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. 2021 May 10;376(1824):20200198.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0198. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

Steven Moran  1 , Nicholas A Lester  2 , Eitan Grossman  3
Affiliations

Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

Steven Moran et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate evolutionarily recent changes in the distributions of speech sounds in the world's languages. In particular, we explore the impact of language contact in the past two millennia on today's distributions. Based on three extensive databases of phonological inventories, we analyse the discrepancies between the distribution of speech sounds of ancient and reconstructed languages, on the one hand, and those in present-day languages, on the other. Furthermore, we analyse the degree to which the diffusion of speech sounds via language contact played a role in these discrepancies. We find evidence for substantive differences between ancient and present-day distributions, as well as for the important role of language contact in shaping these distributions over time. Moreover, our findings suggest that the distributions of speech sounds across geographic macro-areas were homogenized to an observable extent in recent millennia. Our findings suggest that what we call the Implicit Uniformitarian Hypothesis, at least with respect to the composition of phonological inventories, cannot be held uncritically. Linguists who would like to draw inferences about human language based on present-day cross-linguistic distributions must consider their theories in light of even short-term language evolution. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.

Keywords: language contact; language evolution; phonology.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Comparison of sample sizes by macro-area and segment type. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Results of the quasi-Poisson model. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Results of Poisson regression analysis by area. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Northern versus Subsaharan Africa. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
JSD analysis (500 iterations). CV, consonants and vowels. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
JSD for database pairs. Points are predicted values. Shaded areas represent the density (width) and range (height) of partial residuals. (Online version in colour.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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