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Nature 426, 391-392 (27 November 2003) | doi:10.1038/426391a
Linguistics: Trees of life and of language
David B. Searls1
Abstract
The dating of ancient languages by a technique called glottochronology is undergoing a revival, stimulated by the computational and statistical methods used to tease out evolutionary relationships in biology.
This year marks a half-century since the publication1 of a famous discovery that, by elucidating a remarkable mechanism for preserving and conveying information, led to a better understanding of our human heritage. This feat was performed by a partnership between an unconventional newcomer from a different field and a Cambridge scholar with specialist knowledge.
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