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Density of Language Taxa: msg#00050
science.linguistics.corpora
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Subject: |
Density of Language Taxa |
Dear Corpora colleagues, please comment on the
following:
Yuri Tambovtsev, Novosibirsk Pedagog. University,
Russia. yutamb@xxxxxxx Dispersion of
the Uralic language taxon from a typological viewpoint. The goal
of this research was to compute the similarity of the distribution of 8
consonantal groups (labial, front, palatal, back, sonorant, occlusive,
fricative and voiced) in the speech sound chains of different world
languages. The value of the coefficient of variance was chosen as the
measure of similarity. Let us analyse the values in some language taxa:
groups, families and super-families. The Value of the Mean of the
Coefficient of Variance (V%). Ugric group (5 languages) - V%= 27.66%
Volgaic group (4) - V% = 17.90% Baltic-Finnic group (7) =
23.24% Finno-Ugric family (20) = 23.91% Samoyedic family (4) =
16.30% Uralic super-family (24) = 28.31%. The value of the mean of the
coefficient of variance of the Ugric group (27.66%) is really great. We can
compare it to the analogical means of the groups of the Indo-European
family: Baltic (2 languages) - 9.08%; Iranian (8 languages) - 11.69%;
Slavonic (12 languages) - 15.78%; Indic -20.40%; Germanic (6 languages) -
24.51%. It is possibele to explain the great value of dispersion of the
Ugric group by the fact that the structure of the Hungarian speech sound
chain is too different from those of Mansi and Hanty. The fact that the value
of the mean of the coefficient of variance in the Samoyedic language taxon
may tell us that the languages of the Samoyedic origin are more
typologically similar, than those of Indic or Germanic origin. If we unite
the Finno-Ugric languages (23.91%) and the Samoyedic languages (16.30%) into
one language taxon, called Uralic, then the dispersion increases to 28.31%,
which is much greater than those of the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic families
taken separately. It means that typologically these two parts are quite
different. This is why, one should be cautious to unite them. They seem
quite different from the point of view of the distribution of the consonants
in their speech chains. Usually, genetically related languages have similar
speech sound chains, that is, they are typologically close. Basing on the
typological data, it is possible to suppose that Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic
languages have gone into different directions and this distance is rather
great. I'd like to hear comments of colleagues concerning the distances
between the languages inside the language groups, families and
super- families based on the typological data. I wish I could co-operate with
the linguists who may be interested in my method. It is possible to
study the density and dispersion of the language taxa of American Indian
language taxa or the taxa of the Aboriginal languages of Australia, etc.,
etc. Looking forward to hearing from you soon to yutamb@xxxxxxx Remain yours sincerely
Yuri Tambovtsev, Novosibirsk Pedagog. University, Novosibirsk, Russia.
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