Evolution of Human Languages

The Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) is an international project – of which Georgiy Starostin inherited his father's membership – on "the linguistic prehistory of humanity" coordinated by the Santa Fe Institute. The project distinguishes about 6,000 languages currently spoken around the world, and aims to provide a detailed classification similar to the accepted classification of biological species.

Their idea is that "all representatives of the species Homo sapiens presumably share a common origin, [so] it would be natural to suppose – although this is a goal yet to be achieved – that all human languages also go back to some common source. Most existing classifications, however, do not go beyond some 300-400 language families that are relatively easy to discern. This restriction has natural reasons: languages must have been spoken and constantly evolving for at least 40,000 years (and quite probably more), while any two languages separated from a common source inevitably lose almost all superficially common features after some 6,000-7,000 years"."Evolution of Human Languages - An Introduction" at Santafe.edu, retrieved 25 October 2007. New link, see [http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/bronze/evolut.htm here]. Accessed Oct 27, 2009.

The {{ill|Tower of Babel (website)|lt=Tower of Babel|ru|Вавилонская башня (сайт)}} is an international etymological database project that is part of the Evolution of Human Languages project. It is coordinated by the {{ill|Center of Comparative Linguistics|ru|Сектор лингвистической компаративистики ИВКА РГГУ}} of the Russian State University for the Humanities.[http://starling.rinet.ru/babel.php?lan=en The Tower of Babel] project. at Starling.rinet.ru, retrieved 25 October 2007.

{{see also|ASJP list|Swadesh list}}

In 2011, the {{ill|Global Lexicostatistical Database|ru|Глобальная лексикостатистическая база данных}} (GLD) was launched as part of the EHL project. The database uses the Unified Transcription System (UTS), designed specifically for the database.[https://starling.rinet.ru/new100/UTS.htm Unified Transcription System (UTS) for the Global Lexicostatical Database].

{{see also|Wiktionary:Appendix:Russian Swadesh list}}

The Global Lexicostatistical Database includes basic word lists of 110 items each for many of the world's languages.Starostin, George (ed.) 2011-2019. [http://starling.rinet.ru/new100/ The Global Lexicostatistical Database]. Moscow: Higher School of Economics, & Santa Fe: Santa Fe Institute. Accessed on 2020-12-26. The 110-word list is a modified 100-item Swadesh list consisting of the original 100 Swadesh list items, in addition to the following 10 additional words from the Swadesh–Yakhontov list:

1. far
2. heavy
3. near
4. salt
5. short
6. snake
7. thin
8. wind
9. worm
10. year

The 110-word expanded Swadesh list by Kassian et al. (2010) is as follows.Kassian, Alexei, George Starostin, Anna Dybo, Vasiliy Chernov. 2010. [https://starling.rinet.ru/new100/Swadesh.htm The Swadesh wordlist. An attempt at semantic specification]. Journal of Language Relationship 4: 46–89. ([https://www.jolr.ru/files/%2850%29jlr2010-4%2846-89%29.pdf PDF])

:

A 50-word list of "ultra-stable" items for lexicostatiscal use with the database was also proposed in 2010. The 50-word list is an abridged version of the 110-word list.Starostin, George. [https://starling.rinet.ru/new100/Lexicostatistics.htm Preliminary lexicostatistics as a basis for language classification: A new approach]. Journal of Language Relationship, No. 3 (2010). P. 79–116.

:

• Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics
• Cross-Linguistic Linked Data
• Genographic Project

{{Reflist}}

• [https://starling.rinet.ru/babel.php?lan=en The Tower of Babel: Evolution of Human Language Project] by Georgiy Starostin
• [https://starling.rinet.ru/new100/ The Global Lexicostatistical Database]
• [http://ehl.santafe.edu/intro1.htm Santa Fe Institute homepage]

Videos

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgDdu-zdqEk Murray Gell-Mann and the Evolution of Human Languages] (Santa Fe Institute video)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR4UlNoOrlc Murray Gell-Mann: Do all languages have a common ancestor?] (TED talk in 2008)

{{Long-range comparative linguistics}}

Category:Long-range comparative linguistics

Category:Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics

Category:Linguistic research

Category:Lexical databases

Category:Word lists