Evolution of Human Languages

The Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) project is a historical-comparative linguistics research project hosted by the Santa Fe Institute.[1][2] It aims to provide a detailed genealogical classification of the world's languages.[3]

The project was founded in 2001 by Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann when he decided to partner with Sergei Starostin and Merritt Ruhlen to map out the evolutionary tree of human languages. Initial funding was provided by the Santa Fe Institute and the MacArthur Foundation.[4] It is currently led by Russian linguist Georgiy Starostin, the son of Sergei Starostin.[5]

Many of the project's members belong to the Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics, including Georgiy Starostin and Ilia Peiros.[6] Other project members include Vaclav Blazek, John D. Bengtson, Edward Vajda, and other linguists.

  1. ^ "Evolution of Human Languages: An international project on the linguistic prehistory of humanity". ehl.santafe.edu. Santa Fe Institute. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  2. ^ Velasquez-Manoff, Moises (July 20, 2007). "Linguists seek a time when we spoke as one". USA Today. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  3. ^ Mark Pagel, Quentin D. Atkinson, Andreea S. Calude, Andrew Meade. Ultraconserved words point to deep language ancestry across Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences May 2013, 110 (21) 8471-8476; doi:10.1073/pnas.1218726110
  4. ^ "Evolution of Human Languages": current state of affairs (March 2014).
  5. ^ Woodward, Richard B. "The Man Who Loved Languages: A Scholar with the Ability and Audacity to Rebuild the Tower of Babel Died a Year Ago, but His Controversial Project Lives on." The American Scholar 75, no. 4 (2006): 44-57. Accessed December 27, 2020.
  6. ^ Evolution of Human Languages - The Participants.