An interesting map

[alice]

This might be a fun thing for people who aren't satisfied with a single conlang but have to have families and subfamilies of them.

[hwhatting]

Thanks for posting that!
Of course, what I really would want is the data base they used to construct this map...

[garysk]

Very interesting map. I wonder what units the "lexical distances" are measured in. Too bad it is so euro-centric.

[KathTheDragon]

Too bad it is so euro-centric.

Well it's a map of only Europe, what were you expecting?

[garysk]

It would be interesting to see it encompass more than just Europe, that's all. I realize that is a tall order, but still...

[KathTheDragon]

Their method almost certainly relies on the knowledge of language families, which makes it a very tall order.

[linguoboy]

Of course, what I really would want is the data base they used to construct this map...

You're one of the few here who could make use of it. Apparently the source is Ukrainian.

Frankly, their methodology seems sketchy to me even at first pass. Look at the supposed distance between Occitan and Catalan. And the arrangement of the Celtic languages makes no sense to me whatsoever.

[mèþru]

I find it neither impressive nor accurate.

[Salmoneus]

Of course, what I really would want is the data base they used to construct this map...

You're one of the few here who could make use of it. Apparently the source is Ukrainian.

Frankly, their methodology seems sketchy to me even at first pass. Look at the supposed distance between Occitan and Catalan. And the arrangement of the Celtic languages makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I notice there's no actual line between Occitan and Catalan - maybe they didn't directly compare them, for some reason, or their relative position had to be ignored for graphical clarity?

What's odd about the celtic languages? I know etymology isn't everything, but wouldn't you expect the goidelic and brythonic languages to cluster together in this way?

[linguoboy]

What's odd about the celtic languages? I know etymology isn't everything, but wouldn't you expect the goidelic and brythonic languages to cluster together in this way?

Irish not connected to anything non-Celtic (such as English) while Scottish-Gaelic is linked to Galician? Breton linked to Basque?

For the life of me I can't figure out what methodology would produce results like that.

[mèþru]

I also that Estonian is also lexically closer to Finnish than English is to Nynorsk, while the Baltic languages would be farther away from each other. What standard are they using to determine lexical relatedness in the first place? I went to the blog that made this map:

Finally, a note on the lines that link the different language bubbles. If you look at the Germanic branch then you notice that there are links placed between English and every other Germanic language except for Swedish. Same can be observed by larger languages in Romance or Slavic. A missing line between two languages does not mean that there is no link between them; it just means that the lexical distance between these two languages has not been researched yet. Thus, for example the link between Albanian and Serbian or German and French is real but not shown.

The map is based on one by a Ukranian professor of linguistics, Konstantin Tishchenko, as well as another translation of the map into English.

[mèþru]

Also, I don't believe that no one researched the lexicon similarities between French and German.