Revision summary
Glottochronology dates language splits from retained basic vocabulary. Swadesh lists and an assumed replacement rate are the core. Hymes helped move the tool into anthropology. Bergsland and Vogt showed that rates vary. It remains a rough relatedness clock, not an absolute date.
Model answer
Introduction
Glottochronology tries to date the split of related languages from the share of retained basic vocabulary. It is a linguistic clock, and anthropologists have used it with more hope than the clock can always keep.
Body
The method
- Morris Swadesh built 100- and 200-word lists of supposedly stable meanings such as body parts and pronouns, a method called lexicostatistics when used only to measure relatedness.
- Glottochronology adds a constant rate, often taught as about 14 per cent loss per thousand years, to turn the shared percentage into a date of divergence.
- Dell Hymes and others brought the tool into anthropology as a companion to archaeology when no inscriptions exist.
Limits
- Knut Bergsland and Hans Vogt showed that real rates are not constant, using cases such as Icelandic.
- Borrowing, taboo replacement, and poorly chosen lists break the clock, which Lyle Campbell and historical linguists still stress.
- The method can still rank closeness of dialects; it should not be treated as a radiocarbon date for a people.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD W[Swadesh list] --> S[Shared basic words] S --> D[Date of split] C[Rate not constant] --> D
Conclusion
Glottochronology is Swadesh’s dated lexicostatistics. It is a heuristic for language split, not a precise prehistoric calendar.
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Students also ask
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Is glottochronology the same as the comparative method?
No. The comparative method reconstructs proto-forms. Glottochronology only dates splits from word lists.
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Can it date migrations by itself?
No. It may suggest a time range. Archaeology and genetics must be independent tests.
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