The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: from bioinformatics to lexomics - PubMed (original) (raw)
The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: from bioinformatics to lexomics
Simon J Greenhill et al. Evol Bioinform Online. 2008.
Abstract
Phylogenetic methods have revolutionised evolutionary biology and have recently been applied to studies of linguistic and cultural evolution. However, the basic comparative data on the languages of the world required for these analyses is often widely dispersed in hard to obtain sources. Here we outline how our Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database (ABVD) helps remedy this situation by collating wordlists from over 500 languages into one web-accessible database. We describe the technology underlying the ABVD and discuss the benefits that an evolutionary bioinformatic approach can provide. These include facilitating computational comparative linguistic research, answering questions about human prehistory, enabling syntheses with genetic data, and safe-guarding fragile linguistic information.
Keywords: ABVD; austronesian; database; lexicon; linguistics.
Figures
Figure 1
Core database schema of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database.
Figure 2
The languages page showing information for the language Maori.
Figure 3
The words page showing entries for the word meaning category “hand”.
Figure 4
The growth of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database over the last two years (01–01–2006 – 01–04–2008).
Figure 5
Map showing the approximate location of the languages currently attested in the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database.
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