Persistent topology of syntax

From MaRDI portal
Publication:1993363

DOI10.1007/S11786-017-0329-XzbMATH Open1417.91428arXiv1507.05134OpenAlexW2963910628MaRDI QIDQ1993363FDOQ1993363


Authors: Yanyan Li Edit this on Wikidata


Publication date: 5 November 2018

Published in: Mathematics in Computer Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We study the persistent homology of the data set of syntactic parameters of the world languages. We show that, while homology generators behave erratically over the whole data set, non-trivial persistent homology appears when one restricts to specific language families. Different families exhibit different persistent homology. We focus on the cases of the Indo-European and the Niger-Congo families, for which we compare persistent homology over different cluster filtering values. We investigate the possible significance, in historical linguistic terms, of the presence of persistent generators of the first homology. In particular, we show that the persistent first homology generator we find in the Indo-European family is not due (as one might guess) to the Anglo-Norman bridge in the Indo-European phylogenetic network, but is related to the position of Ancient Greek and the Hellenic branch within the network.


Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.05134




Recommendations




Cites Work


Cited In (12)

Uses Software





This page was built for publication: Persistent topology of syntax

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q1993363)