Structural Phylogeny in Historical Linguistics: Methodological Explorations Applied in Island Melanesia

TLDR

The study aims to determine the relationships among Papuan isolate languages by applying evolutionary biology phylogenetic methods such as maximum parsimony and Bayesian analysis. Researchers constructed a database of abstract structural features, applied maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses to these features—first validating the approach on Oceanic languages—and developed additional techniques to differentiate convergence from inherited similarity. The analyses successfully reproduced the comparative‑method tree for Oceanic languages, demonstrating that structural features can reliably reconstruct linguistic history, and suggest that the same approach is likely valid for the previously unrelatable Papuan languages.

Abstract

Using various methods derived from evolutionary biology, including maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis, we tackle the question of the relationships among a group of Papuan isolate languages that have hitherto resisted accepted attempts at demonstration of interrelatedness. Instead of using existing vocabulary-based methods, which cannot be applied to these languages due to the paucity of shared lexemes, we created a database of STRUCTURAL FEATURES —abstract phonological and grammatical features apart from their form. The methods are first tested on the closely related Oceanic languages spoken in the same region as the Papuan languages in question. We find that using biological methods on structural features can recapitulate the results of the comparative method tree for the Oceanic languages, thus showing that structural features can be a valid way of extracting linguistic history. Application of the same methods to the otherwise unrelatable Papuan languages is therefore likely to be similarly valid. Because languages that have been in contact for protracted periods may also converge, we outline additional methods for distinguishing convergence from inherited relatedness.*