Human Diversity seminar 4.7.2023, Vesakoski and Skirgård

We are pleased to announce that Hedvig Skirgård from Max Plànck lnstitute for Evolutionary Anthropology is giving a talk for our next Humand Diversity seminar.

At the start of the seminar consortium member Outi Vesakoski tells about the Human Diversity research related to the topic followed by a visitor talk. You are welcome to joint seminar live at the campus in project space Luoma (Arcanum) or on zoom.

12:15-12:45 by Outi Vesakoski
“The diversity of the Uralic languages in the light of new typological data (Uralic Typological Data Online)”
Human Diversity consortium

13:00-14:00 by Hedvig Skirgård
“Disentangling Ancestral State Reconstruction in Historical Linguistics – comparing classic approaches and new methods with Oceanic grammar”
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Plànck lnstitute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Abstract:
Ancestral State Reconstruction (ASR) is an essential part of historical linguistics (HL). Conventional ASR in HL relies on three core principles: fewest changes on the tree, plausibility of changes and plausibility of the resulting combinations of features in proto-languages. This approach has some problems, in particular the definition of what is plausible and the disregard of branch lengths. This study compares the classic approach of ASR to computational tools (Maximum Parsimony and Maximum Likelihood), conceptually and practically. Computational models have the advantage of being more transparent, consistent and replicable, and the disadvantage of lacking nuanced knowledge and context. Using data from the structural database Grambank, I compare reconstructions of the grammar of ancestral Oceanic languages from the historical linguistics literature to those achieved by computational means. The results show that there is a high degree of agreement between manual and computational approaches, with a tendency for classical HL to agree more with the approaches that ignore branch lengths. Taking into account branch lengths explicitly is more conceptually sound, as such the field of historical linguistics should engage in improving methods in this direction. A combination of computational methods and qualitative knowledge is possible in future and would be of great benefit.

To join the seminar online, please send an email to humandiversity@utu.fi to request the passcode for the zoom meeting. We also ask you to sign in to the zoom meeting with your full name. You can use the link below to access zoom on the seminar day:
https://utu.zoom.us/j/68313779283