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(Linguistics) the use of lexicostatistics to establish that languages are historically related
[C20 glotto-, from Greek glōtta tongue]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
a statistical and lexical study of two languages deriving from a common source to determine the time of their divergence, as English and German. Cf. lexicostatistics. — glottochronologist, n. — glottochronological, adj.See also: Linguistics
the study of two or more related but distinct languages in order to determine when they separated, by examining the lexicon they share and those parts of it that have been replaced. — glottochronologist, n. — glottochronological, adj.See also: Time
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
The study of the historical relationships between languages.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
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|Noun||1.||glottochronology - the determination of how long ago different languages evolved from a common source language; "he mapped the glottochronology of the Romance languages"|
chronology - the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events
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