Grambank reveals the importance of genealogical constraints on linguistic diversity and highlights the impact of language loss

While global patterns of human genetic diversity are increasingly well characterized, the diversity of human languages remains less systematically described. Here, we outline the Grambank database. With over 400,000 data points and 2400 languages, Grambank is the largest comparative grammatical data...

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Published in:	Science advances Vol. 9; no. 16; p. eadg6175
Main Authors:	Skirgård, Hedvig, Haynie, Hannah J, Blasi, Damián E, Hammarström, Harald, Collins, Jeremy, Latarche, Jay J, Lesage, Jakob, Weber, Tobias, Witzlack-Makarevich, Alena, Passmore, Sam, Chira, Angela, Maurits, Luke, Dinnage, Russell, Dunn, Michael, Reesink, Ger, Singer, Ruth, Bowern, Claire, Epps, Patience, Hill, Jane, Vesakoski, Outi, Robbeets, Martine, Abbas, Noor Karolin, Auer, Daniel, Bakker, Nancy A, Barbos, Giulia, Borges, Robert D, Danielsen, Swintha, Dorenbusch, Luise, Dorn, Ella, Elliott, John, Falcone, Giada, Fischer, Jana, Ghanggo Ate, Yustinus, Gibson, Hannah, Göbel, Hans-Philipp, Goodall, Jemima A, Gruner, Victoria, Harvey, Andrew, Hayes, Rebekah, Heer, Leonard, Herrera Miranda, Roberto E, Hübler, Nataliia, Huntington-Rainey, Biu, Ivani, Jessica K, Johns, Marilen, Just, Erika, Kashima, Eri, Kipf, Carolina, Klingenberg, Janina V, König, Nikita, Koti, Aikaterina, Kowalik, Richard G A, Krasnoukhova, Olga, Lindvall, Nora L M, Lorenzen, Mandy, Lutzenberger, Hannah, Martins, Tânia R A, Mata German, Celia, van der Meer, Suzanne, Montoya Samamé, Jaime, Müller, Michael, Muradoglu, Saliha, Neely, Kelsey, Nickel, Johanna, Norvik, Miina, Oluoch, Cheryl Akinyi, Peacock, Jesse, Pearey, India O C, Peck, Naomi, Petit, Stephanie, Pieper, Sören, Poblete, Mariana, Prestipino, Daniel, Raabe, Linda, Raja, Amna, Reimringer, Janis, Rey, Sydney C, Rizaew, Julia, Ruppert, Eloisa, Salmon, Kim K, Sammet, Jill, Schembri, Rhiannon, Schlabbach, Lars, Schmidt, Frederick W P, Skilton, Amalia, Smith, Wikaliler Daniel, de Sousa, Hilário, Sverredal, Kristin, Valle, Daniel, Vera, Javier, Voß, Judith, Witte, Tim, Wu, Henry, Yam, Stephanie, Ye, Jingting, Yong, Maisie, Yuditha, Tessa, Zariquiey, Roberto, Forkel, Robert, Evans, Nicholas
Format:	Journal Article Web Resource
Language:	English
Published:	United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 21-04-2023
Subjects:	Arts & humanities Arts & sciences humaines Cognition Databases, Factual Datapoints Genetics diversities Geographic proximity Global patterns Human genetics Human language Humans Language Languages & linguistics Langues & linguistique Linguistic diversity Linguistics Multidisciplinary reductions Relative effects SciAdv r-articles Social and Interdisciplinary Sciences Social Sciences Structural diversity
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Summary:	While global patterns of human genetic diversity are increasingly well characterized, the diversity of human languages remains less systematically described. Here, we outline the Grambank database. With over 400,000 data points and 2400 languages, Grambank is the largest comparative grammatical database available. The comprehensiveness of Grambank allows us to quantify the relative effects of genealogical inheritance and geographic proximity on the structural diversity of the world's languages, evaluate constraints on linguistic diversity, and identify the world's most unusual languages. An analysis of the consequences of language loss reveals that the reduction in diversity will be strikingly uneven across the major linguistic regions of the world. Without sustained efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages, our linguistic window into human history, cognition, and culture will be seriously fragmented.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 scopus-id:2-s2.0-85152979387 These authors contributed equally to this work. Deceased.
ISSN:	2375-2548 2375-2548
DOI:	10.1126/sciadv.adg6175