Calibrated weighted permutation test detects ancient language connections in the Circumpolar area (Chukotian-Nivkh and Yukaghir-Samoyedic)*

• Published in: Journal of Historical Linguistics
• Main Authors: Kassian, Alexei S., Starostin, George, Zhivlov, Mikhail, Spirin, Sergey A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: John Benjamins Publishing Company 2023
• Subjects: Nivkh; samoyed*; Yukaghir
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/jhl.00014.kas; http://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/10.1075/jhl.00014.kas/jhl.00014.kas.pdf

Abstract Relationships between universally recognized language families represent a hotly debated topic in historical linguistics, and the same is true for correlation between signals of genetic and linguistic relatedness. We developed a weighted permutation test which represents the classical permutation tests with weights introduced for individual Swadesh concepts according to their typological stability. Further, the obtained values were calibrated on a negative control group to override non-uniform distribution of phonemes within the Swadesh wordlist. We applied the calibrated permutation test to the basic vocabularies of nine languages and reconstructed proto-languages to show that three groups of circumpolar language families in the Northern Hemisphere show evidence of relationship through common descent or borrowing in the basic vocabulary: [Chukotko-Kamchatkan, Nivkh]; [Yukaghir, Samoyedic]; and [Yeniseian, Na-Dene, Burushaski]. The former two pairs showed the most significant signals of language relationship. Our findings further support some hypotheses on long-distance language relationships previously put forward based on linguistic methods but lacking universal acceptance.