title: Networks of lexical borrowing and lateral gene transfer in language and genome evolution.
abstract: Like biological species, languages change over time. As noted by Darwin, there are many parallels between language evolution and biological evolution. Insights into these parallels have also undergone change in the past 150 years. Just like genes, words change over time, and language evolution can be likened to genome evolution accordingly, but what kind of evolution? There are fundamental differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic evolution. In the former, natural variation entails the gradual accumulation of minor mutations in alleles. In the latter, lateral gene transfer is an integral mechanism of natural variation. The study of language evolution using biological methods has attracted much interest of late, most approaches focusing on language tree construction. These approaches may underestimate the important role that borrowing plays in language evolution. Network approaches that were originally designed to study lateral gene transfer may provide more realistic insights into the complexities of language evolution.
authors.affiliation: Research Center Deutscher Sprachatlas, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johann-Mattis
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: List
authors.forename: Shijulal
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nelson-Sathi
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Geisler
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics*; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism
keywords: borrowing; language evolution; lateral transfer; network approaches; prokaryotic evolution