A computational phylogenetic account of the diachronic development of Pama-Nyungan verb conjugation classes

Abstract

This paper presents the reconstruction of Pama-Nyungan (Australia) verb conjugation classes using computational phylogenetic methods. Languages from a genealogically and geographically comprehensive sample (n=120) are labeled according to relevant morphological characters, including the presence or absence of verb conjugation classes, number of conjugation classes, and how membership is determined. This project demonstrates the viability of morphological characters in modern stochastic computational approaches to historical linguistics, including tree inference and ancestral state reconstruction.

Date
December 2019
Avatar
Parker Brody
PhD Candidate

Yale University Department of Linguistics. Computational linguistics, Historical linguistics, Morphological Theory.