Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History

TLDR

Language history has been limited in studying early human dispersals across the Old World due to the shallow time depth (~8000 ± 2000 years) of current linguistic methods. This study demonstrates that applying biological cladistic methods to language structure—sound systems and grammar—can extend the usable time depth of linguistic data. The approach was validated on well‑documented Oceanic Austronesian families and then applied to the previously unrelated Papuan languages of Island Melanesia. The Papuan languages exhibit an archipelago‑based phylogenetic signal matching their geographic distribution, supporting a common ancestral stock that diverged during late Pleistocene dispersals.

Abstract

The contribution of language history to the study of the early dispersals of modern humans throughout the Old World has been limited by the shallow time depth (about 8000 ± 2000 years) of current linguistic methods. Here it is shown that the application of biological cladistic methods, not to vocabulary (as has been previously tried) but to language structure (sound systems and grammar), may extend the time depths at which language data can be used. The method was tested against well-understood families of Oceanic Austronesian languages, then applied to the Papuan languages of Island Melanesia, a group of hitherto unrelatable isolates. Papuan languages show an archipelago-based phylogenetic signal that is consistent with the current geographical distribution of languages. The most plausible hypothesis to explain this result is the divergence of the Papuan languages from a common ancestral stock, as part of late Pleistocene dispersals.