IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v389y2010i17p3632-3639.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating linguistic distance measures

Author

Listed:
  • Wichmann, Søren
  • Holman, Eric W.
  • Bakker, Dik
  • Brown, Cecil H.

Abstract

In Ref. [13], Petroni and Serva discuss the use of Levenshtein distances (LD) between words referring to the same concepts as a tool for establishing overall distances among languages which can then subsequently be used to derive phylogenies. The authors modify the raw LD by dividing the LD by the length of the longer of the two words compared, to produce what could be called LDN (normalized LD). Other scholars [7,8] have used a further modification, where they divide the LDN by the average LDN among words not referring to the same concept. This produces what could be called LDND. The authors of Ref. [13] question whether LDND is a more adequate measure of distance than LDN. Here we show empirically that LDND is the better measure in the situation where the languages compared have not already been shown, by other, more traditional methods of comparative linguistics, to be related. If automated language classification is to be used as a tool independent of traditional methods then the further modification is necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • Wichmann, Søren & Holman, Eric W. & Bakker, Dik & Brown, Cecil H., 2010. "Evaluating linguistic distance measures," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(17), pages 3632-3639.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:389:y:2010:i:17:p:3632-3639
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2010.05.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437110003997
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2010.05.011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Clarke & Ingo E. Isphording, 2017. "Language Barriers and Immigrant Health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(6), pages 765-778, June.
    2. Isphording, Ingo E., 2014. "Disadvantages of linguistic origin—Evidence from immigrant literacy scores," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 236-239.
    3. Taraka Rama, 2013. "Phonotactic Diversity Predicts the Time Depth of the World’s Language Families," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-9, May.
    4. Simone Pompei & Vittorio Loreto & Francesca Tria, 2011. "On the Accuracy of Language Trees," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(6), pages 1-11, June.
    5. repec:zbw:rwirep:0398 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Andrew Dickens, 2018. "Ethnolinguistic Favoritism in African Politics," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 370-402, July.
    7. Gamallo, Pablo & Pichel, José Ramom & Alegria, Iñaki, 2017. "From language identification to language distance," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 484(C), pages 152-162.
    8. Andrew Dickens, 2022. "Understanding Ethnolinguistic Differences: The Roles of Geography and Trade," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(643), pages 953-980.
    9. Isphording, Ingo, 2013. "Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain," Ruhr Economic Papers 398, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    10. Ingo Isphording, 2013. "Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain," Ruhr Economic Papers 0398, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    11. repec:zbw:rwirep:0397 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Andrew Dickens, 2017. "Ethnolinguistic Favoritism in African Politics," Working Papers 1702, Brock University, Department of Economics.
    13. Kristen, Cornelia & Mühlau, Peter & Schacht, Diana, 2016. "Language acquisition of recently arrived immigrants in England, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 16(2), pages 180-212.
    14. Clarke, Andrew & Isphording, Ingo E., 2015. "Language Barriers and Immigrant Health Production," IZA Discussion Papers 8846, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Ingo Isphording, 2013. "Disadvantages of Linguistic Origin – Evidence from Immigrant Literacy Scores," Ruhr Economic Papers 0397, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:389:y:2010:i:17:p:3632-3639. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.