编辑距离在语言分类研究中的应用

Application of Levenshtein Distance in Researching Language Classification

编辑距离是一种距离测量法,源于将一个字符串变换为另一个字符串所需要的编辑操作数。该方法能够自动将语言进行分类,最近这些年在西方很受关注。文章结合国外两个语言学研究对其应用做了分析讨论。针对Greenhill对于编辑距离语言分类方法的质疑,文章认为其有改进的空间,同时,应该探索其在汉藏语系语言研究中的应用。

Abstract： The Levenshtein Distance is a distance metric derived from the number of edit operations needed to transform one string into another. This metric has received recent attention in Western countries as a means of automatically classifying languages into genealogical subgroups. In this paper, this metric and its application are analyzed and discussed by two linguistic researches. Aiming at Greenhill＇s question the method of the Levenshtein classification, this paper argues that the algorithm of the Levenshtein Distance has space for improvement. At the same time, we should explore its application in the Sino-Tibetan languages.