Modelling distances between genetically related languages using an extended weighted Levenshtein distance

Abstract

This article proposes the use of an extended weighted Levenshtein distance to model the time depth between parent and direct descendant languages and also the dialectal separation between sibling languages. The parent language is usually a proto-language, a hypothetical reconstructed language, whose precise date is usually conjectural. Phonology is used as an indicator of language difference, which is modelled by means of an extended weighted Levenshtein distance. This idea is applied specifically to the Iranian language family.

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2009, 27(4): 381–389