Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published March 27, 2019 | 17:01 EDT (Brief from the Royal Society)
Researchers modelled North American language diversity at time of European contact, using influences such as topography, rivers, climate change since the last Ice Age, precipitation, and other ecological factors, to gain insight into the factors that shape language diversity and distribution. Population density, resource diversity and group size–limited carrying capacity – long thought to explain the number and uneven distribution of distinct languages across the globe – were found to be neither direct nor universal influences. Instead, a complex web of influences accounts for the development and spread of new language.
Canadian co-author: Kathryn Kirby, University of Toronto – kate.kirby@utoronto.ca
