Music is a universal but diverse human trait. Using a dataset of 5,242 songs from 719 societies, this study identifies five major dimensions of musical diversity that show patterned geographic and historical structure. The authors then use these dimensions to ask whether they are related to genetic and linguistic relationships from 121 societies. Musical similarities are found to be only weakly related to language or genetic relationships, with stronger links only in certain regions such as Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with further analysis showing largely vertical transmission across generations. Overall, global musical traditions appear largely independent from genetic and linguistic histories.

Music is a universal but diverse human trait. Using a dataset of 5,242 songs from 719 societies, this study identifies five major dimensions of musical diversity that show patterned geographic and historical structure. The authors then use these dimensions to ask whether they are related to genetic and linguistic relationships from 121 societies. Musical similarities are found to be only weakly related to language or genetic relationships, with stronger links only in certain regions such as Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with further analysis showing largely vertical transmission across generations. Overall, global musical traditions appear largely independent from genetic and linguistic histories.

Music is a universal but diverse human trait. Using a dataset of 5,242 songs from 719 societies, this study identifies five major dimensions of musical diversity that show patterned geographic and historical structure. The authors then use these dimensions to ask whether they are related to genetic and linguistic relationships from 121 societies. Musical similarities are found to be only weakly related to language or genetic relationships, with stronger links only in certain regions such as Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with further analysis showing largely vertical transmission across generations. Overall, global musical traditions appear largely independent from genetic and linguistic histories.

Music is a universal but diverse human trait. Using a dataset of 5,242 songs from 719 societies, this study identifies five major dimensions of musical diversity that show patterned geographic and historical structure. The authors then use these dimensions to ask whether they are related to genetic and linguistic relationships from 121 societies. Musical similarities are found to be only weakly related to language or genetic relationships, with stronger links only in certain regions such as Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with further analysis showing largely vertical transmission across generations. Overall, global musical traditions appear largely independent from genetic and linguistic histories.

Music is a universal but diverse human trait. Using a dataset of 5,242 songs from 719 societies, this study identifies five major dimensions of musical diversity that show patterned geographic and historical structure. The authors then use these dimensions to ask whether they are related to genetic and linguistic relationships from 121 societies. Musical similarities are found to be only weakly related to language or genetic relationships, with stronger links only in certain regions such as Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with further analysis showing largely vertical transmission across generations. Overall, global musical traditions appear largely independent from genetic and linguistic histories.

Is grammatical complexity shaped by sociodemographic and sociolinguistic factors? The previously accepted "linguistic niche hypothesis" claims that with an increased number of nonnative speakers in a social group (high exotericity), grammatic complexity decreases; on the other hand, grammatical complexity increases amongst isolated linguistic communities (low exotericity). Through the use of spatiophylogenetic modelling of 1314 languages, the authors of this study do not find adequate evidence to support the linguistic niche hypothesis. Instead, they suggest that linguistic complexity is better predicted by phylogeny and geographic contiguity.

Is grammatical complexity shaped by sociodemographic and sociolinguistic factors? The previously accepted "linguistic niche hypothesis" claims that with an increased number of nonnative speakers in a social group (high exotericity), grammatic complexity decreases; on the other hand, grammatical complexity increases amongst isolated linguistic communities (low exotericity). Through the use of spatiophylogenetic modelling of 1314 languages, the authors of this study do not find adequate evidence to support the linguistic niche hypothesis. Instead, they suggest that linguistic complexity is better predicted by phylogeny and geographic contiguity.

By testing relationships between musical, geographic, genetic, and linguistic distance among nine indigenous groups in Taiwan, the researchers aim to quantitatively evaluate a developing theory of coevolution between these traits. An especially strong correlation between musical variability and genetic distance suggests that music may possess worldwide time depth, diversity, and universality equal to or greater than that of language, and could thus serve as a complementary marker for reconstruction of long-term population shifts.

By testing relationships between musical, geographic, genetic, and linguistic distance among nine indigenous groups in Taiwan, the researchers aim to quantitatively evaluate a developing theory of coevolution between these traits. An especially strong correlation between musical variability and genetic distance suggests that music may possess worldwide time depth, diversity, and universality equal to or greater than that of language, and could thus serve as a complementary marker for reconstruction of long-term population shifts.

The authors investigate the relationship between linguistic diversity and various environmental and spatial variables associated with biodiversity. Most of these variables predict linguistic diversity variably across different continents, and more so within Africa and extended Asia (Asia, the Pacific, and Australia) than within Europe and the Americas. This divide is theorized to be a result of differences in demography and impact of colonialism between the two global regions. However, two environmental factors, landscape roughness and density of river systems, are found to be significant predictors across all global regions. The authors suggest that, as in processes of speciation, rough terrain and watercourses both create physical barriers between which languages can develop in isolation while, in the case of river junctions, also providing transportation routes whereby hybrid languages can occasionally manifest.