Definitions for "Lexicostatistics"
the study of linguistic divergence between two languages, based on changes in a list of common vocabulary terms and the sharing of common root words (see also glottochronology).
a statistical technique used in glottochronology; used to estimate how long ago different languages evolved from a common source language
A manner of determining subgroups of language families used mainly with lesser known languages that uses the percentage of cognates in the core vocabulary of two languages to determine their likely relationship.