Examples
“Note 9: The evidence supporting the continued value of glottochronology is most convincingly seen when again and again there are correlations found between archaeology and linguistic based conclusions.”
“(1909-67) to calculate the degree of time depth behind divergent members of a family or of an area through glottochronology, that is, by assuming constancy for the rate with which “basic” vocabulary is replaced.”
“It is important to recognize, however, that many linguists do not agree on the validity and accuracy of glottochronology and lexicostatistics in determining linguistic diffusion.”
“The reason for the criticism appears to stem largely from a mix-up about what the tool of glottochronology claims to do.”
“What glottochronology adds to this is the ability to assign very rough dating estimates to the stratigraphy. 7 Having these estimates allows us to compare them with conclusions drawn from archaeological research.”
“Ehret's view is that both the detractors of glottochronology and many of its early supporters misunderstood it as a phenomenon involving regular and predictable change.”
“Obviously this is not the whole picture, but I think it helps with the relative glottochronology between a few important dialect groups.”
Winter's Law in Balto-Slavic, "Hybrid Theory" and phonation - Part 2
“Historical linguistics, in particular, has provided a method for measuring change in language, called glottochronology.”
“As to the fact that the Ute and the Aztec spoke languages derived from the same root-language, you might want to introduce your readers to glottochronology, the science of dating origins by language attrition.”
Centennial
“Some 20th-century introductions into linguistic vocabulary make use of the root: we find Bloomfield's glosseme and Hjelmslev's glossematics; the isoglottic line of linguistic geography; and glottochronology, Swadesh's system for dating the divergence of linguistic family members.”
sionnach One difficulty with the method is the assumption of a fixed rate of change, which not only seems unrealistic (linguistic change is often precipitated by political events such as wars, invasions, or forced migrations - any of which would suggest sporadic, unpredictable big changes rather than a fixed, gradual rate of change), but has been demonstrated empirically not to hold.
Some refinements to the original model have been made, to reflect this greater complexity, but the linguistic community appears divided regarding the success of these modifications to the model. Jul 20, 2008
whichbe A mathematical method for estimating the date that two sister languages separated using the percentage of the cognates in the core vocabulary and a fixed rate of change. Jun 20, 2007