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The dialect chain tree

ORCID logo | Uppsala University
ORCID logo | Uppsala University

A perennial conflict in historical linguistics centers around the theoretical and practical virtues of tree-like divergence and wave-like diffusion. This paper presents the Dialect Chain Tree, an extension of the tree model that incorporates both tree-like descent and disintegration of dialect chains in a systematic fashion. As such, it provides a formalization and sharpening of Ross’ (1997: 212–228) linkage concept that allows integration into quantitative approaches.

Keywords: phylogenetics, subgrouping, dialect chain, trees and waves
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Dialect disintegration
  • 3.Related work
  • 4.Assumptions underlying the new model
  • 5.The dialect chain tree
    • 5.1Description
    • 5.2Formal definition
    • 5.3Tree-like split as a special case of dialect divergence
  • 6.Maximum Parsimony for the DCT
    • 6.1Parsimony score and character coding
    • 6.2Order- and parsimony-equivalence between DCTs
    • 6.3A three-taxon example
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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