Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The Cultural Lexicon of Indo-European in Europe : Quantifying Stability and Change

Carling, Gerd LU ; van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid ; Cronhamn, Sandra LU ; Johansson, Niklas LU and Farren, Robert LU (2019) Talking Neolithic: The Indo-European Homeland Problem versus the Origin(s) of the First European Farmers (Workshop) In Journal of Indo-European studies, Monograph Series 65. p.39-68
Abstract
In this paper, we have investigated, by means of quantitative and statistical methods, stability and change in cultural vocabulary of Indo-European in Europe, with a focus on agriculture. For this purpose we have created a culture vocabulary list with lexical head words, organized into subcategories based on their role and function in a cultural system, the purpose of which is to give a representative selection of culture vocabulary terms for a specific system and a certain geographic area. Thereupon, we have collected data from a number of Indo-European languages of Europe, removed languages with too little data, omitted post-colonial borrowings, organized the lexemes into cognate sets and divided lexemes according to whether they are... (More)
In this paper, we have investigated, by means of quantitative and statistical methods, stability and change in cultural vocabulary of Indo-European in Europe, with a focus on agriculture. For this purpose we have created a culture vocabulary list with lexical head words, organized into subcategories based on their role and function in a cultural system, the purpose of which is to give a representative selection of culture vocabulary terms for a specific system and a certain geographic area. Thereupon, we have collected data from a number of Indo-European languages of Europe, removed languages with too little data, omitted post-colonial borrowings, organized the lexemes into cognate sets and divided lexemes according to whether they are inherited (reconstructed or derived from Proto-Indo-European roots), loaned, or have an uncertain origin. For each term we have kept track of number of cognates, number of lexemes in languages, as well as number of reconstructed Proto-Indo-European roots. The data sets were analyzed by the R statistical tool, basically by means of principal component analysis biplots, but also by calculating standardized residuals for each of the terms and the subgroups. The results demonstrated that there is, from a geographical perspective, relatively little convergence effect on cultural vocabulary. Further, we could see a clear tendency in which manufactured objects (implements, produce) as well as the activities accompanying them (activities) were inherited to a larger extent, whereas objects belonging to the environment (game), as well as the cultural environment (domestic animals, produce) was much more uncertain. The category of predator was most loaned in our set, which could, to a certain extent, be due to the inclusion of partly non-European species. We were also able to identify a stable core vocabulary, consisting mainly of implements, some produce and domestic animal terms, which were rich in cognates and leaning towards being inherited. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Talking Neolithic : Proceedings of the workshop on Indo-European origins held at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, December 2-3, 2013 - Proceedings of the workshop on Indo-European origins held at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, December 2-3, 2013
series title
Journal of Indo-European studies, Monograph Series
editor
Kroonen, Guus ; Mallory, James P. and Comrie, Bernard
volume
65
pages
39 - 68
publisher
Journal of Indo-European Studies, Monograph Series
conference name
Talking Neolithic: The Indo-European Homeland Problem versus the Origin(s) of the First European Farmers (Workshop)
conference location
Leipzig, Germany
conference dates
2013-12-02 - 2013-12-03
ISSN
0895-7258
ISBN
978-0-9983669-2-0
978-0-9845353-4-7
project
LUNDIC Lund Digital Information System of Contextualized Typology
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bf4e4cd2-c50d-46bc-a802-3ea363301286
date added to LUP
2017-02-01 10:53:43
date last changed
2023-02-23 13:30:17
@inbook{bf4e4cd2-c50d-46bc-a802-3ea363301286,
  abstract     = {{In this paper, we have investigated, by means of quantitative and statistical methods, stability and change in cultural vocabulary of Indo-European in Europe, with a focus on agriculture. For this purpose we have created a culture vocabulary list with lexical head words, organized into subcategories based on their role and function in a cultural system, the purpose of which is to give a representative selection of culture vocabulary terms for a specific system and a certain geographic area. Thereupon, we have collected data from a number of Indo-European languages of Europe, removed languages with too little data, omitted post-colonial borrowings, organized the lexemes into cognate sets and divided lexemes according to whether they are inherited (reconstructed or derived from Proto-Indo-European roots), loaned, or have an uncertain origin. For each term we have kept track of number of cognates, number of lexemes in languages, as well as number of reconstructed Proto-Indo-European roots. The data sets were analyzed by the R statistical tool, basically by means of principal component analysis biplots, but also by calculating standardized residuals for each of the terms and the subgroups. The results demonstrated that there is, from a geographical perspective, relatively little convergence effect on cultural vocabulary. Further, we could see a clear tendency in which manufactured objects (implements, produce) as well as the activities accompanying them (activities) were inherited to a larger extent, whereas objects belonging to the environment (game), as well as the cultural environment (domestic animals, produce) was much more uncertain. The category of predator was most loaned in our set, which could, to a certain extent, be due to the inclusion of partly non-European species. We were also able to identify a stable core vocabulary, consisting mainly of implements, some produce and domestic animal terms, which were rich in cognates and leaning towards being inherited.}},
  author       = {{Carling, Gerd and van de Weijer, Joost and Cronhamn, Sandra and Johansson, Niklas and Farren, Robert}},
  booktitle    = {{Talking Neolithic : Proceedings of the workshop on Indo-European origins held at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, December 2-3, 2013}},
  editor       = {{Kroonen, Guus and Mallory, James P. and Comrie, Bernard}},
  isbn         = {{978-0-9983669-2-0}},
  issn         = {{0895-7258}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{39--68}},
  publisher    = {{Journal of Indo-European Studies, Monograph Series}},
  series       = {{Journal of Indo-European studies, Monograph Series}},
  title        = {{The Cultural Lexicon of Indo-European in Europe : Quantifying Stability and Change}},
  volume       = {{65}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}