Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We investigate and compare the evolution of two aspects of culture, languages and weaving technologies, amongst the Kra-Dai (Tai-Kadai) peoples of southwest China and Southeast Asia, using Bayesian Markov-Chain Monte Carlo methods to uncover phylogenies. The results show that languages and looms evolved in related but different ways and bring some new insights into the spread of the Kra-Dai speakers across Southeast Asia. We found that the languages and looms used by Hlai speakers of Hainan are outgroups in both linguistic and loom phylogenies and that the looms used by speakers of closely related languages tend to belong to similar types. However, we also found differences at a deep level both in the details of the evolution of looms and languages and in their overall patterns of change, and we discuss possible reasons for this.
Source: Evolutionary Human Sciences
Authors: Christopher D. Buckley, Emma Kopp, Thomas Pellard, Robin J. Ryder, Guillaume Jacques
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherche en Mathématiques de la Décision, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, Université Paris Dauphine-PSL, Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Imperial College London, École Pratique des Hautes Études
Language: English
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,550
OpenAlex ID: W4413098918