BibSonomy :: BibTeX ::

tag user group author concept BibTeX key search:all search:compevol

A blue social bookmark and publication sharing system.

entry of compevol and 4 other people: spam

Language Phylogenies Reveal Expansion Pulses and Pauses in Pacific Settlement

by: R. D. Gray and A. J. Drummond and S. J. Greenhill

In: Science , Vol. 323 , Nr. 5913 , Jan (2009) , p. 479-483.

Resources (URL, PDF, PS...)

URL:	http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5913/479

Debates about human prehistory often center on the role that population expansions play in shaping biological and cultural diversity. Hypotheses on the origin of the Austronesian settlers of the Pacific are divided between a recent "pulse-pause" expansion from Taiwan and an older "slow-boat" diffusion from Wallacea. We used lexical data and Bayesian phylogenetic methods to construct a phylogeny of 400 languages. In agreement with the pulse-pause scenario, the language trees place the Austronesian origin in Taiwan approximately 5230 years ago and reveal a series of settlement pauses and expansion pulses linked to technological and social innovations. These results are robust to assumptions about the rooting and calibration of the trees and demonstrate the combined power of linguistic scholarship, database technologies, and computational phylogenetic methods for resolving questions about human prehistory.

Description

Language Phylogenies Reveal Expansion Pulses and Pauses in Pacific Settlement -- Gray et al. 323 (5913): 479 -- Science

BibTeX record

@article{R.D._Gray01232009,
  author = {R. D. Gray and A. J. Drummond and S. J. Greenhill},
  interHash = {1898e55f6bd9bfe71b01836730334a21},
  intraHash = {6fe48c7164430ac431bab251afb6156e},
  journal = {Science},
  number = {5913},
  pages = {479-483},
  title = {{Language Phylogenies Reveal Expansion Pulses and Pauses in Pacific Settlement}},
  url = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5913/479},
  volume = {323},
  year = {2009},
  doi = {10.1126/science.1166858},
  eprint = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/323/5913/479.pdf},
  month = Jan,
  abstract = {Debates about human prehistory often center on the role that population expansions play in shaping biological and cultural diversity. Hypotheses on the origin of the Austronesian settlers of the Pacific are divided between a recent "pulse-pause" expansion from Taiwan and an older "slow-boat" diffusion from Wallacea. We used lexical data and Bayesian phylogenetic methods to construct a phylogeny of 400 languages. In agreement with the pulse-pause scenario, the language trees place the Austronesian origin in Taiwan approximately 5230 years ago and reveal a series of settlement pauses and expansion pulses linked to technological and social innovations. These results are robust to assumptions about the rooting and calibration of the trees and demonstrate the combined power of linguistic scholarship, database technologies, and computational phylogenetic methods for resolving questions about human prehistory.
}
}

Endnote record

%0 Journal Article
%1 R.D._Gray01232009
%A R. D. Gray
%A A. J. Drummond
%A S. J. Greenhill
%D 2009
%J Science
%K 
%N 5913
%P 479-483
%T {Language Phylogenies Reveal Expansion Pulses and Pauses in Pacific Settlement}
%R 10.1126/science.1166858
%U http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5913/479
%V 323
%X Debates about human prehistory often center on the role that population expansions play in shaping biological and cultural diversity. Hypotheses on the origin of the Austronesian settlers of the Pacific are divided between a recent "pulse-pause" expansion from Taiwan and an older "slow-boat" diffusion from Wallacea. We used lexical data and Bayesian phylogenetic methods to construct a phylogeny of 400 languages. In agreement with the pulse-pause scenario, the language trees place the Austronesian origin in Taiwan approximately 5230 years ago and reveal a series of settlement pauses and expansion pulses linked to technological and social innovations. These results are robust to assumptions about the rooting and calibration of the trees and demonstrate the combined power of linguistic scholarship, database technologies, and computational phylogenetic methods for resolving questions about human prehistory.