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Linguistics

Trees of life and of language

Nature volume 426, pages 391–392 (2003)Cite this article

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. Their insights depended on careful observations made by another academic, whose premature death from cancer ended her chances of sharing in the ultimate accolades.

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  1. Bioinformatics Division, Genetics Research, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, 709 Swedeland Road, PO Box 1539, King of Prussia, 19406, Pennsylvania, USA

    David B. Searls

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  1. David B. Searls
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Searls, D. Trees of life and of language. Nature 426, 391–392 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/426391a

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