The Joseph Greenberg problem: combinatorics and comparative linguistics

DOI10.1080/0025570X.2018.1444897zbMATH Open1407.05015arXiv1309.5883OpenAlexW2963495735WikidataQ129746367 ScholiaQ129746367MaRDI QIDQ4622971FDOQ4622971

Authors: Alexander Yong 

Publication date: 18 February 2019

Published in: Mathematics Magazine (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We correct a 1957 combinatorial enumeration by the linguist J. Greenberg. The desired count, the Bell number B(25), supported using his Mass Comparison method for language classification. In 1987, he used this method to classify indigenous languages of the Americas into three families. Actually, the same combinatorics provides a back-of-the-envelope estimate for the number of families. This suggests that alternative classifications with over a hundred families possess the right order of magnitude.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.5883

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Exact enumeration problems, generating functions (05A15) Bell and Stirling numbers (11B73) Linguistics (91F20)

Cites Work

• Theory of equivalence relations
• Critique of Hirsch's citation index: a combinatorial Fermi problem
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Minimum Periods, Modulo p, of First-Order Bell Exponential Integers

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