Reply published In: Journal of Historical Linguistics
Vol. 15:3 (2025) ► pp.482–494
Reply
Reply to Kassian et al. (2023). Calibrated weighted permutation test detects ancient language connections in the Circumpolar area (Chukotian-Nivkh and Yukaghir-Samoyedic)
Published online: 29 November 2024
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.00018.ceo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.00018.ceo
Abstract
Kassian, Alexei S., George Starostin, Mikhail Zhivlov & Sergey A. Spirin. 2023. Calibrated
weighted permutation test detects ancient language connections in the Circumpolar area (Chukotian-Nivkh and
Yukaghir-Samoyedic). Journal of Historical Linguistics. propose a method to detect ancient linguistic
relationships by means of a weighted permutation test applied to word lists. The method provides evidence for an ancient
historical connection between Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages and Nivkh languages, and between Samoyedic languages and Yukaghir. In
this paper, I argue that while the word lists collected by the authors represent a valid dataset for language comparison and are
supported by extensive etymological work, their statistical tests constitute a departure from the significance testing framework
that has propelled contemporary literature on long-range comparison. I then advance some proposals on how their tests can be
integrated and compared with those traditionally accepted in the literature.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Beyond reasonable doubt
- 3.Word lists
- 4.Semantic matching criteria
- 5.Metrics
- 6.Statistical tests
- 7.Results
- 8.Conclusion
References
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