – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070928092050.htm
• How do I raise a bilingual child? – http://languagemusicandmore.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/how-do-i-raise-a-bilingual-child/
• “Research to find effects on brain of bilingualism” (BBC News; 2010.01.12) – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/8452843.stm
• “Bilingual classes ‘raise results'” (BBC News; 2007.03.15) – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6447427.stm
• “A New Language Barrier: Why Learning A New Language May Make You Forget Your Old One” (ScienceDaily; 2007.01.18) – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070118094015.htm

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Related here: Linguistics links – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/linguistics-links/ | Learning languages / Language acquisition – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/learning-languages-language-acquisition/ | Language acquisition – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/learning-languages-language-acquisition/ | Body language – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/it-journals/.

Linguistics links

Sites

• Language Log by Mark Liberman – http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/
  • Old postings – http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/
• Babel’s Dawn blog by Edmund Blare Bolles – http://www.babelsdawn.com/ has many articles on intersection of language origins, animal intelligence, coevolution (memetics), etc.
• Popular Linguistics Magazine – http://popularlinguisticsonline.org/, online
• Language Hat blog – http://www.languagehat.com/

Language universals

• “Are languages shaped by culture or cognition? – Linguists debate whether languages share universal grammatical features.” by Philip Ball (Nature; 2011.04.13) http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110413/full/news.2011.231.html
  They found that neither of the universalist models matched the evidence. Not only did the co-dependencies that they discovered differ from those predicted by Greenberg’s word-order ‘universals’, but they were different for each family. In other words, the deep grammatical structure of every family is different from that of the others: each family has evolved its own rules, so there is no reason to suppose that they are governed by universal cognitive factors.

  What’s more, even when a particular co-dependency of traits was shared by two families, the researchers could show that it came about in different ways for each, so it was possible that the commonality was coincidental. They conclude that the languages — at least in their word-order grammar — have been shaped in culture-specific ways rather than by universals.

• “Universal truths” (Nature [Volume 472; Page 136]; 2011.04.14) – http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v472/n7342/full/472136a.html – Rejection of broad commonality in structure of languages has implications for all sciences.
• “Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals” by Michael Dunn, Simon J. Greenhill, Stephen C. Levinson, Russell D. Gray (Nature [Volume 473; Pages 79–82]; 2011.05.05) – http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v473/n7345/full/nature09923.html [FOR PAY ARTICLE]

Language myths

• book “Language Myths” by editors Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill – http://www.amazon.com/Language-Myths-Laurie-Bauer/dp/0140260234
• a short review of the book “Language Myths” – http://www.spanishphrases.autowealthmaker.net/review/language-myths
• Six Common Myths About Language – “There was no Golden Age” b y Richard Nordquist (About.com) – http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/langmyths6.htm
  • Myth #1: The Meanings of Words Should Not Be Allowed to Vary or Change
  • Myth #2: Children Can’t Speak or Write Properly Any More
  • Myth #3: America Is Ruining the English Language
  • Myth #4: TV Makes People Sound the Same
  • Myth #5: Some Languages Are Spoken More Quickly Than Others
  • Myth #6: You Shouldn’t Say “It Is Me” Because “Me” Is Accusative

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Related here: Language evolution and families – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/language-families/ | Learning languages / Language acquisition – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/learning-languages-language-acquisition/ | Bilingualism – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/bilingualism-multilingualism/ | Language acquisition – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/learning-languages-language-acquisition/ | Body language – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/it-journals/.