A Bayesian phylogenetic approach to estimating the stability of linguistic features and the genetic biasing of tone.
Language is a hallmark of our species and understanding linguistic diversity is an area of major interest. Genetic factors influencing the cultural transmission of language provide a powerful and elegant explanation for aspects of the present day linguistic diversity and a window into the emergence and evolution of language. In particular, it has recently been proposed that linguistic tone-the usage of voice pitch to convey lexical and grammatical meaning-is biased by two genes involved in brain growth and development, ASPM and Microcephalin. This hypothesis predicts that tone is a stable characteristic of language because of its 'genetic anchoring'. The present paper tests this prediction using a Bayesian phylogenetic framework applied to a large set of linguistic features and language families, using multiple software implementations, data codings, stability estimations, linguistic classifications and outgroup choices. The results of these different methods and datasets show a large agreement, suggesting that this approach produces reliable estimates of the stability of linguistic data. Moreover, linguistic tone is found to be stable across methods and datasets, providing suggestive support for the hypothesis of genetic influences on its distribution.
Dediu
Dan
D
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands. dan.dediu@mpi.nl
D001499:Bayes Theorem; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics / Q000379:methods*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny
C467202:ASPM protein, human; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; C460645:MCPH1 protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Aug 22;277(1693):2443-50
20375050
Science. 2002 Nov 22;298(5598):1569-79
12446899
Nature. 2009 May 28;459(7246):564-8
19412161
Nature. 2007 Oct 11;449(7163):717-20
17928860
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jan 5;107(1):384-8
20080800
Cognition. 2010 Sep;116(3):444-9
20615499
Bioinformatics. 2003 Aug 12;19(12):1572-4
12912839
Behav Brain Sci. 2009 Oct;32(5):429-48; discussion 448-494
19857320
Trends Genet. 2009 Apr;25(4):166-77
19304338
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Mar 20;104(12):5241-5
17360393
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Aug 12;364(1527):2221-8
19571242
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jun 26;104(26):10944-9
17537923
Hum Mol Genet. 2008 May 1;17(9):1329-35
18204051
PLoS Genet. 2008 Oct;4(10):e1000239
18974871
Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Jun;10(6):405-15
19421237
Behav Brain Sci. 2008 Oct;31(5):489-508; discussion 509-58
18826669
Am J Hum Genet. 2004 Sep;75(3):519-22
15284953
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 5;105(31):10681-6
18667697
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Mar;1156:1-18
19338500
J Theor Biol. 2008 Sep 21;254(2):400-7
18599088