<div>Hello AN-Lang Members, </div><div> </div><div>Austronesian historical linguistics is currently in the news. Was quite a surprise - some of the article headlines made references to the Rosetta Stone or what not. In a nutshell, researchers from the University of British Columbia and UC Berkeley developed a model and algorithm in reconstructing Proto-Austronesian. They used 637 languages in the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database ( <a href="http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/">http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/</a> ).</div>
<p>Just some of the articles this was mentioned: </p><p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21427896">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21427896</a><br><a href="http://www.nature.com/news/computer-program-roots-out-ancestors-of-modern-tongues-1.12407">http://www.nature.com/news/computer-program-roots-out-ancestors-of-modern-tongues-1.12407</a><br>
<a href="http://phys.org/news/2013-02-computerized-rosetta-stone-reconstructs-ancient.html">http://phys.org/news/2013-02-computerized-rosetta-stone-reconstructs-ancient.html</a><br><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/software-revives-dead-tongues-141348127.html">http://news.yahoo.com/software-revives-dead-tongues-141348127.html</a></p>
<p>The article itself is available for download at:</p><p><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/05/1204678110.abstract">http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/05/1204678110.abstract</a></p><p>What are you thoughts on this?</p>
<p>--Chris Sundita</p><p>Christopher Sundita<br>Graduate Student, Linguistics<br>Cornell University<br><a href="http://conf.ling.cornell.edu/csundita">http://conf.ling.cornell.edu/csundita</a></p>