Lingusitcs and cladistics

[Don Colless]

Linguists have for years used what they call "glottochronology" to
construct what are in effect family trees of languages. I am only familiar
with the work of Jaques Guy, who worked at Australian National University
in the 1970's; e.g. Experimental Glottochronology: Basic Methods and
Results. Pacific Linguistics Ser. B, No. 75 (1980). Hardly traditional
cladistics; but fascinating, in that he, inter alia, independently
reinvented Fitch & Margoliash's technique for phylogenetic reconstruction.
His results with Polynesian languages look good; but tests on my own
subjects (Insects: Diptera) were disappointing.



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                 * Don Colless, Div of Entomology, CSIRO,*

                 *    GPO Box 1700, CANBERRA, ACT 2601   *

                 *      donc at spider.ento.csiro.au        *

                 *          tel: (02)62464270            *

                 *    Tuz li munz est miens envirun      *

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