Drivers of geographical patterns of language diversity

该项目考察了导致当代人类社会中使用和使用的7000种语言多样性的动态和空间过程。尽管语言多样性的地理格局已被充分证明，并从根本上影响着人类的交流方式，但这些格局的形成仍存在争议。在这项研究中，研究小组使用新颖的方法来确定影响全球语言多样性模式的社会、文化、历史和环境过程。该项目提出了一种方法方法，可应用于其他研究，以评估文化多样性不同方面的空间格局。该项目还有助于培养一名博士后学者和本科生。这个项目的目标是解决长期以来关于语言多样性的社会文化、环境和地理决定因素的争论。为了克服限制先前分析的挑战，该项目的研究人员采用了最初在生物地理学领域开发的方法方法。该项目特别分析了与语言多样化相关的一组因素是如何在复杂的因果路径中联系起来的，这些因素在不同的地点和空间尺度上是不同的。拟议的研究还通过审查地图质量对地理多样性格局分析结果的影响程度，有助于解决对观察到的语言范围地图质量的关切。该项目还加强了一个国际和跨学科研究人员网络，培训早期职业研究人员，建立了一个本科课程教学单位，并在各种渠道传播研究成果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project examines the dynamic and spatial processes that have resulted in the diversity of 7,000 languages that are spoken and signed in contemporary human societies. Although the geographical patterns of language diversity are well-documented and fundamentally affect how human communicate, the formation of these patterns remains debatable. In this study, the research team uses novel methodological approaches to identify social, cultural, historical, and environmental processes that influence language diversity patterns across the planet. The project advances a methodological approach that can be applied in other studies to assess spatial patterns in different facets of cultural diversity. The project also contributes to the training of a postdoctoral scholar and undergraduate students.The goal of this project is to resolve longstanding debates about the sociocultural, environmental, and geographic determinants of linguistic diversity. To surmount challenges that have limited previous analyses, the researchers in this project adapt methodological approaches that were initially developed in the field of biogeography. In particular, the proposed project analyzes how a subset of factors associated with language diversification are linked in complex causal pathways, vary from one location to another, and differ across spatial scales. The proposed research also helps to address concerns with the quality of observed language range maps by examining the degree to which map quality affects the results of analyses of geographical diversity patterns. The project also enhances an international and interdisciplinary network of researchers, trains early career researchers, develops a teaching unit for undergraduate courses, and disseminates results in diverse outlets.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.