中国人群遗传结构与语言系统的共演化研究

遗传和语言多样性对研究人类演化有着重要的意义。一般认为受人群迁徙、隔离与接触混合等因素影响，遗传结构和语言呈现不平衡的共演化关系，即父系遗传与该群体所用语言的分类密切相关，而母系遗传与语言关联较小。我们前期研究对这一理论提出了重要补充，发现印欧语群体中父系仅与词汇使用相关，母系仅与语音表现有关（NSR，2019）；也发现中国境内的语系形成可能与父系活动相关（Nature，2019）。为进一步阐释中国人群遗传与语言共演化关系，本项目拟对我国多个语言地区的随机样本进行Y染色体和线粒体全序列分析，通过整合新补充数据及文献数据，扩大至约40个群体；配套完成全国近千个乡镇地点的语音、词汇和语法特征数据库。通过比较精细化的父母系遗传结构与语言特征，阐述两者共演化的模式并验证其不平衡性，探讨遗传谱系结构中呈现的语言演化规律。本项目将突出文理交叉的学科优势，丰富和加深我们对中国人群演化历史的认识。

Genetic and linguistic diversities are of great significance to the study of human evolution. Due to several demographic effects (i.e. migration, isolation, and admixture), genes and languages show an unbalanced co-evolutionary relationship that language classification at the population level is significantly associated with paternal lineages, but less with maternal ones. Our previous studies provide complementary evidence that in Indo-European populations, lexical usage of language follows paternal lines, while the sound system of language shaped by maternal lines (NSR, 2019). In addition, we have found the correlation between lexical changes of Sino-Tibetan languages and male-dominated population activities in China, which suggest the asymmetrical co-evolution between genes and languages (Nature 2019). In this proposed project, we focus on the co-evolution between genetics and linguistics in China by comparing the genetic compositions (Y-chromosome and mtDNA) and linguistic traits reflecting different language systems. The genetic compositions are analyzed by the sequences of mtDNA and Y chromosomes in Chinese samples that we have previously collected from multiple regions and other public/published genetic databases/datasets. And, the linguistic traits are obtained from a Chinese atlas of language structures (CALS) which will be accomplished in this project. The CALS is a large database of about 150 structural (phonological, grammatical, lexical) properties of languages manually gathered from descriptive materials (such as language surveys and reference grammars) and covers approximately 1000 samples of Chinese dialects and minority languages. To compare the genetic and linguistic data, we will elaborate on the coevolution between the genetics and languages in Chinese populations, and examine its unbalance. We will also explore the regularities of language evolution in given genetic structures of paternal and maternal lineages. This project will not only highlight the interdisciplinary strengths of linguistics and genetics but also enrich and deepen our understandings of the evolutionary history of Chinese populations.