Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2010 Dec 12;365(1559):3923-33. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0162.
In this paper we outline two debates about the nature of human cultural history. The first focuses on the extent to which human history is tree-like (its shape), and the second on the unity of that history (its fabric). Proponents of cultural phylogenetics are often accused of assuming that human history has been both highly tree-like and consisting of tightly linked lineages. Critics have pointed out obvious exceptions to these assumptions. Instead of a priori dichotomous disputes about the validity of cultural phylogenetics, we suggest that the debate is better conceptualized as involving positions along continuous dimensions. The challenge for empirical research is, therefore, to determine where particular aspects of culture lie on these dimensions. We discuss the ability of current computational methods derived from evolutionary biology to address these questions. These methods are then used to compare the extent to which lexical evolution is tree-like in different parts of the world and to evaluate the coherence of cultural and linguistic lineages.
在本文中，我们概述了关于人类文化历史本质的两个争论。第一个争论集中在人类历史是树状的（其形状）程度上，第二个争论则集中在历史的统一性（其结构）上。文化系统发生学的支持者经常被指责假设人类历史既高度树状，又由紧密相连的谱系组成。批评者指出了这些假设的明显例外。我们建议，对于文化系统发生学的有效性，与其说是先验的二分法争论，不如说是更好地将其概念化为涉及连续维度上的立场。因此，实证研究的挑战是确定文化的特定方面在这些维度上的位置。我们讨论了从进化生物学中得出的当前计算方法解决这些问题的能力。然后，这些方法被用于比较词汇进化在世界不同地区的树状程度，并评估文化和语言谱系的连贯性。
