Lexicostatistics
Lexicostatistics is a quantitative method in historical linguistics that gauges how closely two or more languages are genealogically related by measuring the percentage of cognates they share within a fixed list of basic, culture-neutral vocabulary — classically Morris Swadesh's 100- or 200-word list. By converting word comparisons into similarity percentages, it produces a matrix of pairwise scores from which subgroupings within a language family can be inferred. It is the statistical core that underlies glottochronology, but on its own it makes no claim about absolute dates — it speaks only to degree of relatedness.
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Sources
- Swadesh, M. (1952). Lexico-statistic dating of prehistoric ethnic contacts. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 96(4), 452–463. link ↗
- Campbell, L. (2013). Historical Linguistics: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. ISBN: 9780748675593
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Lexicostatistics. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/linguistics/lexicostatistics
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Comparative MethodLinguistics↔ compare
- Comparative Method (Historical Linguistics)Linguistics↔ compare
- Glottochronology (Lexical Dating)Linguistics↔ compare
- Phylogenetic LinguisticsLinguistics↔ compare