The Potential of automatic word comparison for historical linguistics

(Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History) Johann-Mattis List, Simon Greenhill and Russell Gray from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History have tested the capacity of different computational approaches to detect cognates with striking success rates: The best-performing method could detect word relationships with an accuracy level of nearly 90 percent. This result confirms the potential of computational methodologies in the humanities, but also opens up exciting new pathways for future research in historical linguistics and human prehistory.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science http://ift.tt/2kDamFX