Unraveling linguistic diversity through the lens of natural experiments │ Lecture I │ D. E. Blasi

In this course we will approach the study of worldwide linguistic diversity under the point of view of observational statistical inference. The guiding question of the course will be: what can be learned about the nature of language given the limited and contingent sample of languages that we got to observe and document? We will investigate what can be inferred from the aggregation of comparative linguistic data (including large-scale typological datasets,

→Strands 1+2+3), and what models of human cognition, behavior, and history are implied by those inferences. The course will be interdisciplinary but tailored for non specialists, combining comparative linguistics, biological anthropology, statistical inference, cultural evolution, as well as an array of observations from other disciplines.

I. Motivations for the study of linguistic diversity

We review typical (scientific and humanitarian) motivations for the comparative study of the languages of the world, and we describe several fronts (including cognitive science, language technologies, AI, health communication, and the study of neurodegenerative diseases,

→Strands 1+4) where understanding linguistic diversity has become urgent and of immediate practical value.