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Article published In: Journal of Historical Linguistics
Vol. 15:3 (2025) ► pp.365–425

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Lexico-semantic stability in the anatomical domain in the Mayan language family

ORCiD logo with link | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
 | University of Georgia
 | Montgomery County Public Schools
Published online: 13 November 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.21031.mor
Abstract
This paper deals with lexico-semantic stability, specifically in the anatomical domain. The main goal is to develop a method for measuring semantic polysemy and shift, in order to address: (1) the validity of standardized vocabulary lists (e.g., Swadesh, Morris. 1950. Salish Internal Relationships. International Journal of American Linguistics 161:157–167. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1952. Lexico-Statistic Dating of Prehistoric Ethnic Contacts. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 961:452–463.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1955. Towards Greater Accuracy in Lexico-Statistic Dating. International Journal of American Linguistics 211:121–137. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Holman, Eric W., Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Viveka Velupillai, André Müller & Dik Bakker. 2008. Explorations in Automated Language Classification. Folia Linguistica 421: 331–354. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Haspelmath, Martin & Uri Tadmor (eds.). 2009a. Loanwords in the World’s Languages: A Comparative Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Haspelmath, Martin, & Uri Tadmor (eds.). 2009b. World Loanword Database. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. Online: [URL]) for investigating cross-linguistic stability; and (2) the difference between basic and stable vocabulary (Ratliff, Martha. 2006. The Uses of Lexical Stability. Paper presented at the 11th Spring Reconstruction Workshop. University of Michigan, April 7–9, 2006.; 2009. Stable Roots in Sino-Tibetan/Tibeto-Burman. Senri Ethnological Studies 751:291–318.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), and its implications for studying remote relationships between language families, on the one hand, and subgroup differentiation within language families, on the other. To study these problems, a total of 50 etyma from the anatomical domain were selected from the Preliminary Etymological Mayan Database (Kaufman, Terrence, with John Justeson. 2003. Preliminary Mayan Etymological Dictionary. Online: [URL]), and these were then classified employing the novel metric, and further analyzed by means of statistical methods. The results point to: (1) no specific correlation with the stability rankings of the Swadesh and Leipzig-Jakarta lists; (2) support for the “basicness” of etyma from the anatomical domain; (3) several significant relationships between stability and polysemy scores and independent variables relevant to the anatomical domain; (4) evidence of lexico-semantic stability score affinities between Mayan subgroups; and (5) evidence supporting the utility of polysemies to investigate subgrouping and language contact. The paper also offers conclusions and areas for further research.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Quantification of semantic change and semantic stability
    • 2.1Polysemy, shift, and semantic change
    • 2.2Need for a quantitative approach
    • 2.3Standardized word lists
    • 2.4Basicness and stability
  • 3.A novel metric for polysemy and shift
    • 3.1Assumptions
    • 3.2Proposed metric
    • 3.3Lexico-semantic stability measure (Stability 1/2/3)
    • 3.4Semantic stability measure (Stability 4)
    • 3.5Statistical tests
  • 4.Mayan dataset
    • 4.1Mayan differentiation and diffusion zones
    • 4.2PMED
    • 4.3Basis for reconstruction and sources of error
    • 4.4Morphology and syntax of anatomical terminology
    • 4.5Some disclaimers
    • 4.6Examples of the novel metric
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Stability measures and word lists
    • 5.2Mayan languages and subgroups
    • 5.3Other variables
    • 5.4A Mayan-specific assessment of basicness and stability
    • 5.5Polysemies and subgrouping
  • 6.Conclusions and future research
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • The following grammatical category abbreviations are employed in this paper
  • References
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