High-definition carbon-dating of linguistic pasts (2015–2018)
Abstract:
Carbon dating in archaeology employs the dissipation of isotopes, to date ancient finds. This project
harnesses the insights of dissipating information, to discover language histories. It does so by bringing
together two, high-definition technologies: powerful, computational statistical engines pioneered in genetics,
and an innovative kind of very fine-grained, statistically optimised observations of language structure.
Calibrated against traditional and cutting edge linguistic analyses, it offers new insight into how languages
reveal history, and how cultural groups speaking the Uralic languages of Eurasia and Australian Aboriginal
languages diverged, spread, and interacted, from a distant past to the recent present.