Drivers of geographical patterns of language diversity

该项目研究了动态和空间过程，这些过程导致了当代人类社会中使用和签署的7，000种语言的多样性。虽然语言多样性的地理模式有据可查，并从根本上影响人类的交流方式，但这些模式的形成仍然存在争议。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，可应用于其他研究，以评估文化多样性不同方面的空间模式。该项目还有助于培养博士后学者和本科生。该项目的目标是解决有关语言多样性的社会文化、环境和地理决定因素的长期争论。为了克服限制以前分析的挑战，该项目的研究人员采用了最初在地理学领域开发的方法。特别是，拟议的项目分析了如何与语言多样化相关的因素的子集是在复杂的因果路径，从一个位置到另一个不同，并在不同的空间尺度。拟议的研究还有助于通过审查地图质量对地理多样性模式分析结果的影响程度，解决对观察到的语言范围地图质量的关切。该项目还加强了国际和跨学科的研究人员网络，培训早期职业研究人员，开发本科课程的教学单元，并在不同的渠道传播成果。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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.