Tree-based phylogenetics

Abstract

AbstractThis major subchapter introduces tree-based phylogenetic methods and their history before applying the method to early Germanic, detailing every step in the modelling process. The main intermediate results of this chapter are that only few ‘hard’ splits between Germanic subclades can be established, most prominently between West and North Germanic. Within West Germanic, however, no robust inference can be made about any further subgroupings, rendering this method inadequate for this part of the tree. Moreover, the East Germanic languages are likewise problematic to place in a tree as they are clearly distinct from Northwest Germanic, yet their relation to one another is indeterminable with this method.