Write notes on Glottochronology -UPSC 2023 (10 Marks, 150 words) 

Lexicostatistics is a new technique which provides a precise dating for the convergence and divergence of languages by mathematical techniques within the purview of historical or comparative linguistics to reconstruct the family tree for a group of languages.

Lexicostatistics is based on four assumptions. 

(1) Some parts of the vocabulary of any language are less subject to change than other parts, which Sapir calls the basic nucleus of morphological structure; 

(2) The rate of retention of vocabulary in the basic core is constant through time; 

(3) The rate of loss of basic vocabulary is approximately the same in all languages;

(4) If the percentage of true cognates within the core vocabulary is known for any pair of languages, the length of time of their divergence can be computed, provided they are not intervened by migrations, conquests, or other social contacts. 

While the term lexicostatistics denotes any of the various methods which reconstruct the family tree, glottochronology is reserved for those which additionally provide dates for branching points in the language family tree.

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