linguistic help needed: internal classification of Tupi, Carib, and Je languages

[betapagi]

I am looking for linguistic collaborator(s) who are interested in creating language phylogenies, or trees, for Tupi, Carib, and Je languages. The idea is to use Swadesh lists of common vocabulary items to score cognate sets. An advantage of Swadesh lists is that they contain lexical terms (e.g., simple nouns, adjectives, numbers, and pronouns) that are relatively resistant to borrowing and demonstrate low rates of change and are therefore ideal for creating internal classifications. One very useful method transforms coded cognates into binary codes for each variant and then can be used in sophisticated Bayesian programs developed by evolutionary biologists for creating species phylogenies. This has proven useful for reconstructing Austronesian, Indo-European, Bantu, and Arawak language families, among others.

The goal is to reconstruct lowland language families in order to investigate homelands, migrations, cultural evolution, rates of change, etc. Many word lists are already available and require expert linguistic help in order to code cognate sets. If you are interested, please contact Rob Walker (walkerro at missouri.edu), website http://anthropology.missouri.edu/people/walker.html, in English or Portuguese. 

Thanks!



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