Created 21 May 2003
Modified 23 May 2003

Parallel multilingual wordlists

Printed works containing Swadesh lists for various languages

(as announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-1367.html)

From Daniel Wedgwood <dan@ling.ed.ac.uk>

Below is the list of references pretty much exactly as I received them from <Natalia.Slaska@sheffield.ac.uk>; I've just edited some of the notes about language names slightly. These are all meant to contain either the 100-word, 200-word or 215-word Swadesh list, though some are not quite the standard Swadesh lists. The Bergsland & Vogt (1962) article is useful for picking apart the contents of the different meaning lists. (The shorter lists are not just subsets of the longer ones.)



Andronov, M. (1964) 'Lexicostatistic analysis of the chronology of disintegration of Proto-Dravidian', Indo-Iranian Journal, 7: 170-186. [Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telegu, Kolami, Parji, Gondi, Kurukh, Malto, Brahui]

Bender, M. L. (1968) 'Remarks on the glottochronology of Northern Ethiopian Semitic languages', Journal of Ethiopian Studies, 6: 1-9. [Ge'ez, Tigre, Tigrinya, Amharic]

Bergsland, K. & Vogt, H. (1962) 'On the validity of glottochronology', Current Anthropology, 3: 115-153. Available from: <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28196204%293%3A2%3C115%3AOTVOG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M>. [Icelandic, 3 Norwegian dialects, a composite list from Old Norse texts, Georgian, Mingrelian, Armenian]

Dyen, I. (1964) 'On the validity of comparative lexicostatistics', in Lunt, H. G. (ed.) Proceedings of the ninth International Congress of Linguists, Cambridge, Mass., August 27-31, 1962, The Hague: Mouton, pp. 239-252. [Lithuanian, Russian - and many references to other potential sources of data, as used by Dyen but not reproduced in this article]

Elmendorf, W. W. (1962) 'Lexical innovation and persistence in four Salish dialects', International Journal of American Linguistics, 28: 85-96. [Musqueam, Cowichan, Songish, Twana]

Fowkes, R. A. (1971) 'Glottochronology and Brythonic?' Studia Celtica, 6: 189-194. [Welsh, Breton]

Gregersen, E. A. (1976) The glottochronological performance of African languages, The Hague: Mouton. [Egyptian, Arabic, Nubian, Kikongo]

Gudschinsky, S. C. (1956) 'The ABC's of lexicostatistics (glottochronology)', Word, 12:175-210. [Ixcatec, Mazatec]

Hall, R. A. (1959) 'Neo-Melanesian and glottochronology', International Journal of American Linguistics, 25: 265-267. [Neo-Melanesian]

Hattori, S. (1961) 'A glottochronological study of three Okinawan dialects', International Journal of American Linguistics, 27: 52-62. [multiple dialects of Japanese - see Hattori's article in the same volume as Rea 1973 for more dialects and clearer presentation, though this uses an unconventional 200-word list]

Kessler, B. (2001) The significance of word lists, Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and Information. [Albanian, French, German, Hawaian, Latin, Navajo, Turkish — see http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~bkessler/

Rea, J. A. (1958) 'Concerning the validity of lexicostatistics', International Journal of American Linguistics, 24: 145-150. [French, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, Italian, Sardinian, Portuguese, Rheto-Romance]

Rea, J. A. (1973) 'The Romance data of the pilot studies for glottochronology', in Sebeok, T. (ed.) Diachronic, Areal and Typological Linguistics,  = Current Trends in Linguistics 11. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 355-367. [Plautine Latin, 'Moliere French', 1600 Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese]

Satterthwait, A. C. (1960) 'Rate of morpheme decay in Meccan Arabic', International Journal of American Linguistics, 26: 256-261. [Meccan Arabic, Quranic and modern]

Taylor, D. & Rousse, I. (1955) 'Linguistic and archeological time depth in the West Indies', International Journal of American Linguistics, 21 (105-115). [Lokono, Island Carib]

Taylor, D. (1961) 'Some particular problems in the application of the 100-item lexicostatistic test list', International Journal of American Linguistics, 27: 30-41. [Lokono, Goajiro, Piapoko, Ariti, Baniva, Manao, Bare]

Troike, R. C. (1969) 'The glottochronology of six Turkic languages', International Journal of American Linguistics, 35: 183-191. [Turkish, Azerbaijani, Karachai, Crimean Tatar, Kazan Tatar, Misher Tatar]

Wittman, H. G. (1973) 'The lexicostatistical classification of the French-based creole languages', in Dyen, I. (ed.) Lexicostatistics in genetic linguistics: Proceedings of the Yale Conference, Yale University, April 3-4, 1971, The Hague: Mouton, pp. 89-99. [Mauritian, Haitian]


Additions

Hale, Kenneth L. 1962. Internal relationships in Arandic of Central Australia, pp. 171-83 in Some Linguistic Types in Australia. Oceania Linguistic Monograph 7, by A. Capell. Sydney: Oceania (The University of Sydney). [100-word lists for 10 varieties of Arandic]

O'Grady, G.N. and T.J. Klokeid. 1969. Australian linguistic classification: a plea for coordination of effort. Oceania 39,298-311. [100-word lists in some Pama-Nyungan languages: Arabana, Warburton Ranges, Pintubi-Pitjantjatjarra, Kokata-Ngaliya, Wirangu, Mirniny, Pankarla]


Lexicostatistical Wordlists page
Australian languages page

© 2003

URL: http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/aust/Swadesh-lists.html