Lexico-semantic stability in the anatomical domain in the Mayan language family

IF 0.5 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

Journal of Historical Linguistics Pub Date : 2023-11-13 DOI:10.1075/jhl.21031.mor

David F. Mora-Marín, Megan Fletcher, Elizabeth Gorman

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with lexico-semantic stability, specifically in the anatomical domain. The main goal is to develop a method for measuring semantic polysemy and shift, in order to address: (1) the validity of standardized vocabulary lists (e.g., Swadesh 1950 , 1952 , 1955 ; Holman et al. 2008 ; Haspelmath & Tadmor 2009a , 2009b ) for investigating cross-linguistic stability; and (2) the difference between basic and stable vocabulary ( Ratliff 2006 ; Matisoff 2009 ), and its implications for studying remote relationships between language families, on the one hand, and subgroup differentiation within language families, on the other. To study these problems, a total of 50 etyma from the anatomical domain were selected from the Preliminary Etymological Mayan Database ( Kaufman with Justeson 2003 ), and these were then classified employing the novel metric, and further analyzed by means of statistical methods. The results point to: (1) no specific correlation with the stability rankings of the Swadesh and Leipzig-Jakarta lists; (2) support for the “basicness” of etyma from the anatomical domain; (3) several significant relationships between stability and polysemy scores and independent variables relevant to the anatomical domain; (4) evidence of lexico-semantic stability score affinities between Mayan subgroups; and (5) evidence supporting the utility of polysemies to investigate subgrouping and language contact. The paper also offers conclusions and areas for further research.

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玛雅语系解剖学领域的词汇语义稳定性

摘要:本文讨论了词汇语义稳定性，特别是在解剖学领域。主要目标是开发一种测量语义多义和语义移位的方法，以解决:(1)标准化词汇表的有效性(例如，Swadesh 1950, 1952, 1955;Holman et al. 2008;Haspelmath,Tadmor 2009a, 2009b)研究跨语言稳定性;(2)基本词汇和稳定词汇的区别(Ratliff 2006;Matisoff 2009)，以及它对研究语系之间的远程关系和语系内部的亚群分化的影响。为了研究这些问题，我们从初步的玛雅语源学数据库(Kaufman and Justeson 2003)中选取了50个解剖学域的词源学词汇，并采用新度量对其进行分类，并通过统计方法进行进一步分析。结果表明:(1)与Swadesh和Leipzig-Jakarta列表的稳定性排名没有特定的相关性;(2)从解剖学角度支持鼻窦的“基本性”;(3)稳定性和多义性得分与解剖域相关的自变量之间存在显著的关系;(4)玛雅语族间词汇语义稳定性评分亲和力的证据;(5)支持多义词在研究亚群和语言接触方面的作用的证据。本文还提出了结论和有待进一步研究的领域。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Historical Linguistics LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS-

CiteScore

1.30

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Historical Linguistics aims to publish, after peer-review, papers that make a significant contribution to the theory and/or methodology of historical linguistics. Papers dealing with any language or language family are welcome. Papers should have a diachronic orientation and should offer new perspectives, refine existing methodologies, or challenge received wisdom, on the basis of careful analysis of extant historical data. We are especially keen to publish work which links historical linguistics to corpus-based research, linguistic typology, language variation, language contact, or the study of language and cognition, all of which constitute a major source of methodological renewal for the discipline and shed light on aspects of language change. Contributions in areas such as diachronic corpus linguistics or diachronic typology are therefore particularly welcome.