Phylogentic Trees and Language

Recent searches led me to several interesting articles by Mark Pagel and co-authors on the evolution of languages. These links may be behind Science or Nature paywalls or subscriptions, so I apologize if you are unable to read them.

The basic point is that:

1.) Researchers are using phylogenetic trees to classify the relatedness of languages and their divergence from earlier languages. This is an old idea. The link above is to a review of recent work using the justifying using these tools due to the genetic-like properties of language.

2.) The proposal is that languages evolve in punctuated bursts, not gradually. Perhaps because populations becames seperated physically, Perhaps because groups wanted to differentiate themselves culturally.

Languages Evolve in Punctuational Bursts by Quentin D. Atkinson, Andrew Meade, Chris Venditti, Simon J. Greenhill, Mark Pagel; Science, 1 February 2008: Vol. 319. no. 5863, p. 588, DOI: 10.1126/science.1149683

Human language as a culturally transmitted replicator by Mark Pagel, Nature Reviews Genetics 10, 405-415 (June 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrg2560

(list of Mark Pagel's publications)

How to green your mavericky list of overused words from Wall Street to Main Street

Lake Superior State University has put together their 2009 "List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness". I can certainly get behind such a list as I am often the offender and sometimes the offended. The list has words you might suspect:

From the election: Maverick, First Dude

From the economy: Wall Street/Main Street - caused a great amount of intoxication during a Presidential debate drinking game earlier this year.

One my personal annoyances is "green", since it is used pretty indiscriminately on things that could never be conceived of as good for the environment.

I encourage you to read the comments on the list as their are some suggestions for additions (such as robust as a verb).

Yet another regional dialect quiz

Fark pointed to a poorly researched article about how the southern dialect is spreading. Comments then centered around value judgements made based on someone's accent. The discussion went downhill from there.

Regardless, I still have a Philadelphia accent. Which I have decided I am proud of, since many of the questions were centered around whether I pronounced pairs or even triples of words differently. I guess the dialects in the rest of the United States are making do with fewer vowel sounds or phonemes.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Mid Atlantic Also known as a "Philadelphia accent" but also heard in south Jersey, Baltimore, and thereabouts.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

More information and data on dialects and tests can be found at this earlier post, I was a Philadelphian in this quiz as well.