Science. 2012 Feb 10;335(6069):657; author reply 657.
Comment on "Phonemic diversity supports a serial founder effect model of language expansion from Africa".
Wang CC, Ding QL, Tao H, Li H.
Source
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, and Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Abstract
Atkinson (Reports, 15 April 2011, p. 346) reported a declined trend of phonemic diversity from Africa that indicated the African exodus of modern languages. However, his claim was only supported when the phonemic diversities were binned into three or five levels. Analyses using raw data without simplification suggest a decline from central Asia rather than from Africa.