Lexicostatistics — is an approach to comparative linguistics that involves quantitative comparison of lexical cognates. Lexicostatistics is related to the comparative method but does not reconstruct a proto language. It is to be distinguished from glottochronology … Wikipedia
lexicostatistics — [lek΄si kō΄stə tis′tiks] n. a technique used in GLOTTOCHRONOLOGY to determine the time when the languages under study separated, based on the statistical comparison of sample word lists from the languages … English World dictionary
lexicostatistics — noun Statistical estimation of the degree of linguistic divergence between two languages, based on the proportion of cognates … Wiktionary
lexicostatistics — lex·i·co·statistics … English syllables
lexicostatistics — lex•i•co•sta•tis•tics [[t]ˌlɛk sɪ koʊ stəˈtɪs tɪks[/t]] n. (used with a sing. v.) ling. the statistical study of the vocabulary of a language or languages for historical purposes • Etymology: 1955–60 … From formal English to slang
lexicostatistics — /ˌlɛksɪkoʊstəˈtɪstɪks/ (say .leksikohstuh tistiks) plural noun (construed as singular) the comparison and classification of dialects and languages on the basis of their percentage of shared vocabulary. –lexicostatistic, adjective… …
lexicostatistics — noun a statistical technique used in glottochronology; used to estimate how long ago different languages evolved from a common source language (Freq. 4) • Derivationally related forms: ↑lexicostatistic • Hypernyms: ↑etymology * * * “+ noun plural … Useful english dictionary
Glottochronology — refers to methods in historical linguistics used to estimate the time at which languages diverged, based on the assumption that the basic (core) vocabulary of a language changes at a constant average rate. This assumption, originally put forward… … Wikipedia
Swadesh list — A Swadesh list is one of several lists of vocabulary with basic meanings, developed by Morris Swadesh in the 1940 50s, which is used in lexicostatistics (quantitative language relatedness assessment) and glottochronology (language divergence… … Wikipedia
Comparative linguistics — Linguistics … Wikipedia