The over-representation of phonological features in basic vocabulary doesn’t replicate when controlling for spatial and phylogenetic effects
Frederic Blum · 2026 · Linguistic Typology
WASTE classifies this as Negative / Null Result Report · AI classification, approximate
The study found no significant effect — useful as a negative control or null benchmark for your own design.
Abstract (excerpt)
Abstract The statistical over-representation of certain phonological features in the basic vocabulary of languages is often interpreted as reflecting potentially universal sound symbolic patterns. However, most of these cases have not been…
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Metadata source: Crossref · DOI 10.1515/lingty-2025-0050