LLS Colloquium: Phylogenetic syntax and long-range comparison

On Wednesday 12th October 2022, Giuseppe Longobardi (York) will be presenting on "Phylogenetic syntax and long-range comparison".

Talk: Phylogenetic syntax and long-range comparison

Can language relatedness be established without cognate words? This question has remained unresolved since the nineteenth century, leaving language prehistory beyond etymologically established families largely undefined. This talk aims to present some recent discoveries of Longobardi and Guardiano’s (2009) syntactic method (Parametric Comparison Method, PCM) for historical comparison/reconstruction, once applied to a set of Eurasian languages. First, I will summarize the conceptual motivations behind developing a PCM framework for the investigation of deep-time history. Then I will highlight how the method can be validated empirically, by proving that the taxonomic results obtained through the PCM match nearly exactly those safely suggested by classical lexical-etymological comparison. Finally, I will show that PCM can go beyond the scope of classical methods, probing language relatedness at a deeper chronological level. Then, I will stress the broader contribution of the PCM and of cognitive biolinguistics to historical explanations, obtained through the shift from surface-oriented traits to more abstract characters like syntactic parameters.

The talk will take place at 3 pm, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end. There will also be an informal reception afterwards in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science (Deborah Hines Room, 2nd floor). Everyone is welcome!

Event poster: LLS Colloquium: Phylogenetic syntax and long-range comparison