Evolution of Human Languages
# Evolution of Human Languages

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

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. It is currently led by Russian linguist Georgiy Starostin, the son of Sergei Starostin.

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

## Overview

The Evolution of Human Languages (EHL) is an international project – of which Georgiy Starostin inherited his father's membership – on "the linguistic prehistory of humanity" coordinated by the Santa Fe Institute. The project distinguishes about 6,000 languages currently spoken around the world, and aims to provide a detailed classification similar to the accepted classification of biological species.

Their idea is that "all representatives of the species Homo sapiens presumably share a common origin, [so] it would be natural to suppose – although this is a goal yet to be achieved – that all human languages also go back to some common source. Most existing classifications, however, do not go beyond some 300-400 language families that are relatively easy to discern. This restriction has natural reasons: languages must have been spoken and constantly evolving for at least 40,000 years (and quite probably more), while any two languages separated from a common source inevitably lose almost all superficially common features after some 6,000-7,000 years".

The Tower of Babel [ru] is an international etymological database project that is part of the Evolution of Human Languages project. It is coordinated by the Center of Comparative Linguistics [ru] of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

## Global Lexicostatistical Database

In 2011, the Global Lexicostatistical Database [ru] (GLD) was launched as part of the EHL project. The database makes use of the Unified Transcription System (UTS), designed specifically for the database.

### 110-word list

The Global Lexicostatistical Database includes basic word lists of 110 items each for many of the world's languages. The 110-word list is a modified 100-item Swadesh list consisting of the original 100 Swadesh list items, in addition to the following 10 additional words from the Swadesh–Yakhontov list:

* far
* heavy
* near
* salt
* short
* snake
* thin
* wind
* worm
* year

The 110-word expanded Swadesh list by Kassian et al. (2010) is as follows.

    no.EnglishRussian 1allвсе 2ashesзола 3barkкора 4bellyживот 5big, largeбольшой 6birdптица 7to biteкусать 8blackчерный 9bloodкровь 10boneкость 11breastгрудь 12to burn (trans.)жечь, сжечь 13cloudоблако 14coldхолодный 15to comeприходить 16to dieумирать 17dogсобака 18to drinkпить 19dryсухой 20earухо 21earthземля 22to eatесть 23eggяйцо 24eyeглаз 25fatжир 26featherперо 27fireогонь 28fishрыба 29to flyлететь, летать 30footнога 31fullполный 32to giveдавать 33to goидти 34goodхороший 35greenзеленый 36hairволосы 37handрука 38headголова 39to hearслышать 40heartсердце 41hornрог 42aIя 42bmeменя 43to killубивать 44kneeколено 45to knowзнать 46leafлист 47to lieлежать 48liverпечень 49longдлинный 50louseвошь 51man (male)мужчина 52man (person)человек 53many, a lot ofмного 54meatмясо 55moonлуна 56mountainгора 57mouthрот 58nailноготь 59nameимя 61newновый 62nightночь 63noseнос 64notне 65oneодин 66rainдождь 67redкрасный 68roadдорога 69rootкорень 70around (3D)круглый 70bround (2D)круглый 71sandпесок 72to sayсказать 73to seeвидеть 74seedсемя 75to sitсидеть 76skinкожа 77to sleepспать 78small, littleмаленький 79smokeдым 80to standстоять 81starзвезда 82stoneкамень 83sunсолнце 84to swimплыть, плавать 85tailхвост 86thatтот 87thisэтот 88tongueязык 89toothзуб 90treeдерево 91twoдва 92warmтеплый 93waterвода 94awe (incl.)мы (incl.) 94bwe (incl.)мы (incl.) 94c–dwe (excl.)мы (excl.) 95whatчто 96whiteбелый 97whoкто 98womanженщина 99yellowжелтый 100ayou (thou)ты 100byou (thou)тебя 101farдалеко 102heavyтяжелый 103nearблизко 104saltсоль 105shortкороткий 106snakeзмея 107athin (2D)тонкий 107bthin (1D)тонкий 108windветер 109wormчервь 110yearгод

### 50-word list

A 50-word list of "ultra-stable" items for lexicostatiscal use with the database was also proposed in 2010. The 50-word list is an abridged version of the 110-word list.

    no.EnglishRussian 1weмы 2twoдва 3Iя 4eyeглаз 5thouты 6whoкто 7fireогонь 8tongueязык 9stoneкамень 10nameимя 11handрука 12whatчто 13dieумирать 14heartсердце 15drinkпить 16dogсобака 17louse (head)вошь 18moonлуна 19fingernailноготь 20bloodкровь 21oneодин 22toothзуб 23newновый 24dry (e.g. of clothes)сухой 25eatесть 26tailхвост 27hair (of head)волосы 28waterвода 29noseнос 30notне 31mouthрот 32earухо 33birdптица 34boneкость 35sunсолнце 36smokeдым 37treeдерево 38ashesзола 39rainдождь 40starзвезда 41leafлист 42killубивать 43footнога 44hornрог 45hearслышать 46meat (as food)мясо 47eggяйцо 48blackчерный 49headголова 50nightночь
