The Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) project is a

historical-comparative linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...

research project hosted by the

Santa Fe Institute The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, includ ...

. It aims to provide a detailed genealogical classification of the world's languages. The project was founded in 2001 by Nobel laureate

Murray Gell-Mann Murray Gell-Mann (; September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019) was an American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles. He was the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Theoretical ...

when he decided to partner with

Sergei Starostin Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin (russian: Серге́й Анато́льевич Ста́ростин; March 24, 1953 – September 30, 2005) was a Russian historical linguist and philologist, perhaps best known for his reconstructions of hypotheti ...

and

Merritt Ruhlen Merritt Ruhlen (May 10, 1944 – January 29, 2021) was an American linguist who worked on the classification of languages and what this reveals about the origin and evolution of modern humans. Amongst other linguists, Ruhlen's work was recognized ...

to map out the evolutionary tree of human languages. Initial funding was provided by the

and the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

. It is currently led by Russian linguist

Georgiy Starostin Georgiy Sergeevich "George" Starostin (russian: Гео́ргий Серге́евич Ста́ростин; born 4 July 1976) is a Russian linguist. He is the son of the late historical linguist Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin (1953–2005), and his ...

, the son of

. Many of the project's members belong to the

Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics The Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics (also called the Nostratic School) is a school of linguistics based in Moscow, Russia that is known for its work in . Formerly based at Moscow State University, it is currently centered at the (Institut ...

, including

and

Ilia Peiros Ilia Peiros (full name: Ilia Iosifovich Peiros, Илья Иосифович Пейрос; born 1948) is a Russian linguist who specializes in the historical linguistics of East Asia. Peiros is a well-known scholar in the Moscow School of Compara ...

. Other project members include Vaclav Blazek, John D. Bengtson,

Edward Vajda Edward J. Vajda (Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, September 10, 1958 as Edward M. Johnson; changed his name in 1981) is a historical linguist at Western Washington University. He is known for his work on the proposed Dené–Yeniseian language fam ...

, and other linguists.

Overview

The Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) is an international project – of which

inherited his father's membership – on "the linguistic prehistory of humanity" coordinated by the

. The project distinguishes about 6,000 languages currently spoken around the world, and aims to provide a detailed classification similar to the accepted

classification Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

of biological species. Their idea is that "all representatives of the species ''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

'' presumably share a common origin, oit would be natural to suppose – although this is a goal yet to be achieved – that all human languages also go back to some common source. Most existing classifications, however, do not go beyond some 300-400 language families that are relatively easy to discern. This restriction has natural reasons: languages must have been spoken and constantly evolving for at least 40,000 years (and quite probably more), while any two languages separated from a common source inevitably lose almost all superficially common features after some 6,000-7,000 years". The is an international etymological database project that is part of the Evolution of Human Languages project. It is coordinated by the of the

Russian State University for the Humanities The Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH, RGGU; russian: Росси́йский госуда́рственный гуманита́рный университе́т, РГГУ, translit=Rossijskij gosudarstvennyj gumanitarnyj universit ...

Global Lexicostatistical Database

In 2011, the (GLD) was launched as part of the EHL project. The database makes use of the Unified Transcription System (UTS), designed specifically for the database.

110-word list

The Global Lexicostatistical Database includes basic word lists of 110 items each for many of the world's languages. The 110-word list is a modified 100-item

Swadesh list The Swadesh list ("Swadesh" is pronounced ) is a classic compilation of tentatively universal concepts for the purposes of lexicostatistics. Translations of the Swadesh list into a set of languages allow researchers to quantify the interrelatedness ...

consisting of the original 100 Swadesh list items, in addition to the following 10 additional words from the Swadesh–Yakhontov list: #far #heavy #near #salt #short #snake #thin #wind #worm #year The 110-word expanded

by Kassian et al. (2010) is as follows. :

50-word list

A 50-word list of "ultra-stable" items for lexicostatiscal use with the database was also proposed in 2010. The 50-word list is an abridged version of the 110-word list.Starostin, George
Preliminary lexicostatistics as a basis for language classification: A new approach
''

Journal of Language Relationship The ''Journal of Language Relationship'' (abbreviated ''JLR''; Russian: Вопросы языкового родства) is a quarterly academic journal published in both Russia and the United States. It focuses on historical linguistics, with ma ...

'', No. 3 (2010). P. 79–116. :

References

External links