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A Swadesh list is one of several prescribed lists of basic meanings and vocabulary developed by Morris Swadesh in the 1940-50s, which is used in lexicostatistics (quantitative language relatedness assessment) and glottochronology (language divergence dating). Morris Swadesh (January 22, 1909 - July 20, 1967) was an American linguist. ...
In linguistics, the technique of glottochronology is used to estimate the time of divergence of two related languages. ...
The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...
Usage in lexicostatistics and glottochronology The Swadesh word list may be used in lexicostatistics and glottochronology to determine the approximate date of first separation of genetically related language, though other lists may be used. The closeness of the relationship of the languages is suggested to be roughly proportional to the number of cognate words present in the list. The reason that a fixed set of concepts is used, rather than a list of arbitrary words, is that the basic vocabulary learned during early childhood is assumed to change very slowly over time. Note that the task of counting the number of cognate words in the list is far from trivial, and may be subject to dispute, because cognates do not necessarily look similar, and recognition of cognates presupposes knowledge of the sound laws of the respective languages. For example, English 'wheel' and Hindi 'cakra' are cognates, although they are not recognizable as such without knowledge of the history of both languages. Also, even in cases where the number of cognates is undisputed, use of Swadesh lists for dating is disputed, because of the underlying assumption that the rate of replacement of basic vocabulary is constant over long periods of time. While Swadesh lists are a useful tool to get a rough idea, mainstream historical linguistics is usually very sceptical about claims of relatedness based on Swadesh lists exclusively. This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Sound change or phonetic change is a historical process of language change consisting in the replacement of one speech sound or, more generally, one phonetic feature by another in a given phonological environment. ...
Cognates are words that have a common origin. ...
Historical linguistics (also diachronic linguistics or comparative linguistics) is primarily the study of the ways in which languages change over time. ...
The use of Swadesh lists in glottochronology was most popular during the 1960s and 1970s, after which enthusiasm waned and the discussion of the method's merit became emotional, leading to a temporary demise of the method. Refinements since the early 1970s include the incorporation of a geographical dimension into the equations, accounting for borrowing. The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ...
The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, In the Western world, the focus shifted from the social activism of the sixties to social activities for ones own pleasure, save for environmentalism, which continued in a very visible way. ...
A recent example of the use of Swadesh lists for absolute dating is the study of Gray and Atkinson (2003), calculating a tree of Indo-European languages with absolute dates for its nodes, using Bayesian principles, dating the Proto-Indo-European language to ca. 7000 BC (see Indo-Hittite). The study is based on the 200-word form, already early abandoned by Swadesh for suspect with too many borrowed items. This list has additionally been shown to be very unreliable (cf. Embleton 1995. Swadesh later introduced a 100 item list which he considered more universal and culture-free. Because of the false underlying assumptions, refuted by Historical Linguists (cf. e.g. Campbell 1998:177ff), the work is generally not accepted. The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ...
Bayesian refers to probability and statistics -- either methods associated with the Reverend Thomas Bayes (ca. ...
The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ...
(8th millennium BC – 7th millennium BC – 6th millennium BC – other millennia) Events circa 7000 BC – Agriculture and settlement at Mehrgarh in South Asia circa 6500 BC – English Channel formed circa 6100 BC – The Storegga Slide, causing a megatsunami in the Norwegian Sea circa 6000...
In Indo-European linguistics, the term Indo-Hittite refers to the hypothesis that the Anatolian languages may have split off the Proto-Indo-European language considerably earlier than the separation of the remaining Indo-European languages. ...
Swadesh list in English Below is the Swadesh list of 207 words in the English language. For a Swadesh list that compares English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Esperanto, Swedish, and Latin (with links to other lists in other languages), see Wiktionary:Swadesh list. - I
- you (singular)
- he
- we
- you (plural)
- they
- this
- that
- here
- there
- who
- what
- where
- when
- how
- not
- all
- many
- some
- few
- other
- one
- two
- three
- four
- five
- big
- long
- wide
- thick
- heavy
- small
- short
- narrow
- thin
- woman
- man (adult male)
- Man (human being)
- child
- wife
- husband
- mother
- father
- animal
- fish
- bird
- dog
- louse
- snake
- worm
- tree
- forest
- stick
- fruit
- seed
- leaf
- root
- bark
- flower
- grass
- rope
- skin
- meat
- blood
- bone
- fat (n.)
- egg
- horn
- tail
- feather
- hair
- head
- ear
- eye
- nose
- mouth
- tooth
- tongue
- fingernail
- foot
- leg
- knee
- hand
- wing
- belly
- guts
- neck
- back
- breast
- heart
- liver
- drink
- eat
- bite
- suck
- spit
- vomit
- blow
- breathe
- laugh
- see
- hear
- know
- think
- smell
- fear
- sleep
- live
- die
- kill
- fight
- hunt
- hit
- cut
- split
- stab
- scratch
- dig
- swim
- fly (v.)
- walk
- come
- lie
- sit
- stand
- turn
- fall
- give
- hold
- squeeze
- rub
- wash
- wipe
- pull
- push
- throw
- tie
- sew
- count
- say
- sing
- play
- float
- flow
- freeze
- swell
- sun
- moon
- star
- water
- rain
- river
- lake
- sea
- salt
- stone
- sand
- dust
- earth
- cloud
- fog
- sky
- wind
- snow
- ice
- smoke
- fire
- ashes
- burn
- road
- mountain
- red
- green
- yellow
- white
- black
- night
- day
- year
- warm
- cold
- full
- new
- old
- good
- bad
- rotten
- dirty
- straight
- round
- sharp
- dull
- smooth
- wet
- dry
- correct
- near
- far
- right
- left
- at
- in
- with
- and
- if
- because
- name
References - Campbell, Lyle. (1998). Historical linguistics; An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Embleton, Sheila (1995). Review of ‘An Indo-European classification: A lexicostatistical experiment’ by I. Dyen; J.B. Kruskal & P.Black. TAPS Monograph 82-5, Philadelphia. in Diachronica 12-2/1992:263-68.
- Gray, Russell D.; & Atkinson, Quentin D. Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin, Nature, 426.
- Gudschinsky, Sarah. (1956). The ABC's of lexicostatistics (glottochronology). Word, 12, 175-210.
- Hoijer, Harry. (1956). Lexicostatistics: A critique. Language, 32, 49-60.
- Swadesh, Morris. (1950). Salish internal relationships. International Journal of American Linguistics, 16, 157-167.
- Swadesh, Morris. (1952). Lexicostatistic dating of prehistoric ethnic contacts. Proceedings American Philosophical Society, 96, 452-463.
- Swadesh, Morris. (1955). Towards greater accuracy in lexicostatistic dating. International Journal of American Linguistics, 21, 121-137.
- Swadesh, Morris (1972). What is glottochronology? In M. Swadesh, The origin and diversification of languages (pp. 271–284). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
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