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Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 37:3 (2020) ► pp.410–446

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Phylogenetic linguistic evidence and the Dene-Yeniseian homeland

ORCiD logo with link | Universität Tübingen
Published online: 15 July 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.17038.yan
Abstract
Sicoli, Mark A. & Gary Holton. 2014. Linguistic phylogenies support back-migration from Beringia to Asia. PLoS ONE 9(3). e91722. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar (PLoS ONE 9:3, e91722) use computational phylogenetics to argue that linguistic data from the putative, but likely, Dene-Yeniseian macro-family are better compatible with a homeland in Beringia (i.e., northeastern Siberia plus northwestern Alaska) than with one in central Siberia or deeper Asia. I show that a more careful examination of the data invalidates this conclusion: in fact, linguistic data do not support Beringia as the homeland. In the course of showing this, I discuss, without requiring a deep mathematical background, a number of methodological issues concerning computational phylogenetic analyses of linguistic data and drawing inferences from them. The aim is to contribute to making computational phylogenetics less of a black box for historical linguists. I conclude with a brief overview of the current evidence bearing on the Dene-Yeniseian homeland from linguistics, archaeology, folklore studies and genetics, and suggest current best practice for linguistic phylogenetics, the use of which would have helped to avoid some of the problems in Sicoli and Holton’s Dene-Yeniseian study, and in turn the percolation of those problems into subsequent synthetic interdisciplinary research.
Résumé
Sicoli, Mark A. & Gary Holton. 2014. Linguistic phylogenies support back-migration from Beringia to Asia. PLoS ONE 9(3). e91722. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar soutiennent, sur la base d’une analyse philogénétique computationnelle, que la famille linguistique dené-ienisseïenne, dont l’existence est non-prouvée mais probable, aurait pour foyer originel la Béringie (Sibérie du nord-est et Alaska du nord-ouest). Je montre dans cet article qu’un examen approfondi de cette thèse la met en doute: l’analyse quantitative des données linguistiques ne soutient pas l’hypothèse beringienne. Au cours de la démonstration, je discute et presente les questions méthodologiques que soulevé l’analyse philogénétique computationnelle, sans présupposer de bagage mathématique sophistiqué, dans le but de rendre la philogénétique computationnelle accessible aux spécialistes de linguistique historique. La conclusion de l’article présente un état de lieux de la recherche sur le foyer originel de la famille denejenisienne, enrichi par les données issues de la linguistique, de l’archéologie, de l’étude du folklore, et de la génétique, et propose des règies de conduite pour la philogénétique linguistique qui auraient permis d’éviter certains des problèmes qui se trouvent dans l’étude de Sicoli et Holton.
Zusammenfassung
Sicoli, Mark A. & Gary Holton. 2014. Linguistic phylogenies support back-migration from Beringia to Asia. PLoS ONE 9(3). e91722. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar argumentieren mit Hilfe computergestüizter Phylogenetik, dass linguistische Daten von der angeblichen, aber doch wahrscheinlichen dené-jenisseischen Makrofamilie besser mit einer Ursprungsregion in Beringia (d.h. Nordost-Sibirien und Nordwest-Alaska) vereinbar sind als mit einer in Zentral-Sibirien oder Zentralasien. Der vorliegende Artikel kann allerdings zeigen, dass eine genauere Untersuchung diese Folgerung widerlegen kann; genau genommen stüitzen die linguistischen Daten die Beringia-Hypothese nicht. In der Diskussion lege ich verschiedene methodologische Aspekte dar, die kein tiefgrüindiges mathematisches Vorwissen voraussetzen, aber computergestuitzte phylogenetische Analysen linguistischer Daten ermiöglichen und Schlussfolgerungen aus diesen erlauben. Dies zielt darauf ab, computergestüitzte Phylogenetik historischen Sprachwissenschaftlern zugänglicher zu machen. Der Beitrag schlieβt mit einem knappen Überblick zur dené-jenisseischen Urheimat, basierend auf aktuellen Hinweisen aus Linguistik, Archiäologie, Volkskunde und Genetik, und schliägt für die linguistische Phyolgenetik Methoden vor, die dazu beigetragen hätten, einige der Probleme in der Studie von Sicoli & Holton zu umgehen.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sicoli & Holton’s (2014) argument for the Beringia homeland of Dene-Yeniseian
  • 3.The dependence of phylogenetic results on the choice of tree prior
    • 3.1How Bayesian MCMC works
    • 3.2MCMC inference on Sicoli and Holton’s Dene-Yeniseian data
  • 4.Lexical and morphological evidence regarding the shape of the Dene-Yeniseian tree
  • 5.Was the homeland in Beringia?
  • 6.Conclusion: Recommendations for linguistic phylogenetic analysis
  • Supplementary Materials
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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