Use of comparative entropy analyses for dating and quantifying historical divergences between languages

Through studies of Danish text material and chosen passages from the Danish and Swedish Bible, it is investigated how the information theoretical entropy can be applied to quantify linguistic differences. It is shown that the relative entropy between Danish texts is nearly zero, whereas the relative entropy between the Danish and Swedish Bible is considerably higher. This affirms that entropy analyses can be used for quantitative studies of linguistic differences between different written language systems, and enables the use of comparative entropy analyses to quantitatively analyse the historical ancestry between related languages. Additionally, other ways of calculating the relative entropy and the potential of multilingual entropy analyses are discussed.

Contestants

Gustav Møller Grimberg